History

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Tucked away in a corner, at the far, forgotten end of Atlantic County, there is a tiny little borough named Buena. On Monday October 10, 1949, an area of 7.9 square miles was incorporated into the Borough of Buena. The borough is comprised of three "place names"; Buena, Landisville and Minotola.

Although you may live in these towns and know that they exist, you may be told that they are just the names of places without an beginning, middle or end. Even though they have their own post offices that have been operating for a long time, one for over a hundred years, almost no one has heard of them. Their postal facilities were established as follows:

Town	Date	By
Landisville	September 25, 1871	Elijah Winston
Buena	June 15, 1889	Richard C. Cake
Minotola	August 7, 1897	John H. Sims

Well, I am here to tell you that they do exist, they are not just "place names", and they do have their own History. We who live in the Borough of Buena are alive and well! This year in 1979 we will be 30 years old, but our roots are deeper than that. Let us go back to England where it all began . . .

-Excerpt from "History of the Borough of Buena" January 1979 by Madeline Barrale

 

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GONE

A Poem By Madeline Barrale

Gone are the stations,
That once were here,
There were four in the Borough,
Scattered here and there.

On the W.J. and Seashore Line there were two,
One in Buena, and the other in "Jonas" so new,
On the Central R.R. two could be found,
Landisville and Wheat Road is where they were bound.

Along with two stations went the track,
Pulled up and disbanded they got the sack,
But one track remains and passes through,
It rarely stops as it used to do.

The freight station once a block long,
Has to go to, it didn't belong,
The past is history and the present too
For today is tomorrow and yesterday too.

The glass factory is gone,
We were only a pawn.
It closed down,
And so did the town.

The Halls of the Red Men and I.O.M.,
No longer exist, we've forgotten them.
Oyster suppers are in the past,
I don't remember when they had one last.

The hotels are gone,
They faded into the midst.
Do you remember,
How long was the list.

We once had a bus line,
And a taxi too.
We could ride into Vineland,
On John's bus or the "White and Blue".

But they're gone, forget it,
What can you do?
Get in your car and drive,
Like the rest of us do.

Movie theatres, we once had two,
Now we have none.
That's alright too.

We used to go bowling at the B & M,
But how could you remember,
You were too young then.

We once had a pond,
On which to skate,
But that's gone too,
Born too late.

But don't worry about me,
I'll find something to do.
Now let me see,
What can I do?