'Kick in the stomach.' Warehouses on site of Revolutionary War fight? Allentown's aghast

ALLENTOWN – Rick Jakober stood in his backyard and looked over the expansive field that runs behind his property, alongside Indian Run Creek.

Over the past three decades he’s raised three kids who’ve enjoyed that field’s natural wonders and learned its rich history. Nearly 250 years ago, a Revolutionary War skirmish took place here – one that laid the groundwork for the Battle of Monmouth three days later.

Now it’s been targeted as the site for two giant warehouses with dozens of loading docks, the latest industrial encroachment as developers turn the I-195 corridor into one giant truck stop so online shoppers can get their goods delivered ever more quickly.

“It’s a kick in the stomach,” Jakober said. “A development like that here would be the end of what we know as Allentown.”

A clash of armies

Allentown is a picturesque hamlet of 1,800 people. Its downtown historic district includes former stops for runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. David Brearley, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention who chaired the committee that set the length of a presidential term at four years, created the office of vice president and established the Electoral College, practiced law out of a home office on Main Street.

The area proved pivotal in late June of 1778. A force of 18,000 British troops, under the command of General Henry Clinton, had evacuated Philadelphia and was heading to the Redcoat stronghold on Sandy Hook. George Washington, sensing opportunity, wanted to strike along the way. But he wasn’t sure what route Clinton was taking. He dispatched Col. Daniel Morgan to figure it out.

“Morgan was a rifleman during the French and Indian War; (in the Continental Army) he was in charge of 500 rifle companies,” Monmouth County historian John Fabiano said. “Washington had him pick (the best) marksmen. They were all in Allentown – the first detachment Washington sent to fight the British.”

As a sizable encampment of Redcoats occupied the field that now might become a warehouse, Morgan’s men engaged them in “near-constant skirmishing that cost the British almost 40 men killed, wounded or captured,” according to “Fatal Sunday,” a 2017 book about Washington’s Monmouth campaign.

Morgan sent word to Washington on June 25, writing: “I sent some parties to skirmish with them when they immediately made off. Took the right hand road toward Shrewsbury.”

The British route became clear. Three days later, Washington would meet them in Freehold for a battle that, though inconclusive, is considered by historians to be a coming of age moment for the Continental Army.

'The truck traffic is so bad'

Fast forward 245 years. That skirmish field looks much like it did back then, but perhaps not for long. It’s part of Upper Freehold Township, adjacent to the Allentown border. In private hands, the land recently was purchased by a builder, and an application for two warehouses subsequently was presented to Upper Freehold officials. That’s where things stand.

Allentown Mayor Thomas Fritts is alarmed. On the town’s northern border, Robbinsville has green-lighted two warehouses. The warehouse buildup throughout the corridor already has increased truck traffic through Allentown’s historic downtown tenfold over the past few years, he said.

“The truck traffic is so bad (on Main Street), you can’t sit down and have a cup of coffee or have a conversation outside,” Fritts said. “People have tubs of plaster in their living rooms filled with plaster that keeps falling because of the vibrations.”

And that’s before four more warehouses go up next to Allentown’s bordcrs.

“You’ve got pollution, you’ve got noise and you’ve got traffic,” Fritts said. “The irony is we’ve been given $5 million-plus by county, state and federal (programs) to improve the downtown, so people could walk more – yet they keep allowing this border dumping with the warehouses.”

Because the warehouse sites are located in other municipalities, Allentown’s recourses are limited. One is to appeal to New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection about flooding concerns. The catch is that the DEP addresses stormwater runoff on a county-by-county basis – and these nascent warehouse projects are in two different counties. The totality of their storm-runoff volume projected by all the impermeable surfacing is not considered.

“Imagine if I had a full glass of water and the DEP said, ‘That meets our standard in Monmouth County,’ and I had another full glass of water and they said, ‘That meets our standard in Mercer County,’” Fritts said. “Then dump the two glasses of water into one glass. That’s the volume problem we’re facing.”

He seeks a meeting with the DEP about it and is trying to bring it to Gov. Phil Murphy’s attention.

The clock is ticking.

“The amount of flooding that we already have in this area when it rains is real bad,” Jakober said, as warehouses erase fields across the region.

'It's just stunning'

Those warehouses aren’t springing up for no reason. People want to click on a purchase and have it arrive at their doorstep pronto. That requires infrastructure, and Allentown is unfortunate enough to be near a nexus of major roadways.

But as the nation approaches its 250^th birthday, there must be a way to court progress without turning a historic neighborhood into a waterlogged loading dock.

Standing in his backyard, Jakober pointed out where a 45-foot-high warehouse would go up 100 feet behind his home. With the parking lot added in, the complex would end just 50 feet from the backyards along his street.

“It’s just stunning,” he said.

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Warehouses on site of Revolutionary War fight? Allentown's aghast