Hoage House

Hoage House. . , Lafayette and Harriet (nee Henon) Hoage are believed to be the first African-American family to settle here in 1868. In 1872, they built this vernacular Italianate house where their seven children were born. During the Civil War, Lafayette aided a severely wounded Union Army Captain, Alonzo L. Mabbett, who brought him to Rochester where the captain's family were conductors with the Underground Railroad. Lafayette and Harriet were married in Rochester's African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1867. , In this house, Lafayette, a coachman and member of Rutherford's Lincoln League, and Harriet, who was a seamstress, raised three daughters and four sons, one of whom, named Rutherford, died in infancy. Their oldest child, Lillian Florence Hoage, a seamstress, remained in this house through the mid-1930's. A son, David, was a physician and co-founder of the American Negro Tennis Association. His brother, George Lafayette, became an aide to eight Minnesota governors, including presidential candidate Harold Stassen. , Dedicated during Black History Month 2022 at the home of Tino and Marta Melhmann. Presented by Rutherford Mayor Frank Nunziato and the Rutherford Borough Council, the Rutherford Historic Preservation Committee, the Rutherford Civil Rights Commission, and Rod Leith, the Rutherford Borough Historian.