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The Fort Lee Museum
Fort Lee's rich & varied history has found a home in the Judge Moore House. The renovated early 20th Century stone edifice will open in April 1999. Negotiation is underway for the Fort Lee Historic Society to occupy the building and use it as both a facility to archive material and display various photos, documents & films from the glorious past. The Borough of Fort Lee has worked with volunteers to renovate the building over the past year. In addition to the volunteer effort, town employees from the Parks Department, Department of Public Works & especially the General Services Department have used their skills to produce a work of art.
The Judge Moore House and the adjacent Monument Park occupy sacred soil upon which treaded the hopes of a nation in the summer & fall of 1776. General George Washington ordered the building of fortifications in Fort Lee (then Fort Constitution) in the summer of 1776. Following the fall of New York to British occupation, the Continental Army under the leadership of Washington crossed the mighty Hudson River & scaled the Palisades to man the fortifications on the bluffs of Fort Lee. Washington, who named our town that summer in honor of Charles Lee, designated the area of Monument Park and the Judge Moore House as an encampment for his troops. Huts were constructed around Parker's Pond & ovens carved out of stone. Thomas Paine wrote of his experiences in Fort Lee in his famous work "the American Crisis." As he wrote of summer soldiers and sunshine patriots British troops crossed the Hudson and forced Washington to retreat on November 20, 1776. The departure of Washington's troops down Main Street was the beginning of the most successful military retreat in world history. Washington secured safe passage for the remnants of his army out of New Jersey. This led to the successful crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Eve 1776.
The unthinkable almost happened in the late 1980s. Private developers secured the property of the Judge Moore House and received a variance to construct a strip mall. Fortunately for the citizens of Fort Lee, then Councilman Jack Alter joined forces with Councilman Mike Maggiano and led an effort to acquire the property for preservation. Their efforts were greeted with the support of the adjoining neighborhood and the result is the Museum and undisturbed Monument Park In 1996 Councilman Tom Meyers worked with Historic Committee Chairman Robert Donohue to oversee the renovation of the house and to work with the preservation community to see this project through to completion. A plaque placed atop palisade stone will be unveiled during the dedication ceremony in April 1999. The building will be dedicated to General George Washington and his troops.
The museum will also serve as a place to display the film history of Fort Lee. As we all know, Fort Lee was the center of movie making production in the United States in the early part of this century. Major studios now in California can trace their roots to our very streets. Universal Studios began in a humble building on a dead end street in the Coytesville section of Fort Lee.
Fort Lee will enter the next century with a facility to house its history and preserve the foundation of its past. From Washington to the motion picture industry, the Judge Moore House will capture the entire story of this great American town.
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