House of the White Lions

This house was at 44 South Munn Avenue, east side of Munn near the Chesnut Street intersection; It was the home of Winthrop Eugene Scarritt and was known as the "House of the White Lions." Mr. Scarritt was a staunch supporter of Teddy Roosevelt and his progressive agenda, and, when the progressive Republicans lost the House in 1910, Mr. Scarritt put his house up for sale and said he was leaving the country. Mr. Scarritt died in East Orange on December 7, 1911, so it appears that he did not sell his home or leave the country before his death.

"Mr. Scarritt  represented the City of New York in the National Good Roads convention at the Louisiana Purchase exposition in St. Louis (1904), delivering an address on "Good Roads, the Automobile and Civilization, " and was inspector of motor vehicles for the state of New Jersey in 1906. He was the author of "Three Men in a Motor Car" (1906) and of numerous magazine articles on the automobile and allied subjects. He was president of the Automobile Club of America in 1903-04; was a founder and vice-president of the American Automobile Association, and was a member of the Automobile Club of New Jersey, Aero Club of America, the leading automobile clubs and associations of Europe, and Phi Kappa Psi. During the later years of his life, he was also interested in aeronautics, making balloon flights both in this country and abroad. Scarritt was a 32d degree Mason. In religion he was a Methodist and politically was a Republican. He was married at Providence, RI, Sept 20, 1887, to Lerria, daughter of Horace Sumner Tarbell [whose biography is just before this one], and they had three sons: Winthrop Tarbell, Horace Sumner and Ellett Gibbs Scarritt. His death occurred at East Orange, NJ, Dec 7, 1911." (from American Biography, 1940)

The house later became the Elks Home and, in 1958, was torn down to be replaced by an apartment building.