In August, the New Jersey Historical Commission Board approved $5.2 million in statewide fiscal year 2027 general operating support, project, and county history partnership program grant support to 92 historical organizations, museums, historic sites, archives, libraries, individuals, and county re-grant agencies across the state.
Montclair History Center has received a $34,333 general operating support grant and a $10,046 project grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission. The operating support will directly support costs associated with Montclair History Center’s mission to steward and provide public access to our 20,000+ archival and artifact collections documenting Montclair’s history and the continued implementation of robust educational and public programs throughout the year.
The project grant will support adding the Montclair YWCA's story to the existing upper level of the Crane House and Historic YWCA museum. In 1912, seventeen women representing Black churches in Montclair gathered at the home of Alice Hooe Foster, the first African American to graduate from Montclair High School, and founded the Montclair Young Women's Christian Association. Recognizing a need in the community for Black women and girls, they created a space for leadership development, education, recreation, and housing.
In 2014, the Montclair History Center expanded its interpretation of the first level of the Crane House and Historic YWCA museum to reflect all periods of significance in the house. This includes the legacy of the Crane family and household, including the stories of enslaved people and servants from 1796 to 1900; the period from 1920 to 1965 when the house served as the YWCA for Black women and girls; and its transition in 1965 to a museum telling the story of preservation in its formative years in America.
Project funding will transform one room on the upper level of the museum into a 1920-1940 YWCA boarder's bedroom. Many Black women came to Montclair to work or to attend the State Teachers College, now Montclair State University, but until 1946, Black students were not permitted to stay in the college's dormitories. The second and third levels of the Crane House provided housing for up to 15 women, offering boarding for Black students and a safe place for women to live who were working in the community.
In 2022, a bipartisan bill signed into law the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail calling for the New Jersey Historical Commission to establish a Black Heritage Trail across the state promoting the awareness and appreciation of Black history. A New Jersey Black Heritage Trail historical marker honoring the legacy of the Montclair YWCA for Black women and girls was unveiled this past April at the Crane House and Historic YWCA museum. Montclair is home to two additional New Jersey Black Heritage Trail sites: the James Howe House and St. Mark's United Methodist Church.
How can you learn more about the Montclair YWCA story?
Hear the voices and stories of the women of the YWCA, watch the 2014 documentary "A Place to Become: Montclair through the Eyes of the Glenridge Avenue YWCA Women (1920-1965).”
Take an interactive tour at the Crane House and Historic YWCA Museum: www.montclairhistory.org/plan-your-visit
Visit the Montclair YWCA heritage trail marker at 110 Orange Road, Montclair.
About the New Jersey Historical Commission
The New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC) is a state agency dedicated to the advancement of public knowledge and preservation of New Jersey history. Established by law in 1967, its work is founded on the fundamental belief that an understanding of our shared heritage is essential to sustaining a cohesive and robust democracy.