The History of Hobart Manor National Historic Landmark and Elegant Campus Centerpiece As you drive through Wayne, with its residential neighborhoods, corporate headquarters, and shopping malls, it’s difficult to imagine life at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the area mainly consisted of working farms and country estates. For the people of Paterson, the hills above the city offered peace and quiet, a mountain retreat with forests of towering pines, long sweeping meadows, running brooks, and views of the distant New York City skyline.Since 1951, William Paterson University has been situated on one such estate. Called Ailsa Farms, the property was owned by the family of Garret Hobart, the twenty-fourth vice president of the United States who served under William McKinley. Its stately 40-room mansion, nestled in a hollow at the southeastern end of the estate, served as the setting for numerous holiday parties and important social events, a place where dignitaries and prominent business people of the time gathered. (Full story ») The Sunday Tea at Hobart Manor »
