Sunday, April 28, 2013

Riding and Driving Club

"The Orange Riding and Driving Club was incorporated June 8, 1892 and rented a riding academy on North Clinton Street for its meetings and for horse riding classes. In February of 1895, the building shown in the photo was constructed at 9 Halsted Street and it then became known as the East Orange Riding and Driving Club. It was an "L" shaped building with a rear outlet onto Prospect Place (which was cut into by the #280 Freeway and the grounds are now the Shop Rite Parking Lot). In its glory days, the club held annual autumn horse shows, races, and offered a place for residents to exercise and stable their horses (which were owned by most residents during that era). By 1918, the automobile was competing with horses for the streets and winning, so the club closed its doors." 

(text from http://www.eohistory.info/EOTimeLine/1895/RidingAndDrivingClub.htm)

The club was next door to the Orange Athletic Club building for a number of years.






Below: a story about the Essex Troop which had its quarters in Roseville:

October 30, 1907 – Last drill in the old armory; the same day the building was razed to make room for the new facility. Construction would take a little more than three years to complete. Temporary arrangements were made at the Orange Riding and Driving Club, on Halstead Street in East Orange. The club’s quarters were much smaller than the armory. Drills were held on Wednesday and Fridays nights, with the First and Second Platoons drilling respectfully.

(My father was in the Essex Troop, formally known as the 102nd Cavalry, in the late 1930's and was in it when the troop was activated in late 1940 to train for what became WW2.)



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