Local author shows Iselin's history through photos
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer

COURTESY OF JOHN MIELE John T. Miele and his niece and goddaughter, June Polanski Onder, display their book, "Then and Now of Iselin, Volume I," a compilation of photographs of how Miele, 86, saw Iselin when he was growing up.

WOODBRIDGE - John T. Miele, who was raised in Iselin and has livedmost of his life in the town, rememberswhen Iselin consisted of 20 to 30 families and half a dozen homes, and the town was mostly woods.

"It was a time when everybody knew everybody. There was no television, no electricity, and no bathrooms," saidMiele, 86.

Miele, along with his niece and goddaughter June Polanski Onder (daughter of his sister Anne Miele-Polanski) authored "Then andNowof Iselin, Volume I,"which is a compilation of photographs of how Miele saw Iselin growing up. The Author House publishing company published the book.

Miele now lives across the street from what was once Cooper's Dairy Barns on Middlesex Turnpike, where he used to play with Eddie and Mickey Cooper, sons of Frank, who owned the farm, and Mary Cooper.

Cooper's Dairy Barns is now the Social Security Disability Office building and the Iselin post office onMiddlesex Turnpike.

Miele's family lived in a little bungalow in the back of the old Miele homestead on Bloomfield Avenue for Miele's first five years, and then the family moved into a home on Juliet Street in 1926, which was the first home built on the street.

"My father had to create a new roadway for Juliet Street by removing trees and stumps to obtain access to the family lot on the street," saidMiele.

Miele's paternal grandfather,, John Miele was a horse and cow dealer and had a livestock slaughtering business. He also owned and provided school transportation forWoodbridge Township schools for a year (1920-1921).

"My father, Tom, drove the first school horse-drawn wagon in Iselin," saidMiele.

Miele said he started to think aboutwriting the book after he showed a friend some photographs of the early years in Iselin.

"My mother [Anna] always saved everything, took photographs, and marked the date on each and every one of them," he said. "My sister Ethel [Dunnue] gave me incentive to write the book, and the friend who said 'Why don't you share themwith others?' inspired me to share my story."

Dunnue gave her brother a box full of mementos, postcards, newspaper clippings, and letters that Miele sent their mother while he was overseas in the U.S. Marine Corps fighting duringWorldWar II.

"She also reminisced and shared family stories that our mother shared with her throughout the years," Miele says in the book.Miele gathered the hundreds of photographs, newspaper clippings, mementos, and postcards and decided to start his book with awedding day photograph of his father and mother, Tom and Anna Miele, dated June 6, 1920.

"My mother inspired me, so I decided to start with her life and follow through with me growing up in Iselin and going into the service," saidMiele.

Miele was the oldest of three children- two sisters, Anne and Ethel, were born on April 24, 1921, in hismother's parents'home on HillsideAvenue in South Plainfield.

The book provides photographs of what Oak Tree Road looked like in the 1930s; St. Cecelia'sRomanCatholic Church circa 1953; the Old Iselin Hotel on the corner of Green Street and Middlesex Turnpike circa 1923; themovie house known as Embassy Theatre at the intersection of Correja Avenue and Oak Tree Road; the original Pennsylvania Railroad Train Station in Iselin circa 1935; a photograph from The Evening NewsMagazine Section depicting the class of June 1911 at the one-room schoolhouse, Public School No. 6 on Green Street; Public School No. 15 on PershingAvenue; the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2636 building circa 1948; and a photograph of a fiberglass life-sizemustang horse purchased by Miele's Excavating and Grading, which was used for three years as the John F. KennedyMemorialHigh School football team's mascot.

"The horse was finally sold to a lady in Colonia, where she displays it in her backyard," saidMiele. "ThemagazineWeirdNew Jersey wrote an article about her and the horse."

Miele displays photographs of the original Iselin Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 District 9 and the forming of IselinHook and Ladder CompanyDistrict 11,which is at the intersection of Route 27 andAuthAvenue.

Miele's father served as a fireman for over 30 years, his Uncle Emil served more than 50 years and served as a chief engineer, and Miele himself served as a fireman for over 13 years in the Iselin Volunteer Fire Company No. 1.

After Miele graduated from high school in 1940, he was contemplating on what he wanted to do and at first had his sights set on joining the U.S.Air Force.

"I couldn't make it because of my eyes," saidMiele,who then joined theU.S.Marine Corps for four years inMay 1942.

Miele, who landed in Guadalcanal on Nov. 11, 1942, and served to take care of Henderson Field, said he was lucky enough to be part of theMarine Engineers FirstAviation Engineers, later known as First Separate Engineers.

"I was a heavy equipment operator," he said. "I ran whatever equipment that needed an operator. We built airstrips, roads, bridges, camps, and other buildings, and we also maintained what we built."

The First Separate Engineers alongwith the Army and Navy engineers built the airstrip that the EnolaGay flewfromto drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

Miele served with the Marine Engineer Battalion from Nov. 11, 1942, to June 22, 1945, during which time he participated in the defense of Guadacanal, the British Solomon Islands, the base development of Tinian,Marianas Islands and the seizure of Okinawa Shima Ryukyu Islands.Mielewas discharged on May 3, 1946, from Camp Legune, North Carolina, where he was an instructor in heavy equipment.

Miele came back to Iselin, and his first thought was, "I don't belong here."

According to the 1963 U.S. Census, the population of Iselinwas 15,600, and in 2005 the populationwas recorded at 17,054.Miele said data on just Iselin is not available prior to 1963 because the census count was always incorporated in the count for Woodbridge Township.

"I was gone for four years and I was so used to being in the military," said Miele, who said Iselin really started growing in 1940.

At the end of 1946, Miele bought a used bulldozer, dump truck, and trailer.

"I becameMiele Excavating andGrading Co.," wrote Miele in his book. "My years in the service influencedmy career path.Acouple of years later, I bought property onGreen Street and built a garage and yard, where I had a garden center supply yard.Years later, I relocated toGill Lane,where I sold flowers and produce along with the contracting and landscaping business."

Miele displays photographs of his business that were taken in the 1950s and a collage of photographs and newspaper clippings fromwhen hisAllis-CharlmersD6 diesel bulldozer dropped into a 20-foot or more unseen and camouflaged covered hole on May 21, 1962, near the Woodbridge Township Dumps.

Rick Brothers of Avenel with the help of four heavy-duty machines hauled the bulldozer out after three days and nights from the marshy dump, onMay 24, 1962.

Miele said he has been receiving a lot of recognition and people have been enjoying his book.

Besides writing books, Miele works at the Clark ShopRite, where he has been working since January 1999.Miele said he didn't have enough room to fit all the photographs he has collected into his first book and is currently working on his second book, "Then and Now of Iselin Volume II," which he expects to be released this month.