The MacLeod-Rice House at Croydon Hall

This past April 2006, the Middletown Township Historical Society celebrated its 23rd year at Croydon Hall in the house that's in the very center of activity at the Township's Parks and Recreation Department's complex. Here is a brief history of the white mansion.

The land that Croydon Hall sits on was originally part of the Burdge Farm, which dated back to the 18th century. Edward C. Burdge sold the land to the Highland Park Improvement Company in 1892. The company sold lots for summer homes for wealthy New York citizens, but due to the depression of 1893, many of the lots remained empty. In order to entice buyers, a golf course was added around some of the houses that had already been built, becoming what is now known as Beacon Hill County Club.

The old Burdge farmhouse had not been demolished and Donald W. MacLeod, a New York City linen importer, bought it along with two lots in 1894. A new house was built onto the front of the old farmhouse and designed it in the Queen Anne style with two towers.

MacLeod died in 1901, and his widow later married Melvin A. Rice who was president of MacLeod's company. Rice remodeled the house, demolished the towers and built the impressive columned front porch. Known as Drynoch Farms, it was a gentleman's farm with 300 acres of corn, clover, potatoes, chickens, cows, and 24 employees.

A Democratic political figure from Brooklyn, Rice was a good friend of Woodrow Wilson who was a frequent guest at the house.

Rice was also active in education and became president of both the Middletown Township and later the New Jersey Boards of Education. He donated two acres of his land in order for the first Township high school to be built, located where Bayshore Middle School presently stands on Leonardville Road. He also gave money to the school for equipment. It was regarded as a model rural high school at the time.

After Rice died in 1924, his widow continued to live there until Dr. John M. Carr bought the property in the early 1940's with the idea of turning it into a private boys boarding school.

Croydon Hall Academy opened its doors in 1946 with classes held in the mansion and eventually expanded into the Rice outbuildings. Several buildings were added, including the classroom building (now the Parks & Recreation office), the dormitory (now the senior center), and the gymnasium.

The Academy closed in 1975, and the Township acquired the property in 1977 through a Green Acres purchase. Carr and his family retained lifetime rights to the apartment on the second floor of the house. He died in 1984. The third floor, which had been used for dorm rooms, is now vacant.

Besides the Historical Society's offices in the library wing (formerly Rice's library and Academy administration offices), our meeting room (former dining area), and our museum (former ballroom), other groups share first floor space. Crossroads Substance Abuse Services is located in the back wing (former cafeteria), and a wrestling room is located off the library wing (former study hall). Locker rooms are in the basement.

Howard Goch, a member of the faculty for 10 years, visited the museum one Sunday last Spring and pointed out that part of our meeting room had been walled off with glass partitions and used as the faculty dining area. The room where we keep many of our items not currently on display had been the office where students who wanted to go "into town" would sign themselves out. And our desk in the office is situated just as Dr. Carr's had been.

The Historical Society recently found several old photographs of the mansion when the columns were round instead of the now familiar square columns. The columns must have been replaced early on in the Academy's history since there is one picture where a brace replaces one of the round columns. Perhaps this first round column was the inspiration for the Academy's yearbook, "The Column."

Nearly 30 years after Croydon Hall Academy closed its doors, we still call the area "Croydon Hall" and use it as a landmark for many activities associated with the Township, including Middletown Day every September. The mansion, though now showing its age, is a magnificent structure that sits grandly back off of Leonardville Road, waiting for the next event to fill the area back up again with activity.

From the Middletown Township Historical Society newsletter, "Township Times," Spring 2004