They come from different backgrounds and are decades apart in age, but Edward Fleckenstein and Al Berg have a common love of Weehawken’s history.
For Fleckenstein, it’s been a labor of love for his entire life. He has said countless times that the two true pieces of history in the town are the famed Water Tower, and himself.
“I wonder sometimes which is older, the tower or me,” said the spry octogenarian, who often gives lectures about his knowledge of the town’s history and serves as the chairman of the Weehawken Historical Commission.
Fleckenstein has lived in the same residence on King Avenue since his birth more than 80 years ago. He’s researched the history of the town and traced ancestry through the ages. Historical references of the town flow off his tongue like a proud father talking about his children. Simply, he is a national treasure and a rarity.
However, Berg is another resident who is passionate about the rich history of the town and is working diligently to try to preserve it.
“We’re thrilled to have someone like Al on our committee,” Fleckenstein said. “He’s really our reason for being. We both understand our common interests and the passion for the history of Weehawken is equal.”
Berg moved to Weehawken from Hoboken seven years ago and quickly became entrenched in Weehawken’s past.
“I’ve always been a local history buff of whatever town I’ve lived in,” said Berg, who created a CD-ROM called “The Weehawken Time Machine” three years ago.
“When I moved to Weehawken a few years ago, I thought that a small town like Weehawken probably didn’t have a lot of historical references,” Berg said. “As soon as I found out just how much history there was, I became even more curious.”
Berg, who works in computer security for the New York Stock Exchange, began his historic journey a few years ago in compiling the information for the CD-ROM, as well as his web site, www.weehawkenhistory.org.
Since that time, Berg has collected hundreds of historical artifacts and the list grows daily.
“A lot of the stuff that I find, I get through eBay,” Berg said. “I put out a search for anything having to do with Weehawken and I find about five or six items per day. I get cool postcards. I’ve also been able to find tons of stuff off the Internet.”
Just recently, Berg secured a copy of the program of the official opening of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1937. He also got a book, published in 1959, on the 100th anniversary of Weehawken, and also secured a copy of a book published in 1930 about the Weehawken school system. “It has pictures of the kids in the schools and describes all of the schools,” Berg said. “It was a very fascinating book.”
Wednesday evening, beginning at 8 p.m. at the Weehawken Free Public Library, there will be a special presentation featuring both Fleckenstein and Berg, called “An Evening of Weehawken History.”
Berg said that the reason for the gathering, which is free and open to the general public, will be to announce that he has updated his “Weehawken Time Machine” CD-ROM to include some 300 new pictures, images and items, including detailed street maps of Weehawken dating back to 1900.
“We’re going to show some of those things to the public,” Berg said.
Berg also said that people have been somewhat reluctant to turn over their memorabilia in fear that it might get lost, so he will set up his computer and scanner at the library to scan any images of historical paraphernalia that might enhance the web site, without the items departing from the owners.
“This way, we’ll take pictures and scan the items right there, so they don’t have to relinquish their items,” Berg said. “We’re encouraging people who have anything that they feel could help us to bring it to the meeting and we’ll get it up on the web site.”
Berg said that he has some images in what he calls his “whatzit” file. “Those are pictures that we don’t know exactly what they are,” Berg said. “What’s it? So we’re hoping that some people might recognize them and identify them for us.”
Berg said that his pursuit of historical reference materials has become “an obsession.”
“The fun thing has been getting e-mails from people all over the country,” Berg said. “People who lived in Weehawken a long time ago and somehow find out what I’m trying to do. It’s been fascinating.”
Berg said that although he has updated his CD-ROM, he’s not done investigating historical material. “I just found old census records,” he said. “So now, you can see who was living in the town back then. It’s very interesting, but it takes some time to sort through it all.”
“An Evening of Weehawken History” will be presented at the Weehawken Free Public Library on Wednesday, May 14, beginning at 8 p.m. Admission is free and everyone is invited to attend. For more information, contact the library at (201) 863-7823.
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