Dr Daniel Drake

Dr. Daniel Drake Article from the Butler Argus March 26, 1950. Dr. Drake Owned and Operated Idylease from 1906 until he died in 1951. Thanks to Ron & Andrea Roeser who live in Dr Drake’s former residence for providing me the original newspaper clipping.
NEWFOUNDLAND — Sunday will mark the Sixtieth Wedding Anniversary for Dr. and Mrs. Drake of Union Valley Road, Newfoundland. The couple plan to celebrate quietly at their home.

Dr. Drake, who is 86, and who has been practicing medicine for For 61 years, can be found every day at his offices at his home and at Idylease Inn, a sanitarium across the road.

Idylease opened in 1903, and Dr Drake was appointed president and head of the staff. His appointment first brought him and his wife to Newfoundland. He was associated at the time with the late Dr. Edgar A. Day of Brooklyn.

Books on medicine became his first interest, while living with his brother, Dr. James Drake of Hancock, N.Y., who encouraged him and financed his five years at the University of Vermont, where he received his degree at the age of 25.

He started his practice in Equinonk, Pa., where he was initiated into the rugged life of a country doctor, during an epidemic of pneumonia. There were calls day and night, out into the forests where woodchoppers lived with no telephone, electric lights or any modern conveniences. He always carried a shovel to dig his way out of snowdrifts, in those horse and buggy days. “I went to work at 25, and have been working ever since.” the doctor explained. “My hobby you see is practicing medicine, nothing else.”

Due to a shortage of nurses, patients at the sanatorium are limited to elderly men, who are cared for by male orderlies. This reduced the work at the sanatorium for Dr. Drake, but he is still kept busy with office and outside calls.

He is a member of the American Red Medical Association and one of the oldest members of the Passaic County Medical Association.

For 40 years he has been president of the Board of Health and for many years president of the American Red Cross local chapter.

Mrs. Drake’s hobby is flowers and rare plants. There are 163 plants in the windows of the large colonial house built for the Drakes in 1932. The doctor often assists in the caring of the plants. A picture of one of Mrs. Drake’s prize plants, the “Sansevieria Cylundria,” or “Devil’s Tongue,” was shown in a current magazine, with the history written by her.

Dr Daniel Drake. Owner & Operator of Idylease 1906-1951

The couple were married in Deposit, N.Y., at the home of the bride. The event was sandwiched in-between the doctor’s morning and evening calls in Equinonk. He had to make his morning calls, “but,” her chuckled, “I was lucky, that day, they were all in town.”

When the ceremony was over, he and his bride, the former miss Miss Belle M. Walley, hastened back to Equinonk in time for office hours and night rounds.

Their first vacation and belated honeymoon came when the doctor was 60 years old. They had their first Florida trip. After that first vacation, the Summer months were spent in a camp in Canada.

The Drakes have a daughter, Leonore, at home, and a son, Dr. L. B. Drake of Franklin. There are two grandsons, William Walley Drake, a student at Harvard University, and Charles Daniel Drake of Bryn Mawr, Pa.

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The Old Newfoundland Post Office

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In April of 1964 a group of students from Paradise Knoll Elementary School tour the post office to observe the process of mail delivery.

Located between Oak Ridge Road and Clinton Road on Route 23 South, The Newfoundland Post Office serviced local residents until it moved into its new location in Lakeland Plaza in the 1970s.

The postmaster at the old location was Jim Norman, who lived in Newfoundland for many years. Jim was also a member of the Community Fire Co. in Newfoundland and a founding member of the North Jersey Historical Society. After retirement Jim moved to Colorado to live with his son and passed away there.

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The Community Fire Co. No. 1 of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge’s first fire truck – a 1,000 G.P.M. 1917 American La France pumper from a Union City auction – is readied by Jim Norman and Peter Klapmuts.

 

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Idylease: A Historic Landmark

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Idylease c. 1903

Welcome to the Idylease online blog.

Most local residents are aware that Idylease has stood on Union Valley Road for many years. When she opened her doors on New Year’s day in 1903, there were 45 stars on the flag, Teddy Roosevelt was President and Orville Wright took flight at Kitty Hawk.

It is not uncommon for me to run into people of a certain generation that either had their tonsils removed by my father, Dr. Arthur Zampella or learned to swim at the indoor pool at Idylease.

I sometimes wonder if local residents are aware of the rich and varied role of Newfoundland’s most impressive historic structure. I hope that this new online repository of memorabilia will solidify and inform local residents about her rightful place in the annals of West Milford History.

Since April of 2016, when I purchased Idylease I have researched many documents and records in the hope of resurrecting memories, personalities and places that have been lost to history. Considerable time has been spent scanning original glass plates, digitally restoring photographs and repairing tattered documents. Over the coming months I will share the results of those efforts with you all.

I fully encourage you all to ask questions and volunteer information that may pertain to previously unknown facts and family histories that are part to the lineage of the place we call home.

Richard Zampella at Idylease
www.idylease.org
July 2016

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