A Look At Local History: David Thomas Graham

A LOOK AT LOCAL HISTORY METUCHEN’S David Graham omas

LIVES ON THROUGH omas Park and Tommy’s Pond

Grandchildren donated park to borough in 1929

BY KATHY CHANG

It’s hard not to admire the beauty of Thomas Park. It’s a half mile from Metuchen’s bustling downtown and offers a sense of peace with the sounds of nature and water flowing from the fountain in the pond.

The park was donated to the Borough of Metuchen in 1929 by the grandchildren of David Graham Thomas. This beautiful 1.8-acre property includes a 0.4-acre pond at the corner of Lake Avenue and Franklyn Place. The pond complements the Borough’s other surface water features, including two brooks and 10 acres of wetlands, according to the borough website.

A plaque on a rock in the park states just that:

THOMAS PARK

IN MEMORY

DAVID GRAHAM THOMAS

GIVEN BY HIS GRANDCHILDREN

TO THE

BOROUGH OF METUCHEN

corner of Lake Avenue and Franklyn Place. The pond complements the Borough’s other surface water features, including two brooks and 10 acres of 1929

The land on which the pond now sits was once part of a large parcel of undeveloped land owned and farmed by one of the area’s early European landowners, Samuel Compton. The Comptons used the pond created by the depression in the land as a

please see HISTORY, page 6

PHOTOS BY JAMIE GIAMBRONE Although less than two acres in size, Thomas Park offers a number of recreational opportunities such as an annual fishing derby, a Halloween pumpkin float, winter sleigh riding, year-round observation of duck life, and benches for reading and quiet rest.

sheep wash (where sheep would be washed prior to shearing), according to Tyreen Reuter, treasurer of the Metuchen-Edison Historical Society. In 1849, Compton sold the area bounded by the current day Northeast Corridor line, Main Street, Lake Avenue, and High Street to David Graham (D.G.) Thomas. D.G. Thomas was born in 1808 and had come to this area of New Jersey with his brother, Lewis, from Woodbury, Conn. in 1831. He built the house which sat at 59 Graham Ave. in about 1850. The house was demolished in Sept. 2018.

Thomas became a prominent resident and large property owner. Graham Avenue and Thomas Street are named after him and his family.

During the following years, D.G. Thomas opened Graham Avenue and surrounding streets and expanded his property through additional land purchases. While serving as an Elder in the Reformed Church, he donated the land for the first Reformed Church building, built in 1857, and its Parsonage House, built in 1867, Reuter said.

The church, which sat facing Le Grand (now Amboy) Avenue at the foot of Graham Avenue, later burned and was rebuilt at the corner of Lake Avenue and Franklyn Place. The Parsonage House was enlarged and became a private residence after being separated from Le Grand (Amboy) Avenue by the Lehigh Valley Railroad. After the cut for the railroad was made, D.G. Thomas built the first footbridge crossing in the area for his use. The Parsonage at 79 Graham Ave. was later home to Gov. George S. Silzer, a former state senator who became the 38th governor of New Jersey. The house is still in existence.

Census records from the second half of the 19th century show D.G. Thomas and his wife, Ann, his large family, and his servants living on the property, being operated as a farm. In some years, their adult children and spouses are also listed as residents in the home, notably the Reformed Church’s Rev. N.I.M. Bogert, who was married to their daughter, Augusta, and lived with his in-laws after leaving the clergy due to ill health. The Second Empire Bogert House, which formerly sat at 59 High Street, was demolished in 2017.

In 1893, D.G. Thomas died and was buried in the First Presbyterian Church cemetery on Woodbridge Avenue. Thomas Park was donated to the Borough of Metuchen in 1929 by David Graham Thomas’ grandchildren in his memory. In addition to the pond and park, Graham Avenue and Thomas Street are also named for D.G. Thomas and his family.

Although less than two acres in size, the park offers recreational opportunities such as an annual fishing derby, a Halloween pumpkin float, winter sleigh riding, yearround observation of duck life, and benches for reading and quiet rest.

One of the benches is in memory of Jack Cunningham – “a wonderful son, brother, uncle, nephew and friend.” The park also has a foot bridge at one end.

In 2000, the Metuchen Garden Club, during its 75th anniversary, planted a yellowwood tree in memory of its departed

HISTORY continued from page 4 members.

Under the management of the Borough’s Environmental Commission, a long-term landscape management plan was developed for the park, the half-acre pond was deepened, and an aerator fountain was installed.

Councilwoman Dorothy Rasmussen, who is council liaison to the Environmental Commission, said currently the commission is working with a local Boy Scout to try to address the algae growth in the pond. 

a former state senator who became the 38th governor of New Jersey. The Census records from the second

PHOTOS COURTESY OF METUCHEN-EDISON HISTORICAL SOCIETY David Thomas Graham. Tommy’s Pond – dated April 16, 1932

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