Freehold, in the nineteenth century, enjoyed a period of tremendous growth and prosperity. The stately Victorian homes and commercial buildings that still line Main, Broad, and Brinkerhoff Streets in the center of town attest to that. A study of those architectural gems is offered here, as well as a section of studio portraits that show us the faces of the people who lived and worked in the area's beautiful buildings. In the early twentieth century, Freehold was still a thriving Main Street town, with room for both large industries like the Karagheusian Rug Mill and small family businesses. Known as a center for institutions of learning, Freehold boasted schools that drew students from around the country. One of those, the Freehold Young Ladies Seminary, is represented in this book by a charming group of candid photographs of students from the 1880s. On the opposite end of the social spectrum is a collection of snapshots from "Camp Brakeley," which shows the summer field hands from inner city neighborhoods who were brought by Brakeley's Cannery to work in Freehold.
Freehold, in the nineteenth century, enjoyed a period of tremendous growth and prosperity. The stately Victorian homes and commercial buildings that still line Main, Broad, and Brinkerhoff Streets in the center of town attest to that. A study of those architectural gems is offered here, as well as a section of studio portraits that show us the faces of the people who lived and worked in the area's beautiful buildings. In the early twentieth century, Freehold was still a thriving Main Street town, with room for both large industries like the Karagheusian Rug Mill and small family businesses. Known as a center for institutions of learning, Freehold boasted schools that drew students from around the country. One of those, the Freehold Young Ladies Seminary, is represented in this book by a charming group of candid photographs of students from the 1880s. On the opposite end of the social spectrum is a collection of snapshots from "Camp Brakeley," which shows the summer field hands from inner city neighborhoods who were brought by Brakeley's Cannery to work in Freehold.