Newark residents reflect on a city that survives only in memory. Contribute your story.

In this series of images with annotations, Newark residents reflect on the streets and places where they grew up, in buildings that are now demolished. Each comment corresponds to the image of that person’s demolished childhood home.


The Westinghouse Factory in 2011.

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Project lead: Myles Zhang
Research method, credits,
and notes on naming conventions

Gethsemane Baptist Church, NE corner 15th & Morris Ave

Fredrica Bey writes:
“I grew up here on Morris Avenue. We lived in a cold water tenement flat, with my mother from the Carolinas, my five siblings, and my adoptive father Mr. Chow from China. That tenement was demolished years ago. I was baptized at Gethsemane and remember the classic cars on our street. Later, I discovered the Nation of Islam and father Elijah Mohammed. I haven’t turned back since.”

“Pig Tail Alley” – Looking NE at E side Myrtle Ave, #55

Dan O’Flaherty writes:
“There’s a guy named Jack Cashill who lived at 29 Myrtle as a kid in the 50s, right across Pig Tail Alley from me, and he says we hung out together. (We lived at 62 Roseville.) I believe him because he was older and we moved when I was 7, but he remembers things and people that jibe with my hazy memories. Like how I got a 6-inch scar on my left arm.”