- This cache is hidden in a public park, open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m.
- Only small items will fit in the cache.
- Please put the cache back the way you found it, replacing any foliage
- If you take an item from the cache please leave behind a new one of equal or greater value.
This cache adventure begins at a reference point; a statue built in 1891 to honor the city of Hoboken's volunteer fire department. There is also a plaque in the ground, added more recently, to commemorate one of the department's beloved canine mascots, 'Taps'.
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The statue is located in Church Sqaure Park which features two playgrounds, a dog park, a basketball court and a bandshell. In the center of the park is a gazebo honoring famous composers and the easten and western edges are marked with statues. The western statue is our reference point, the Hoboken Firefighter's Memorial. On the eastern edge there is a statue of Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor who developed wireless technology. This statue was built in 1955 and it also honors veterans. The park is surrounded by numerous restaurants of all kinds from pizza to cali-mex as well as several notable Hoboken landmarks including the Hoboken Public Library, the Demarest School Building, the Our Lady of Grace Church and the Hoboken University Medical Center.
The OLG church was established in 1851 and it is one of the oldest Roman Catholic Churches in the United States. The churches present location was completed in 1874. Throughout it's existence the church housed a school, an orphanage, a hospital and an asylum. Our Lady of Grace Church is listed on the New Jersey List of Historic Places and the List Of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Hoboken University Medical Center, originally Saint Mary's Hospital, is the oldest hospital in New Jersey. It was founded in 1863 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. The hospital was orginally opened to treat wounded Civil War soldiers and it was temporarily taken over by the U.S. Government during World War I to treat returning soldiers as Hoboken was a main embarkation point during the war. The church had on the first tuberculosis clincs in the state and during the Great Depression a soup kitchen was started here that fed nearly 300 individuals twice a day. One of St. Mary's more notable patients was New York City Mayor William Jay Gaynor, who was shot on August 9, 1910, as he boarded the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse at the Hoboken piers. The assailant was James J. Gallagher, who had been fired from his job in the New York City Docks Department and who blamed the mayor for his troubles. Gaynor was rushed to St. Mary Hospital where he stayed for over three weeks in critical condition, before he was released.
A. J. Demarest School, founded in 1911, is an alternative school with small classes and a flexible curriculum with subjects such as cosmetology and culinary arts. Demarest High School also offers a Structured Learning Experience (SLE), which helps students with applying for jobs, writing cover letters and resumes and other career related issues. The SLE is especially geared toward seniors who are looking for jobs. Before Hoboken High School was opened in the mid nineteen sixties, Demarest was the main high school in Hoboken. Now it functions as an alternative junior high and high school. Frank Sinatra attended the school, but dropped out.
The Hoboken Public Library was established under the NJ General Library Act of 1894. It was the third library established under this act, following behind Paterson and Newark. The library contains a collection of historical photos and publications related to the history and culture of Hoboken.
If one small square in Hoboken has so much history, there is surely more history in the town. So we challenge you, fellow geocachers of the Hoboken ara, to learn it and share your knowledge through well placed caches.
