Students Seek out the Help of the
Fair Lawn Historic Preservation Commission to Save the Naugle House

November 14, 2007

Students from the Radburn School, Lyncrest School and Memorial Middle School brought their concerns about the present condition of the Naugle House and their fears of it being torn down to the November 14th meeting of the Fair Lawn Historic Preservation Commission.

At that monthly meeting the students were given the floor to voice their feelings and ideas of how to “Save the Naugle House”. Brenda Bolofsky came up with the idea to Save the Naugle House and she and her sister Brooke organized their fellow classmates to help with this project and were supported by a strong group of friends and supporters including Brittany Kriley, Montana Antonelli, Bridget Maresca, Naomi Shapiro, Alexis Kriley, Alexis Joyce, Sara Rosenthal, Samantha Rosenthal and Daniel Israelsson. The students brought concern and passion to the meeting. Brenda and Brooke Bolofsky said “We as students have a once in a lifetime chance to preserve the past and protect our future.” The impassioned talks continued with a statement by Brenda saying “There is a lot of history in that house. General Lafayette slept there in 1824. And I think it is wrong to tear it down.”

It was great to hear the students from the fourth grade thru the middle school show such zeal about the historic importance of this special landmark which we are lucky to have in Fair Lawn.

Also presented to the Commission’s members Wednesday night was a list of 60 signatures supporting the group’s wish to Save the Naugle House and a promise that many more signatures will be added to that list as the group spreads the word within the community.

The entire Commission thanked the incredible group of youngsters for coming to the Historic Preservation Commission meeting. Everyone in the packed room was impressed by the enthusiasm and wonderful ideas on what to do next. It was discussed with the eager students that a similar presentation to the Fair Lawn Council would be important so that the Council Members could hear, first hand, the students’ thoughts for saving Fair Lawn’s Naugle House and their ideas of making it into a museum. The point was made that it is “Fair Lawn’s own very special piece of history” and supporters should all voice their feelings of how they want to “make this into a community project for all the students in Fair Lawn”. The entire Commission agreed with all of the students that we must start now to work to save the Naugle House.

On Tuesday, December 11, 2007 the presentation will be made to the Fair Lawn Borough Council at 7:30 PM in the Council Chambers at the Borough Hall. For those unable to make this meeting they can watch the presentation live on Fair Lawn Cable TV Channel 77.