Mystic Island New Jersey NJ Warrant Search

Mystic Island, New Jersey Mystic Island (also called Mystic Islands or Mystic) is a large, mostly-waterfront development originally planned as a resort community within Little Egg Harbor Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey. It is a Census-designated place and an unincorporated area located As of the 2000 United States Census, the CDP population was 8,694.The community was started in the early 1960s as a waterfront community with vacation bungalows, but some areas of the development have been built well into the 1990s. In the past few years, however, many of the original bungalows are slowly being replaced with much larger homes on pilings that are popular in nearby beach communities such as Long Beach Island.Mystic Island is bounded by Radio Road, Center Street, and Mathistown Road. However, many locals disregard the boundaries and sometimes refer to the entire town of Little Egg Harbor as 'Mystic'. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 20.1 km² (7.8 mi²). 19.7 km² (7.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (1.93%) is water. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 8,694 people, 3,485 households, and 2,453 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 440.5/km² (1,141.1/mi²). There were 4,962 housing units at an average density of 251.4/km² (651.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.51% White, 0.68% African American, 0.31% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.87% from other races, and 1.08% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.22% of the population.There were 3,485 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.6% were non-families. 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.89.In the CDP the population was spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 22.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.The median income for a household in the CDP was $41,674, and the median income for a family was $47,372. Males had a median income of $38,654 versus $27,420 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $18,737. About 4.4% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.3% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over. Early history The area that is currently Mystic Island was once called 'Hickory Island', and was serviced by the Tuckerton Railroad and one two-lane street named 'Shore Road', which was later renamed 'Radio Road' after the Tuckerton Wireless Tower.The Tuckerton Wireless Tower (39°33′31″N 74°22′14″W / 39.5585°N 74.3706°W / 39.5585; -74.3706 (Tuckerton Wireless Tower)) was built in 1912 by the German 'Hochfrequenzmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft fuer drachtlose Telegraphie' company (The High Frequency Machine Corporation for Wireless Telegraphy, often referred to as HOMAG) when the present-day Mystic Island was called Hickory Island. The tower was used to communicate with an identical radio telegraph station in Eilvese, Germany starting on Jun 19, 1914, less than two weeks before the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The station continued to communicate with Eilvese until America entered World War I on April 6, 1917. It is rumored that it was used to send the message to order the attack by a German U-boat on the RMS Lusitania. After President Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality, the President ordered the US Navy to take over the station on Sep 9, 1914 to assure the neutrality of messages sent to and from the station; however, the station continued to be operated by German nationals employed by HOMAG and continued to communicate only with the Eilvese radio station. When America entered the war, all U.S. radio stations were seized and shut down by Executive Order. The Tuckerton Radio Station was assigned to the US Navy which used it primarily to back-up the communications of the US Navy's main transatlantic radio station in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The remaining German personnel at Tuckerton became war prisoners and were replaced by Navy personnel when the U.S. entered the war. After the war, the Tuckerton Wireless Station was included in German war reparations paid to America. Shortly afterwards, it was sold to RCA which operated it until 1948 as a backup to their Radio Central facility in Rocky Point, New York. In 1921, RCA installed two massive Alexanderson alternators, which were removed in 1948. For transatlantic communications, the radio station operated under the call signs WCI and WGG. For coastal communications, after World War I, the station operated under the callsign WSC. The 680-foot steel tower, anchored by three large concrete blocks, was taken down on December 27, 1955. The three huge anchor blocks still exist today, in a backyard on North Ensign Drive and in the middle of South Ensign Drive and Storysail Drive. Many smaller anchor blocks providing foundations for smaller towers that supported the umbrella antenna are still visible in the lagoons. Remains of the tower can be seen in scraps at the Giffordtown Museum. Development After the demise of the tower, RCA sold the Hickory Island property at a sum of $55,000 to Lagoon Parks, Inc., a land development company of the 1950s and 60s, whose corporate partners are now deceased. Many have incorrectly speculated that it was built by the Shapiro Brothers, who developed many parts of Long Beach Island and Beach Haven West. The development was named 'Mystic Islands', plural, encompassing seven small islands where the waterways were filled in to produce buildable land. Construction began slowly in 1959. The lagoons were dredged up until the early 1970s, when it was stopped by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection with the passage of CAFRA I and CAFRA II. Several unfinished lagoons can still be seen along the west end of Calabreeze Way and on the Osborn Island section.The original home designs were basic bungalows, with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom, and a carport at the left side. The homes were intended to be sold as recreational or year round homes, as standard equipment included a furnace and Johns Manville R-7 Insulation. Over time, several more models were added, nearly a dozen during its boom period. Home designs included slab homes, raised homes, two-story, flat tops, raised roofs, etc. 2 and 3 bedroom homes were also available.The homes were made in a warehouse on the intersection of Radio Road and Playhouse Drive, near the site of the Tuckerton Wireless tower, and had been used for storage by the former Sands Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Buyers ordered the design by catalog, and the homes were delivered a week later. Some of the model homes were located on Radio Road, across from the present-day 'Shoppes of Mystic Isle' shopping center. Nearby was a large concrete sign reading 'Mystic Islands', which no longer exists. The first sections to be completed were the Radio Road terminus, while the Twin Lakes Boulevard section was constructed well into the 1970s.The area known as Osborn Island included a 9-hole golf course, a beach, and small area with amusement rides. Although the golf course and amusement park went out of business in the 1970s, most of the Osborn Island section prospered in comparison to the rest of Mystic Island, with the construction of several condominium communities and new homes since the 1980s.After the dredging of the lagoons was stopped, construction began on the non-waterfront section north of Calabreeze Way. The area east of Radio Road was named 'Pulaski Village' and consisted of small, narrow homes, while the much larger section west of Radio Road, named 'Westwood', contained suburban-style ranches and split-level homes. However, tough economic times halted the development of the Westwood subdivision for over a decade until the early-1990s when the empty lots were filled in with mid-size suburban homes dubbed 'Drewes Landing'. However, Drewes Landing was plagued with failed loans and racketeering, and in August 1995, one of the developers and investors, 35 year-old Joseph G. Paggi Jr. killed himself after he failed to pay back loans for the development Development was halted again for a few years, but by the late 1990s developers like Mezzina Real Estate and Stonehenge constructed homes on the remaining empty lots.During the boom period of Mystic Island, there were several social centers and amenities. A circular building at the intersection of Radio Road and Bayview Drive was originally constructed as a 'Boatel', where boaters could dock, eat, and even sleep. This concept didn't last, and it later became a Boat sales showroom, later a pizza parlor, and then a bar named 'The Rotunda'. It is currently home to the Living Water Christian Center.Diagonally from the Boatel was a community center, on Playhouse Drive between Radio Road and S. Captains Drive, and included an Olympic-sized saltwater swimming pool and marina. The building was eventually turned into a restaurant called the 'Mystic Island Casino', which burned down in the 1970s, and opened in a new building on Mathistown Road, which still operates to this day. The original site is now home to condominiums, the residents of which have exclusive rights to use the former marina.The building currently home to the Little Egg Harbor Community Center on Calabreeze Way was originally a shop functioning as part of the pre-fabrication process. It later became a Roman Catholic church known as 'St. Michael of the Archangel'. In 2002, it was sold to the Township of Little Egg Harbor and is currently to the township Community Center.There is a statue and plaque in the Pulaski Village section of Mystic Island on Pulaski Boulevard commemorating Kazimierz Pułaski for his role during the Little Egg Harbor massacre.