The Jersey City Reporter - (Please note-Part of this article also appears for Ted Conrad)
05/07/2006
They made history
Ted Conrad and Owen Grundy
Preserving JC's past was priority for two local legends
Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer

J. Owen Grundy and Theodore Conrad were two giants who loomed large in the history of Jersey City. Both have public landmarks in the city named for them.

They also have left significant legacies. Grundy helped form the city's Municipal Historic Districts Commission, now known as the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission. Conrad was involved in preserving the historic Loew's Theater.

The late residents became fixed in neighbors' minds in the 1960s and 1970s for their tireless activism to preserve and save architectural landmarks from destruction.

Now, the late Mr. Grundy has a pier at Exchange Place named after him, J. Owen Grundy Pier. Residents can sit on the benches and look across the Hudson River at the Manhattan skyline.

J. Owen Grundy
Grundy was known for being many things in his lifetime - a curmudgeon, eccentric, and forgetful. But Grundy, who became the city's historian in the 1970s under late former Mayor Thomas F.X. Smith, could not be accused of apathy for his city.

He was born in 1911 and died in the city in 1985. An only child, Grundy cultivated a love of city and state history at an early age, according to local resident Charles Balcer, who knew of Grundy since the early 1960s. At that time, Grundy was involved in the historic preservation movement in New York City. Balcer formed a relationship with Grundy in his later years.

"He was a studious man, a real student of history, incredibly well-versed in not only the history of Jersey City and New Jersey, but also his own history," said Balcer.

Balcer said when Grundy was a youth, he began researching his family's history going back to the Revolutionary War, when they lived in Monmouth County. Grundy also traced his lineage back to Abraham Lincoln.

That effort fed his love of landmarks, especially in the 1920s when he observed Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague leading the demolition of historic homes in Journal Square.

When Grundy was a young man, he worked as a reporter and an associate editor of The Villager in Greenwich Village in New York, where he chronicled the history of New York City.

Grundy hit his stride when he became involved in Jersey City's historic preservation in the late 1960s through the early 1980s.

Working with Balcer and other preservationists, Grundy helped create the city's Brownstone Revival Committee in the 1970s to educate residents and visitors of the beauty and history of the brownstones on Montgomery Street and other parts of Downtown Jersey City.

That led him to help form the city's Municipal Historic Districts Commission, now known as the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission, which acted as a guide and watchdog to ensure that homeowners and developers adhered to historic guidelines.

Grundy also created his own place in history by the way he conducted his life. Balcer recalled Grundy as an "old newspaperman" who worked so late into the evening in his office within the New Jersey Room of the Jersey City Public Library, he would lose track of closing time and call Balcer to get him out.

Balcer was also called "a whirlwind," which he marvels at now.

"I am 63 now. When Grundy was my age, he had far more energy than I do," said Balcer. "But he was an eccentric with a great sense of humor and great patience."

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