From the Archives: The Great Coytesville Trolley uprising of 1900

This week Fort Lee residents were hit with the possibility of huge toll increases on Port Authority crossings, which include our own George Washington Bridge. Gov. Christie has made pronouncements against the amount of the increase. The Fort Lee Mayor and Council may pass a resolution against such an increase in these difficult economic times. 

Seems the time is right to blow the dust off a forgotten chapter of Fort Lee history, our own little successful rebellion. 

What better section of Fort Lee for rebellion than the “Frozen North” of my youth, my very own Coytesville section of Fort Lee. I lived in the Coytesville section for most of my life, and my mom still resides in the house of my youth in the heart of the neighborhood named after its founder, Joseph Coyte.  

Mr. Coyte was a native of Devonshire, England when he came to the area in the 1840s and brought many of his relatives with him who were know for their ability as shoemakers.

Coytesvillians have always marched to the beat of a different drummer, and some of our residents have included the eccentric and wonderful Maurice Barrymore and his young son John Barrymore of the greatest American acting clan in our history. Others include the artist, George Overbury “Pop” Hart, who made his meal money by doing portraits of locals, including that of the school truant officer.

This background of Coytesville is a preface for a spring 1900 boycott on increased fares for commuters. This was long before the building of the George Washington Bridge and before the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. This was a boycott on the Palisade line of the Public Service Railway Company due to the increase in fares to 20 cents. The protest eventually caught traction, so to speak, and spread from Coytesville south to Weehawken. Eventually the trolley fare was reduced to 10 cents. 

What can we learn from our spiritual descendants who led this successful boycott?

Knowing the cantankerous and rebellious ways of Coytesvillians in the history of our borough—and I certainly include myself in this lot—I must say their fighting spirit forged together with an “Up the Rebels” demeanor is a recipe that can bring down fare increases and tyrants alike. 

So what say we invoke a bit of our history and stand up against this increase? And perhaps a century from now our descendants will recall the “Great Fort Lee Boycott of 2011.”

Editor's Note: The author is Executive Director of the Fort Lee Film Commission.