$1.5M Federal Grant Will Fund Restoration Of Historic Berkeley School

BERKELEY, NJ — Nearly $1.5 million in federal funds are set to help restore to the historic Manitou Park School House, according to a news release from Rep. Chris Smith.

That money is part of $23.8 million in federal funds Smith has secured for improvements throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties.

“These critical projects will bring innumerable benefits and improvements to the people of Ocean and Monmouth counties, and I am honored to have played a role in securing the funding they need to bring these important initiatives to life,” Smith said.

The Manitou Park School House, now a dilapidated building, previously served as a school for the largest African American population in Ocean County outside of Lakewood.

"The Manitou Park School House exemplifies a vitally important time in the history of prefabricated construction and of public education in New Jersey," a 2004 report on the building prepared by architectural historian Ann M. Keen reads.

The school's primary construction material was asbestos, Keen explained, and also served as a segregated school for the Black residents of Manitou Park. During the 1920s, younger children in Berkeley attended school in Bayville while older students went to Toms River. At the time, the Dover (Toms River) School Board decided that the African American students should have their own school due to a belief that they were slower learners than white students.

For years, Berkeley has sought grants to help restore the school, with the hope that it will one day serve as a community center for Manitou Park residents.

According to Jersey Shore Online, the township has $900,000 for renovating the building. With this grant, they will begin working on the roof, siding and part of the inside, Jersey Shore Online reported.