Page:History of West Hoboken NJ.djvu/33

 Clinton avenue was opened about five years after Spring street, and previously to its being graded, it consisted of a high embankment placed there by the Railroad Company for its cars. It was only wide enough to accommodate one line of tracks, and could not be used for any other purpose.

From West street, west to Summit avenue, and from Oak street, north to Jane street, there was a large piece of woodland which was only cleared off and opened up in the spring of 1890. It was known by the name of "Drecher's Woods," and afforded the nimrods of these times many a happy hour as the place abounded with birds and rabbits. I have shot rabbits in these woods in 1890, a few months before it was cleared off.

The people who live in this district now, who have moved here from other places, know very little of the looks of this place a few years ago, and as I walk through it to-day, I cannot make myself believe that it is the same old town, where in so short a time I picked wild flowers and hunted rabbits and birds in its beautiful fields and woods.

The credit for making this place what it is to-day, must be given to a man who (since deceased) has been slandered by many of the people who were his best frinds while he was in the hey-dey of his career as a business man and builder.

This man was Otto Schultz. When the Hoboken Land Improvement Company and the Drescher estate in 1890 began breaking up their properties in building lots, Schultz began building houses on the properties. He had the backing of the Improvement Company, and, through them, most of the Hoboken Banks. With one exception the first houses on Spring street between Angelique street and Highpoint avenue was built by him. This was the row between Dodd and Shippen streets. To give an idea of what Schultz did, let me say that he built by actual count, not including Schwartzenbach's silk factory, and the Casino, one hundred and sixty-seven houses in the Third Ward of our town, and a great many of these are well built substantial three-story brick houses, as the stores on both sides of Spring street prove, most of which were built by him.

Considering this work is the reason why I give him space in these pages. Efforts like his should be encouraged and not allowed to pass by unnoticed. It was mainly through his efforts that we have so many street improvements in our town to-day, and if we had another Schultz it would be a blessing to us. After all this work Schultz died a poor man. He was robbed right and left by people whom he trusted, and in the end he was found dead one morning at the foot of Shippen street with a bullet in his brain. It was the old story of wealth and