Rename Hass Road

Rename Haas Road

Bernards Township may not have any Confederate Monuments but we did have the Ku Klux Klan. It’s time to correct a wrong. Hass Road located in the previously named West Millington Section of Bernards Township was named after John V. Haas who had a small farm located on the road that was called for more than one hundred and fifty years Stone House Road. Even today the portion of the road in Millington is named Stone House Road. The road was properly named for it led from the village of Millington to the small hamlet in Bernards Township of Stone Houses built at the intersection of Stone House Road, King George Road and Valley Road. The original homes were built by original settlers to the area between the 1750’s through 1770’s. The stone house everyone believes the intersection is named after was built in 1764 and at one time owned by the Revolutionary War Sea Captain Dennis in 1776. Four of the Stone houses in the hamlet each had 150 acre farms owned by John Vail II’s sons. There is a small cemetery with Daniel Vail, died 1793 along with his wife Mary and a few other family members located a half mile up King George Road on the right hand side as driving towards the Lyons train station.

John V. Haas was one of the leader’s of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan at its peak in 1920’s. At this time the New Jersey’s largest following of the Klan resided between Patterson and New Brunswick. In May of 1924 a meeting by the members of the Ku Klux Klan was held at John V. Haas farm at West Millington. Between 4,000 and 5,000 members of the order witnessed all day activities with a parade, fireworks display, picnic, initiation ceremonies and speeches taking place. Three crosses were burned on site. One rally took place at the Old Whitnall Tract, an open stretch between Oak Stump Road (Present day Oak Street) and Lake Road. Eleven crosses were set ablaze; each Cross representing one thousand participants. At the same location on April 24, 1927, Easter Sunday an open air service was held. During the service twenty-three crosses in a circle lit up in flames. All of these events and more were each reported by The Bernardsville News. Life after World War One for many Americans may have been a very insecure time of the changing world. More and more people had access to automobiles thus creating easier migration for people for cities and away to relocate throughout the States. Local people were easily preached to becoming afraid of cultural and religious change. With time these understandings where corrected. During the end of the 1920’s local people stood up and saw the injustice. It is time to once again stand up.

Why the road was renamed to Haas Road makes no sense whatsoever. Yes John V. Haas owned a small farm named Sunnyside. The farm may or may not have been much of a profitable farm for Mr. Haas’s main source of income was being the owner of an automotive mechanic shop in Millington. The road should have never been named after a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

I suggest the Township rename the road one of three names. Stone House Road, as it originally was named, Vail Road for the first settlers, or Fortenbacker Road, one of Bernards Township past Police Captains that resided on the road for many years. We can right this wrong.

Christopher McManemin – Bernards Township