Focus is on Helmetta of old, as exhibit opens
Talk given on snuff mill amid expectation that buildings will be razed
BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

PHOTOSBYCHRIS KELLY staff Above, Joa Sapia, unofficial historian for Helmetta, speaks about the borough and its snuff mill during the opening of an exhibit on the mill at the Lakeview mansion in Jamesburg Sunday. At right, tobacco products made by the Helme Tobacco Co. in Helmetta on display.

With the expected demolition of Helmetta’s historic snuff mill, residents and area locals have begun to bid farewell to the town as it has long been known.

“The town was the factory,” said Bob Fultz, a mill employee from 1955 to 1993, when it closed. “It was a good place to work and a good, steady job.”

Fultz was among a couple dozen residents to attend Sunday’s unveiling of a display that pays tribute to a snuff factory that was tied to the founding of Helmetta and that provided employment for many in the area, dating back to the 1800s.

The display, called “From Snuff to Snuffed Out,” will continue through September at Lakeview, the historic Buckelew mansion on Route 522 in Jamesburg.

Guests roamed the house, which doubles as a museum of local history and the headquarters for the Jamesburg Historical Association, viewing the display and a model train set situated on a map of the area. Many reminisced about the landmark buildings that functioned as the center of their hometown for more than a century.

Jamesburg’s town historian, Tom Bodall, said he spent a little over a month working with members of the Helmetta Historical Society putting together the display, which contained items recovered from the mill, artifacts stored at borough hall in Helmetta, and even some mill remnants found on eBay.

Fultz, who now lives in East Brunswick, said he will be sad to see the entire structure demolished, as is planned as part of Helmetta’s recently adopted redevelopment proposal for the site. Highland Park-based developer Kaplan Cos. was selected last month to redevelop the 22-acre mill site. The proposal includes a mix of townhouses and apartments, totaling 233 age-restricted units, as well as some retail and recreation uses.

Joe Sapia, long described as Helmetta’s unofficial historian, opened the exhibition Sunday with a presentation on the history of the snuff mill and its founder, George W. Helme, who moved to the area after the Civil War, during which he served as a major general with the Confederate Army. Helme began acquiring real estate and became a partner in the mill in 1866.

Sapia, himself, worked at the mill during his college years alongside now-Jamesburg Chief of Police David Lester. He showed the audience tobacco products similar to what was produced in the Helme mill, effectively transporting those present back to the mill’s heyday.

“When you walked out your doors in Helmetta on a damp day, the air would be filled with this,” Sapia recalled. “You could just walk out your door and smell it.”

Between 1877 and 1879, George Helme obtained sole ownership of the mill, and Railroad Mills, as the area was known, and petitioned to secede from East Brunswick. After a 100 percent turnout at the polls, 18 out of the 22 registered voters in town voted for the secession, making Helmetta, named after Helme and his daughter, Etta, an independent municipality.

“I assume the four people who voted not to secede did not work for George Helme,” Sapia joked.

Sapia also mentioned that during the Great Depression, Helmetta was known as the only town that did not require federal relief. He said this was because of two factors: the Helme family made sure the mill’s employees and their families were taken care of, and even during an economic recession, people still made sure to find the money to feed their vices, like tobacco and alcohol.

“There was always room for snuff,” he said.

But although those days are long over, Sapia said, it was never more apparent than now, as the final months of the mill begin their countdown.

The town still looks like a mill town, but Sapia believes the rapid erosion of its character will commence as soon as the buildings that put the borough on the map are taken down, leaving not so much as a hint of its historical significance.

“[The town’s] benefactor that has been around for 100 years [will be] gone, and Helmetta is being forced to stand on its own,” Sapia said.

Sapia said the 117 properties of the mill area are designated as a historical district, not individual buildings. If the mill buildings come down, the town will likely be stripped of that designation.

“Any change to a specific property dilutes the entire district, and that’s what’s been happening in Helmetta,” Sapia said.

But, Sapia said, it will be difficult to separate the residents from the culture of their forebears, regardless of whether the buildings remain.

“It’s like a divorce case,” he said. “You can’t really cut the ties.”

One woman in the audience said her father had worked at the mill for 30 years, and she feels it would be a shame if none of the buildings could be saved for recreational use or possibly as a museum dedicated to the mill and its connection with the town.

“Is it not possible to save one building for a museum or something?” she asked. “I think that would be nice.”

But at this point it is clear, at least to Sapia, that the Helmetta of old has already given way to a suburbia that will perhaps blend more with its neighbors.

One thing is for sure, Sapia said.

“The smell of snuff no longer permeates Helmetta.”

The Lakeview mansion, which can be reached at (732) 521-2040, is open from 2 to 4 p.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of each month.