Jewish Amer. Society for Historic Preservation

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Alabama - Kansas

Mobile, Alabama

Little Rock, Arkansas

L.R. - Broncho Billy

Cotopaxi, Colorado

Leadville, Colorado

Cong. Medal of Honor

Groton, Connecticut

Wilmington, Delaware

Micanopy, Florida

Pensacola, Florida

Palm Beach (1), Florida

Palm Beach (2), Florida

Keokuk, Iowa

New Orleans, La. -1

New Orleans, La. -2

World War II Museum, La.

Kansas City, WWI Museum

Leavenworth, Kansas

Md. - Pa.

Bangor, Maine

Annapolis, Md.

Montgomery Cnty, Maryland

Hagerstown, Maryland

St. Paul, Minnesota

Jackson, Mississippi

Natchez, Mississippi

Helena, Montana April, 2001

Roosevelt, New Jersey

Buffalo, New York

Omaha, Nebraska

Virginia City, Nevada

Virginia City, Nevada -2

Las Vegas, N.M.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Burgaw, North Carolina

Ashley, North Dakota

Bonanzaville, N.D.

Valley City, North Dakota

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

S. Dakota - Wyoming

Lancaster, Pa.

Deadwood, South Dakota

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakot

Mt. Rushmore, S.D. -2

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Memphis, Tennessee

Clarion, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Wild Horse Butte, Utah

Charleston, W. Va.

Richmond, Va.

Spokane, Washington

Cheyenne, Wyoming

The Last Herzl

Leo Frank - Gov. Slaton

Col. John Henry Patterson

International Programs

Adam Worth - London

Bill Bernstein, Israel

Buchenwald - Little Camp

Exodus Memorial - Israel

Rev. W. Hechler - London

Machal Memorial, Israel

Paramaribo, Suriname

Joan Winters - Jerualem

American Holocaust Mem.

Hero Miles

Am. Jewish History

Boynton Beach Chronicles

Zionism and Israel

Article Submissions

Click to enlarge - Marker dedication
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Borough of Roosevelt

Jersey Homesteads Historic District

Organized as an agro-industrial Jewish cooperative community by the Provisional Commission for Jewish Farm Settlements in the United States, led by Benjamin Brown (1885-1939), Jersey Homesteads was one of approximately 100 communities built by the Roosevelt Administration in the 1930's.

Among the other members of the Provisional commission were Rabbi Stephan Wise and Albert Einstein.  The design of the community, with interior and exterior greenbelts, reflects the influence of Sir Ebenezer Howard, pioneer of the English "garden city" planning concept, while the design of the buildings by architects Alfred Kastner and Louis Kahn incorporates principles developed by Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus in Germany in the 1920's. 

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Jersey Homestead was settled beginning in 1936 and was incorporated as a borough in 1937.  Its name was changed to Roosevelt in 1945 in honor of the recently deceased president to whom the community owes its founding. 

Roosevelt has been home to many prominent artists, including Ben Shahn, who painted a mural in the elementary school depicting scenes of Jewish immigration to America, the garment industry, the labor movement, and the organization of Jersey Homesteads as a planned community for working people. 

Borough of Roosevelt - Jersey Homesteads Historic District

Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation



Benjamin Brown's Early Role  Jersey Homesteads assumed its particular character because of the influence of Benjamin Brown. Brown (1885-1939) was a Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant who had established rural cooperatives and became wealthy through setting up a poultry exchange between the Western states and New York. He was inspired by the agricultural colony of Biro-Bidjian in the Soviet Union, which he visited in the late 1920s. (1) Upon the announcement in early 1933 of the new program, Brown set up the Provisional Commission for Jewish Farm Settlements in the United States, which included prominent Jews, such as Albert Einstein, and representatives of various Jewish charitable and labor organizations. Brown and the Commission applied for a $500,000 award from the Division of Subsistence Homesteads to establish what became Jersey Homesteads, which was approved in December. Brown then purchased land in Millstone Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey (not far from Hightstown), and began taking applications for 200 settlers at $500 each to raise an additional $100,000. Five hundred acres of the 1,200 acre tract were to be used for farming, and the remaining portion for 200 houses on 1/2 acre plots, a community school, a factory building, a poultry yard and modern water and sewer plants. Max Blitzer was appointed Project Manager, and Samuel Finkler was given the task of selecting suitable families from among the applicants.
Click to enlarge - Benjamin Brown, the father of the Jersey Homesteads, 1936.
Benjamin Brown's Early Role  Jersey Homesteads assumed its particular character because of the influence of Benjamin Brown. Brown (1885-1939) was a Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant who had established rural cooperatives and became wealthy through setting up a poultry exchange between the Western states and New York. He was inspired by the agricultural colony of Biro-Bidjian in the Soviet Union, which he visited in the late 1920s. (1) Upon the announcement in early 1933 of the new program, Brown set up the Provisional Commission for Jewish Farm Settlements in the United States, which included prominent Jews, such as Albert Einstein, and representatives of various Jewish charitable and labor organizations. Brown and the Commission applied for a $500,000 award from the Division of Subsistence Homesteads to establish what became Jersey Homesteads, which was approved in December. Brown then purchased land in Millstone Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey (not far from Hightstown), and began taking applications for 200 settlers at $500 each to raise an additional $100,000. Five hundred acres of the 1,200 acre tract were to be used for farming, and the remaining portion for 200 houses on 1/2 acre plots, a community school, a factory building, a poultry yard and modern water and sewer plants. Max Blitzer was appointed Project Manager, and Samuel Finkler was given the task of selecting suitable families from among the applicants.     https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/roosevelt/rstory.shtml
Click to enlarge - Franklin sculpture

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