A BUILDING IN WAITING

Photos and Story By Daniel Israel

The Bayonne Community Museum at 229 Broadway preserves history and makes history. According to the city’s Public Information Officer Joe Ryan, the building was constructed for the Bayonne Trust Company as a

bank in 1912. The Vermont granite-clad structure with its ornate Beaux-Arts-style architecture stands as a “temple to money.”

Establishing a Bayonne museum stemmed from efforts by Mayor Joseph Doria to have the battleship USS New Jersey dock in Bayonne. In the late ‘90s, the city was in the running to become the ship’s permanent home.

If it came to Bayonne, there was a push to have an onshore interpretive center. The city did not get the battleship, which is now berthed in Camden.

Theonshoreinterpretativecenter morphed into the concept for the Bayonne Community Museum.

The city acquired the bank building under Doria’s administration in 2001. After a series of mergers, Fleet Bank no longer needed it and donated it to the city for $1.

Renovations restored the building to its current state. The original banking features were replaced, stripping the building of ‘70s fixtures and a drop ceiling that hid an elaborate stained-glass window, which was restored.

An architectural firm was brought in to recommend paint for the interior to match the original.

During the pandemic, the events space found other uses. For a period of time, the Bayonne Community Museum served as virus testing site.

And when the vaccine rollout began, the city set up its second point of vaccination at the museum.

The site proved to be quick and easy to use.

Its success, alongside an expansion in vaccine eligibility and dosage allotment, led to the city to establish a third point of distribution at the Korpi Ice Rink.

But the museum will once again find itself an events space as the city continues to recover from COVID-19.

The site will be available for cultural events since the vaccine distribution there has ceased. The hope of displaying historic exhibits has not died.

One day, with the right funding, the building will become the museum Bayonne has always wanted—BLP.

The Bayonne Food Bank distributed food here during the pandemic. Photo courtesy of the Bayonne Community Museum

Funding wasn’t available to make the museum dream a reality.

Under Mayor Mark Smith, the city began using the building as an event space and venue for cultural activities.

It’s housed events with the Division of Recreation, rotating art exhibits, musical and theatrical performances and rehearsals, spoken word poetry, and receptions and awards dinners.

The city owns a collection of historic items currently in storage that will be merged with the collection of the Bayonne Historical Society. While plans are in the works to exhibit these artifacts, the pandemic put the effort on hold.