Allendale Artworks and Artifacts

Heartwarming memories of Allendale, New Jersey

Join us in our journey back in time. Learn about how Allendale became a borough, the origins of Crestwood Lake and the Celery Farm, Brookside School and NHRHS, our churches, and the beginnings of Lee Memorial Library and our public safety organizations.

Allendale Artworks and Artifacts is dedicated to recovering, preserving, and sharing heartwarming memories and historic treasures of Allendale, New Jersey. This project was founded in 2016 by longtime Allendale resident, local business owner, and community historian, Fred Litt.

Working with dozens of local community groups and families of yesteryear, over 50,000 individual items have been recovered and digitally preserved. Our goal is to share our discoveries using all available print and on-line platforms.

If you are just beginning to learn about the history of Allendale, we suggest you begin with Fred’s first book, Images of America: Allendale, which covers the major historic events, community organizations, and extraordinary people of Allendale since it became a borough in 1894.

Our website includes thousands of pages and hundreds of gigabytes of information. Visit the menu at the top of every page to access our many products.

Find our Facebook posts here

Our Facebook page, @AllendaleArtworksAndArtifacts, is an important tool for sharing our content. We realize many of our followers do not use social media. We solve that problem here!

View our Facebook posts here

Find below our latest three posts. To access our Facebook feed from this website, click on Posts on the top menu of every page.

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

The history of Allendale, NJ – Getting started

If you are just beginning to learn about the history of Allendale, we suggest you begin with Allendale historian Fred Litt’s first book, Images of America: Allendale, which covers the major historic events, community organizations, and extraordinary people of Allendale since it became a borough in 1894.

Continuing his writing, Fred has recently published several eBooks and print books, available on Amazon.com. His latest book, Fire!, tells the story of the beginnings of today’s Allendale Fire Department. Visit Fred’s Amazon.com author page for a complete listing of his print and eBook publications.

Website visitors can view our special selection of historical and community documents. They can be accessed from the menu items Facebook Posts, Books, and Collections located at the top of every page.

To enjoy our complete collection, we hope you will become a Subscriber. Thousands of historically significant documents will be yours to review. Special capabilities are available to permit you to search our documents by word or name.

Become a Subscriber

What’s in your attic?

This project would not be possible without the support of dozens of donors and mentors. Many have shared stories; many have shared family treasures. This is your history. If you want to help preserve it for future generations, please let me scan your family treasures and share them across our growing number of online and print platforms.

The Allendale Artworks and Artifacts collection is completely digital. All historic treasures are borrowed, scanned, and returned within two weeks. All that we ask is that you permit us to share your memories with our Allendale history enthusiasts. If you have historic treasures that you can no longer keep or would like to donate, we will work with you to find a new home for them.

To date, we have scanned or photographed over 50,000 documents, photos, postcards, deeds, drawings, et al. We are always looking to grow our collection. If you have family, community, or government items that have historic significance, please contact Fred to discuss.

If you have comments, questions, or historic content to share, please contact Fred at the address below.