Jamesburg High School memories preserved
Defunct school relics, keepsakes on exhibit at Buckelew mansion
BY KRISTIN BOYD
Staff Writer

Yearbooks, class rings, trophies and thousands of other items were left behind when Jamesburg High School closed in 1979 due to dipping enrollment.

Shortly after, the Jamesburg Historical Association collected the keepsakes and stored them in a small back room of Lakeview, the historic Buckelew Mansion.

Now, in conjunction with the Buckelew Day Festival this Saturday and the centennial opening of Jamesburg High School in 1906, those relics will again move to the head of the class.

"Jamesburg High School is a fond memory," alumnus Ronald Becker said. "Most of the towns in southern Middlesex County sent their students to Jamesburg High School. It does have a proud and rich history, and it's a history that needs to be preserved."

The Jamesburg High School Alumni Association is relocating the items to the new Jamesburg High School Room, a space at the front of the mansion. The association will dedicate the room Saturday at noon. Alumni are encouraged to participate, and the public is invited to attend.

"We're hoping alumni come to the dedication, since they are the ones who paid for it," said Becker, who graduated in 1963 and is now president of the Jamesburg Historical Association. "We want to show it off. It's a room that they can be proud of."

The Jamesburg High School Alumni Association, founded in 2000, started a renovation fund and collected $8,000 in six months, Becker said. The money was used to patch the walls, replace the fireplace, fix the windows and paint the room in the high school's colors, maroon and gold.

The room will showcase high school items, including the cornerstone and contents of the first high school building; the dedication program and ceremonial key from the 1932 dedication of the second high school building; a complete set of the Tomahawk, the high school's yearbook; copies of the high school's three newspapers; vintage athletic uniforms; athletic trophies; and a complete listing of all students who attended Jamesburg High School from 1909 to 1979.

Becker provided the following historical overview of the high school:

Prior to 1906, Jamesburg students who attended high school had to board trains to take them to towns, notably Freehold and New Brunswick, which had high schools. In June 1905, the members of the Jamesburg Board of Education took a bold step by voting to establish a local high school.

That school opened in September 1906, in an upstairs classroom of the Jamesburg Grammar School building. There were seven students who shared a teacher with the grammar school's eighth-graders.

By 1907, the high school was attracting students from other southern Middlesex County and northern Monmouth County communities. Eventually, students from Helmetta, Spotswood, Cranbury, Englishtown, Millstone, Old Bridge (then Madison), Monroe, East Brunswick and South Brunswick townships attended the high school. The high school graduated its first class in 1910.

By 1911, the student body, now exceeding 100 students, outgrew its classroom. The Jamesburg Board of Education voted on April 20, 1911, to build a high school building.

That building opened to students in September 1912. By 1930, the student body outgrew this building, causing the Board of Education to construct a new high school building. This building, on Forsgate Drive, opened for classes in September 1932. It served as Jamesburg's high school until its closing in 1979. The building is now used for business offices.

During its 73-year history, more than 6,400 students attended Jamesburg High School at some point in their academic lives; more than 4,100 students graduated from the high school. Its alumni include a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, several professional athletes, legislators, and business and civic leaders.

"Even though Jamesburg High School had a number of students, everybody knew one another, the faculty knew everybody," Becker said. "There was a camaraderie among the students. It was like one big family."

And alumni like Becker are striving to keep it that way, now and for years to come.

For more information about the room dedication, the alumni association or the Buckelew Day Festival, which runs from noon to 5 p.m., call the Jamesburg Historical Association at (732) 521-2040.