WHITESBORO – Whether intentional or not, the Whitesboro community, according to some of its biggest supporters, seems to be fading away.
One of the most obvious signs of that has been, as residents said, their being urged not to use the 08252 ZIP code any longer, but to use the 08210 ZIP code of Cape May Court House.
On Friday, Dec. 20, Whitesboro residents and others gathered at the Whitesboro Grammar School on Main Street to discuss the history of the community and the signs of its disappearance.
In addition to the apparent loss of the ZIP code, members of the Whitesboro Historic Preservation Project noted the removal of anything Whitesboro from a pamphlet published jointly by the Cape May County Department of Tourism, Public Information and the Cape May County Culture and Heritage Commission, omitting a previous reference to Whitesboro as a planned Black community.
That reference notes the community’s being “founded in 1902 by the Equitable Industrial Association, which had prominent Black American investors.” Among them was George Henry White, the leading investor, for whom the community was named, and Booker T. Washington. The stated purpose for establishing the community was to “create a self-reliant community for blacks without the discrimination faced by black residents of the southern states.”
Likewise, a pamphlet titled “South Jersey Early American Historic Trail” has no reference to Whitesboro.
Shirley Green, founder of the Whitesboro Historic Preservation Project, spoke at the Dec. 20 meeting and briefly outlined decades of Whitesboro history. Green also is the founder and curator of the Whitesboro History Museum on Route 9.
Whitesboro, she said, holds a specific and notable place in Cape May County history.
“Whitesboro was started from racism in the early 1900s,” she said.
An item in the museum collection was an article in a Cape May newspaper in 1901 in which the publisher talks about eliminating African Americans from the city. In response to attitudes such as this, investors purchased tracts of land in what is known as Whitesboro, but which also carried names such as Wildwood Junction, Wildwood Junction Heights, Goshen, Burleigh and Mayville. The community included schools, hotels, a post office and a constable.
Felicia Simmons, the founder of Proper Foundation, talked about what was needed to incorporate a municipality, which many residents of Whitesboro would like to do; a petition backing incorporation has been circulating.
According to Simmons’ website, her organization is dedicated to providing information and connections to community residents to help them find solutions to the varying problems facing urban towns and cities.
She was offering her services to the Whitesboro Historic Preservation Project in navigating the difficult path to incorporation.
She said that in the late 1800s all that was needed to form a town was a committee of people. Later, elements such as a school and the office of constable were added to the requirements.
Simmons said the biggest disappointment is that she can’t seem to find a law that gives a municipality the right to absorb land. However, that is exactly what residents feel Middle Township has historically done with Whitesboro and the other nearby communities. Recently, she said, development has become the biggest enemy of Whitesboro.
“If you look what was Whitesboro in 1927 and what it is today, there was less development than today,” she said.
She cited tax sales of historically Black-owned property and the use of eminent domain, the latter of which is being used in behalf of a large housing project.
Meanwhile, Green and others, such as Arlene Robinson, continue to promote the history of Whitesboro and its part in the fabric of Cape May County.
“The history of Whitesboro is not just Black history,” Green said, “it’s American history.”
She said Whitesboro needs to have its independence once again.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
