SOCIETA SANTA CROCE CAMERINA |
1923 |
HACKENSACK, NJ |
1935 |
SSCC HALL |
The End of an Era |
I visited the SSCC Hall, May 2009 and I asked the owner, Louis Mingolo who is the owner of, Mingolo Precision Products , if he could hang the picture of the Saint Joseph 's feast celebration with the story along with it. He was very gracious and willingly hung the picture and story. While I was there, Louis Mingolo told me a little bit about the purchase of the building, which I thought worth recording. Written by: |
My grandfather's name in Italian was Biagio Meli but was always called Ben by everyone in America was the president of the SSCC Hall. He is the man sitting in the middle of the photo with the dark suit on. My Grandfather, Ben, and my Grandmother, Susan, and there four children Philamena, Tom, Kay, and Ben Jr., lived just a block up the street on the corner at 143 South Main and the building next to the house at 139 South Main, owned by a company called “Spirit” today was built by Biaggio {Ben} Meli and his brother Ralph and it was a candy factory in the 1930's |
Joseph Califano who lived on Hobart Street painted the religious picture in the photo. The food was donated by the women in the photo and other families and was auctioned off to raise money for the poor. As the bidding went on the auctioneer would stand on the table. During World War II, Briscolina Street, which is the next block over from South Main, was named after Charles Briscolina after he was killed in action during World War II. Tom Meli, who was delivering mail during the summer of 1944, brought his wife the Purple Heart he received and he never forgot how she cried all these years later. Written by: |
To read about Guiseppina (Josephine) Meli, |