Town loses an old friend
Downtown Freehold Borough took a hard shot to the body in the second week of the new year when the landmark American Hotel was demolished.

The historic building, which stood in Freehold for about 180 years, held many memories for generations of area families who celebrated their most cherished occasions there.

At the end, and for the past few years, those memories were encased in a decaying shell of rotting wood, peeling paint, and cold, dark, damp ballrooms. It was difficult for those who loved this Main Street classic to watch the grand old landmark waste away.

Two years ago businessman Steve Goldberg bought the American Hotel at public auction and said he was determined to restore the building to its former glory with new uses.

However, according to Goldberg, preliminary interior work in the building revealed that years of neglect had taken too much of a toll to save the structure. The developer's original plan to remove only the third floor of the oldest portion of the American Hotel had to be scrapped.

Instead, most of the hotel building fronting Main Street, three stories of history and memories, came down. Now there is a large open space where the bulk of the American Hotel once stood. One section of the building that fronts Main Street will remain in place.

Goldberg says he will construct a new building that will resemble the old hotel. Freehold residents and municipal officials will wait anxiously to see that happen - hoping this businessman will provide the town with a building that may itself become a landmark and stand for 200 years.

One wonders whether the men who built the American Hotel in the early 1800s imagined that it would stand for almost two centuries. Could they have envisioned the thousands of family affairs that would be celebrated there? The countless meetings of area business and philanthropic organizations?

With the demise of the American Hotel, those people who celebrate local history and are its guardians are feeling a deep sense of loss. They may believe that they came up short in their efforts to protect an old friend, but they are not to blame.

Previous owners who let the American Hotel run into the ground were the true culprits in this sad turn of events. It seemed to be wishing beyond all realistic hope that Goldberg would be able to salvage the oldest part of the building.

As a newspaper that traces its roots back more than a century in Freehold, we, too, feel the loss of another piece of the town's history. This unfortunate development should serve as yet another reminder that the community's efforts need to be redoubled in order to preserve and protect Freehold's remaining architectural and historical landmarks.