HISTORIC MILLTOWN, NJ                        The Kuhlthau Historical District, on Washington Avenue

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The red buildings of the Kuhlthau district, on Washington avenue. Most of the  buildings of the Kuhlthau district  have been demolished in 2002. The weighing station and part of  the long  building remain on the site, now a county park. The photographs have been taken in 2002, before the demolition took place.

The Kuhlthau district  tells the story of a German immigration wave in the 19th Century. Hundred of people came to Milltown from one single German village, Oberzell. German immigration in New Jersey is not well known and well  documented; this make the site even more valuable.

The Kuhlthau district, the site of a prehistoric Lenni Lenape encampment

The Kuhlthau district is surrounded by elements that contributes to its historical nature: - the Raritan River Railroad (1888), - the Freight Station (ca.1900), - the 30-ft tall railroad bridge above the Lawrence Brook - the Mill (1899),  a national historic landmark; it was the factory building of the Russel Playing Cards company. (It  is registered as the Indian rubber Company.)

From Oberzell to  New  Oberzell: Philipp Kuehlthau, originally from Oberzell, a German village, arrived in Milltown in 1848 at age 19; he then returned to Oberzell  to tell friends and relatives to join him in Milltown. At this time a disease destroyed potatoes in the fields. Oberzell people had so little food that they even mixed ground up tree bark with flour to fill their empty stomachs.  Bad harvests, starting in 1844,  were so serious that  they are considered to be one  cause of the 1848 German Revolution. Philipp Kuehlthau was at the origin of a relatively significant German immigration from small Oberzell to Milltown; at least 50 Oberzell people followed him in the 1880's and Milltown has even been nicknamed 'New Oberzell.' Philipp's son, Conrad, opened the hardware store, still standing  on Main Street and  Philipp's brother owned  the Kuhlthau farm on Washington Avenue. http://members.aol.com/ufoster442/page17.html  (list of immigrants from Oberzell to  Milltown) http://rootsweb.com/^njmiddle/Towns/milltown/oberzell.htm (history of the immigration from Oberzell to Milltown) Today, groups from Oberzell (near Darmstadt) still regularly visit Milltown, the American hometown of their 19th Century relatives. Two guests from  Oberzell, Mr. Michael. Kuelthau and Mr. Walter  Ochs, came to Milltown in July 2002; they met with  the Mayor  to reaffirm the cultural ties between the two towns and received a symbolic key to the city of Milltown. They also expressed great  concerns about the old buildings on Washington Avenue, a unique site  associated with        - the history of American Indians       -  the history of  the railroad,       -  the history  of 19th C. German immigration, and with       - the history of  Oberzell.

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