It’s always fun to hear how a story becomes a story for us. In fact, there’s always a story about a new story. History is a bit like sewing…. when you pull a thread, you never know where it will go and who is involved. This one is no different. We were researching veterans and soldiers from the area. We stumbled upon this fascinating story, which is tied to today’s New Jersey affordable housing developments, the cost of living, and how to help provide housing in a suburban environment. Spencer Road brought us here.
This story came about after the Mr. Local History Project researchers prepared research of Bernards Township developments in the 20th century. Many residents started asking about the Spencer Road development, one of the first in the township to provide lower-income homes for veterans returning from WW2. Spencer Road was one of the township’s first large-scale developments with a few of the area’s developers.
Coincidentally, Mr. Local History’s founder and his family moved to Basking Ridge in 2004, and guess where they chose to live? YES, Spencer Road.
In 1945, two years after a tragic event at sea, a new street in Basking Ridge was dedicated as a memorial to Ridge resident and Navy pilot Austin Spencer. The 33-acre tract from West Oak Street to Lake Road, owned by Bernardsville’s Stuart Sutton, was later developed by Stewart K. Sutton, Dobbs Realty, the Basking Ridge Development Company, and others.
Lieutenant Austin (Spike) Pendleton Spencer was born in Colchester, Connecticut on January 17, 1918. He was later raised as the eldest of four siblings, Emily, Alice, and Trueman Jr., in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and grew up on West Oak Street, across from today’s Oak Street Elementary School. After graduating from Bernards High School, Spencer graduated from the University of Connecticut in May 1940. Shortly after he graduated, Spencer enlisted in the United States Navy.
During World War II, Spencer was lost at sea in 1943 while piloting a Lockheed PV-1 bomber on a submarine search mission in the North Atlantic. “Spike” Spencer served as a naval aviator after achieving his pre-war Aviation Cadet (AVCAD) program credentials.
Spencer held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, with the service number 0099935. Although his remains were never recovered, a memorial stone exists in his honor alongside his parents.
There’s a general assumption that the curvy part of Spencer Road is the original and older section between the curvy and straight sections, but this doesn’t seem to be true. After looking at the age of the homes, most homes were built along both sections between 1950 and 1955. We found one built in 1946, which seems to be the oldest house on the street. Yes, it’s on the curvy section. Did Spencer Road have a street name before the dedication? The answer is leaning towards no. The curved section meanders a left and right based on elevation since Lake Road is at a lower height than the top of the curve by Culberson Road, which may have started as a trail up the hill that was later turned into a dirt road in the mid-1940s to build the first house off Lake Road. MLH will continue to dig.
On September 20, 1949, the Bernards Township Committee passed a resolution to approve developer Stewart K. Sutton’s construction of a new 3,200-foot road connecting Oak Street to Lake Road, eliminating two dead-end roads. Then, on October 20, 1949, it was reported that the Spencer Road request was approved to connect Lake Road up the Spencer Road hill (the curvy part) north to West Oak Street.
Records show that on June 1, 1954, Austin’s parents, Trueman and Emily Spencer, moved to 122 Spencer Road. Before moving to the street named after their son, the Spencers lived at 65 West Oak Street, across from the Oak Street School off Hillside Terrace.
2025: Interestingly, we learned that the home Austin Spencer grew up in in the 1930s actually has another “Austin” living in the same house. The owners reached out to let us know. We’re glad this “Austin came home.”
After WWII, many veterans wanted to take advantage of the GI Bill and get a piece of the American dream. In Bernards Township, that area became Spencer Road. While not a “typical complex development,” it became known as one of the first neighborhoods built at a rapid scale.
In 2003, before there was a Mr. Local History Project, there was Spencer Road. After losing out on a bidding war on our new home on Melborune Way, we went on a one-day fifteen-house tour and FINALLY closed on our first home on Spencer Road. Our life in Basking Ridge began.
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Thanks for sharing this fascinating history! We live in the Spencer family's former home on West Oak, and our son's name is Austin - what a remarkable coincidence. I learned a lot from your article.
I used to play at Charlane Whitlock's house on Spencer Rd. It was on the bend as you headed down to Lake Rd. Her family moved to Summit when we were in 5th or 6th grade. Kept in touch with her for quite awhile. Not so now. She was in Illinois. She went to Northwestern. Fond memories.
Grew up on 97 Spencer. It started as a tiny postwar cube of a postwar house. Now it’s a sprawling ranch. Even as a tiny cube, a great place to grow up.
I remember the Spencers lived next door to us (1958-1967). Their son had been killed overseas (Korean War?) And Spencer Road was named for him. Previously, it was Serpentine Rd.
Spencers lived on the corner of West OaK & Hillside Terrace at 122 Spencer Road. He worked at Public Service in Newark and was tax collector for Bernards Township for over 25 years. Of his two (2) boys Trueman was the younger....he and my father wanted to open a hardware store. Truman went to work for Bernards Builders. Pittsburgh Paint hired him away from there as a sales rep. He and his wife, Jean, lived on Park Lane (between 202 and Madisonville Road). Their kids Alice and Jim are probably your age, Larry, or John Carlson's. They all moved to NYS when 287 took their house. Trueman's brother, Austin, was a pilot in WWII stationed in Nova Scotia. He married a Canadian and had a child. He flew out over the ocean and was never seen again. Yes, Spencer Road was named for Austin Spencer. The boy's mother died young, and Mr. Spencer remarried. He no longer lived in that house.
The road was named after my uncle’s brother, a WWII vet who did not return. I swam in his parents' pool as a kid on that street around 55.