Navy Park Historic District

Although most of the children in Orange played primarily at home or at school, Navy Addition did have a park at one end of the housing units. There was a baseball diamond and backstop in the park. The Navy officer’s wives, who primarily lived in Navy Addition, had a club, called the “Navy Officer’s Wives”, and they loved to have parties and get togethers.

The USO Club building opened January 28, 1942, and provided recreation for people, military, and civilian, in addition to providing sandwiches for the sailors as they came to Orange to board the ships. Recreation for adults could also be had across the river, where dancing and gambling were available in clubs. The most famous of these clubs were the Showboat, The Groves, Club Busters, and Felix Demarys.

Orange already had several large churches and on Sunday, the churches were always full, since so many boys had gone to war. A new hospital was built to accommodate Orange’s growth. With so many people moving in, the number of grocery stores grew. Two of the largest ones were the ABC Stores and Weingartens. There was a Weingartens near Navy Addition and another in Riverside. There were several Mom and Pop stores throughout town. The number of restaurants and other businesses also grew.

There was a 24-hour café near Consolidated and Livingston shipyards, called Anderson Brothers Café. It primarily served the shipyard workers, but anyone could eat there. The shipyard workers worked two ten-hour shifts Monday through Friday, and two eight-hour shifts on Saturday. Most of the workers came from rural backgrounds and had limited formal education and limited skills, but they learned to build ships, and they did it well.

The first twelve destroyers: USS Aulick, USS Charles Ausburn, USS Claxton, USS Dyson, USS Harrison, USS John Rogers, USS McKee, USS Murray, USS Sproston, USS Wickes, USS William D. Porter, and USS Young, were built on time and received a total of 100 battle stars. They were in every major engagement in the Pacific Ocean. Approximately 30 percent of the crews were either wounded or killed in action. The Charles Ausburn, Claxton, and Dyson were members of the Little Beaver Squadron and received a Presidential Citation for action in the ninth battle on Thanksgiving morning, 1943, when they sank five Japanese destroyers. Two of the destroyers built in Orange were honored for capturing an enemy submarine intact.

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