Community Corner
Local History: From Hair to Eyes
New Eyes for the Needy has been located at its current home since 1961.
New Eyes for the Needy has been on the upper end of Millburn Avenue since the 1960s, but that building was home to a beauty salon first.
According to the online history of the non-profit organization New Eyes for the Needy, "In 1958 New Eyes for the Needy was incorporated in New Jersey as a non-profit charitable organization. A new headquarters at 549 Milburn Avenue was purchased in 1961, with a downstairs extension added in 1963 and an upstairs addition completed in 1967 for use as a Jewelry and Giftware Showroom."
The history of New Eyes can be found on the organization's Web site and it further states the organization "was founded in 1932 by the late Julia Lawrence Terry of Short Hills, N.J."
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This photo of the same building is in the collection of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society and appears to be from the 1950s, at which time the building at 549 Millburn Ave. was home to Suburbia Beauty Salon. The photo was part of a collection of real estate records from a defunct Maplewood real estate office and comprises most of the properties in Millburn and Short Hills.
Lynne Ranieri is the curator of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society Museum at the Short Hills Train Station. Local History apprears on Mondays.
