MUNICIPALS - "C" IS FOR CHATHAM

C is for Chatham.  This is number five in alphabetical order in my Municipal Collection.

I may have mentioned that I grew up and worked essentially in Newark, NJ.  It was the County Seat for the County of Essex which was my employer for four decades. That was a long time.

Drawing on the experience of living and working in Essex I chose to find an abode that was far enough away from the problems surrounding the greater Broad and Market Street area. For me, That meant about 15 miles West of Newark's South Side.

The Probation Department had an office at 32 Johnson Ave., Newark, NJ.  South Side High School was just one block away. It was a great location if your thinking was to plan an escape route to be close to I-78. That was my thinking when I sought out Chatham NJ. It was 14.7 miles from the office.

Chatham was a bedroom community when I moved here. I quickly learned that this term meant: The people riding the train everyday, into New York, were picking up a much bigger pay check then me. The tax rate in Chatham was good, especially for New Jersey. The Borough also enjoyed a very good school system. All of this made Chatham very attractive.

The  Chatham Police Department was small when I located in Chatham in the early 70's. I believe they covered all shifts with less officers then the number working any shift in any precinct in Newark. That of course is an "Apples and Oranges" comparison.

The suburbs looked great. The homes and streets gave a wonderful presentation to the passerby. Yet there were problems here, just different. It took a different breed to work communities outside the big city. While the law was the same the people were different and that in many cases made the job far from easy.

Having lived there for close to thirty years I got to know a couple of fine officers from the Borough Police Department. As nice as they were I never got a "donation" for my collection from any of them. None the less they are still Good Guy's.

There are two badges from Chatham in my Municipal Collection. One is an oval that was issued to those who served in the ranks as "Special" Police Officers. This item reads: Special Police. It was phased out in the late 1960's. It probably was initially introduced in the 1930's or 40's.  

The second badge is of a more traditional design. It has black recessed letters that read: Chatham Police.  It was introduced  in the 1930's. On the bottom is an applied number - 48 which is also plated. 

This badge has a State Seal at center that was plated with the main badge. This is a larger then usual Seal. It is about the size of a quarter. 

I have had both of these fine pieces of history for over 25 years. I keep them very close, in a case of Oak and Glass. I enjoy the memories that come to  mind when I turn my head daily for a trip down memory lane.