by Patricia Meola
In celebration of the Summit Free Public Library’s 150th Anniversary, on April 28, 2024, Summit Historical Society President Patricia Meola gave a 45-minute lecture on the history of many Summit homes and the residents who lived in them, plus more, including:
Blackburn House
• How Brayton School and the Brayton Brook got their names
• The local tie to the invention of the player piano
• The conversion of a private home on Locust Avenue to a sanitarium
• Contributions to the city’s streetscape from noted architects
• The time a Summit man teared up when he had to give away his horses
• How the first train came to make its way over “The Summit of the Short Hills”
• Why the Grand Summit Hotel was once called the Blackburn House