A little more than a year ago, the Hollow Day Care Center in the Frog Hollow neighborhood of Montclair celebrated its 50th birthday with a benefit luncheon honoring founder Mother Lilly Margaret Walthall Connor. Yesterday, the building was locked up and the program officially closed. “I’m glad no one’s allowed in there,” said Mother Connor, 94, who has been embroiled in controversies with her board. “It wasn’t being run properly. It was too lax.”
The history of the day care center, which provided summer camp and after-school day care for needy students up to 12-years-old, is long and convoluted. Mother Connor says it started in 1960 when she opened up her own home on Valley Road, across the street from Tierney’s, to kids in the neighborhood. But its modern incarnation, in a house on Talbot Street with a large room attached to it, dates from the early 80′s. It was built with community block grants from Essex County on an abandoned building donated by the town.
The program ran a summer camp this past summer but never opened an afterschool program this year. Because its major support came from the state’s department of Children and Families, there were strict rules about eligibility, and in recent years some of the children served came from Newark and other neighborhoods outside Frog Hollow. At its peak, it served 35 to 40 children. The organization, which has had funding issues in recent years, is now insolvent.
Now the town, which owns the building, will have to figure out what to do with it.
“My hope is that the town would administer it and try to use it as a community center,” said one board member, who asked not to be named. But he added, “I wonder if a community center like that is useful any more.”
In addition to day care, the community center has been used for birthday parties, reunions and other local events.
Second ward councilor Cary Africk says it’s not clear what the council or town manager will want to do with it. “Who knows, maybe they’ll want to make it a senior center,” he said. He plans to hold a meeting there to see what the community wants to do: “I think we should pay attention to the needs of the neighborhood.”
Photo from Hollow Day Care Center’s Facebook page.
It’s very unfortunate that Hollow Day Care wound up closing.
Over the years they provided much needed services to the Community. This year they were hit with funding reductions, including a CDBG grant which had typically been in the $9K neighborhood, but went to zero this year. Other grants were also reduced.
Hollow Day Care offered more than after school care. They also made the facilities available for community and other events.
It’s a shame they “went under,” and it’s a shame so little attention was paid to their passing.
extremely unfortunate and sad
…its MISERABLE to see a historic institution having to close…and attention and $$$ being spent on useless beautification projects or retaining walls of the Edgemont Park Lake Pond….that was originally not there in the first place (and nobody in charge qualified enough to understand that)….MISERABLE!!!
I’ve lived in Montclair, and been interested in its history, for 11 years, and 1) I didn’t even know that neighborhood was called “frog hollow” or that 2) there was this long-standing local institution, providing services to the needy. So why would it come as a surprise that this place, and it’s seemingly plagued history, would garner so little attention? And is it “miserable” that such a place would be shut down if they (their governing body, leadership, management) can’t seem to get it’s act together? unfortunate, perhaps, but not miserable. There are amazing institutions/people/causes out there that are able to achieve their very worthy missions and, thus, survive.
Frog Hollow can be considered the wetlands area and flood zone of Toney’s Brook. The name originating from it’s swamp like characteristics. This land once owned primarily by various members of the Crane family, was dotted by the ruins of abandoned cider mills and then acquired by the NY and Greenwood Lake Railway Company to create a train line leading to a tunnel cut into the side of First Mountain. Cutting into the mountain increased the out letting of water into Toney’s Brook. Economic failure in 1873 as well as the abundance of water, caused the company to abandon the project and this swampy, non marketable land was developed to house workers’ cottages. Many of these houses are still standing today.
Dr. Watkins’ book, “Reminiscences of Montclair, As He Remembers From 1876” (pg. 47) “In 1876, Montclair was only a township, composed of farms which were practically just beginning to be cut up into smaller lots and have streets cut through to accommodate the newcomers. There were great fields and large old orchards around every place, as this had been a great apple country where each fall great quantities of cider was made and shipped all over the country. The principal place for cider mills was along Toney’s Brook where they would be operated by water power. And at this time there were the remains of several of them in different degrees of dissertation and dilapidation.
The farms or open spaces were very general all over the township, with houses scattered around very sparsely. For instance, the entire district between Grove and Forrest Streets were farms with, as I remember, one field of rye and several old orchards and fields where cows were pasturing…. Between Forest Street and Park Street there were great open spaces of old orchards and then again west of Valley Road was all open country and east of Valley Road to Mountain Avenue the same conditions prevailed, and above Mountain Avenue, it was all forest….What was known as Frog Hollow at William Street and Central Avenue, there was quite a community settlement right in the center of a section of fields.”
I have heard from narrative accounts that Irish immigrants began to create a community at Frog Hollow that provided services for the wealthy homeowners in Montclair. The brook was used for laundering as well as a pathway for workers to reach Crane’s Mill (now the site of Glenfield School) The Irish immigrants moved on and the neighborhood became populated by African Americans immigrating from the south and probably offered services that the Irish immigrant community once offered.