In a few weeks, the South Plainfield Historical Society will open THE HISTORY CENTER at its
new headquarters in the Roosevelt School Administration Building, 125 Jackson Avenue. The center
will house a large collection of photographs, oral histories, displays, vintage clothing, scrapbooks,
newspapers and artifacts from South Plainfield collected since the society�s incorporation in 1977.
The headquarters will also be used for monthly membership meetings and special events.
The room at old Roosevelt School ends a long struggle to centralize the non-profit organization�s local
history collections previously stored in the High School and in members� homes. One artifact, a pot
belly stove which warmed the switchmen of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, had been �temporarily�
stored in Tulio Capparelli�s shed for decades. Once the move began the first week of January, an
appeal to the membership for donated furniture netted several tables and chairs, a bookcase, 2 glass
showcases, 2 computer systems and a TV. Yet to be acquired are donations of a VCR, DVD player
and a copy machine.
The Center for Local History is located on the lower level with access by stairs at east and west
entrances. An elevator, a feature the first school board and first borough officials could have hardly
imagined when laying the cornerstone inscribed A.D. 1928, allows access to all three floors.
Roosevelt was the first school built by the Borough of South Plainfield after it separated from
Piscataway Township in 1926. South Plainfield inherited 3 schools -- Grant, Willis and Columbus --
but the growing population on the southside soon put a strain on the educational facilities. Four
temporary barrack-type school buildings (called �The Portables�) were installed on Camden Avenue
to handle the overflow. Former students recall the only source for water was an outside hand pump,
and bathroom facilities were simply outhouses, a scary place for many children. For Annie (Mrs.
Walter Bozek) Miezkalski, the outhouses posed no problem. When nature called, she would sneak out
a window and dash home to use the family�s indoor facilities, then return to school --once again
through the window. When Roosevelt was completed (at a cost of $67,558.28), its halls were filled
with 425 truly grateful students who now had indoor plumbing.