By Randall Gabrielan
The three-story “fireproof” headquarters that Franklin Pierce Stryker erected for his warehouse and livery business in 1909 represented one of the finest business buildings in town when new. Now, after years of vacancy, Sickles Market returns stature to a faded gem.
Stryker, born in 1862 in Tinton Falls, began horse and carriage rental operations early in the decade in rented quarters at the 200 Monmouth St. location. He aspired to the highest quality, offering the finest rigs in Red Bank; no worn-out horses, no old carriages, but everything the finest. As fire destroyed his stable in July 1908, employees rescued nine horses, while losing carriages and equipment, but the firm was able to operate elsewhere.
After Stryker joined with Morgan V. Disbrow, the partnership adopted the trade name “Public Service,” bought the property and erected a building with a 124-foot frontage on Monmouth Street that was 134 feet deep. Carriage and automobile storage occupied the first floor, while the upper stories were warehouse space. The open second story was utilized by the firm, while the third floor was partitioned for private storage. Their architect is unknown.
Stryker and Disbrow dissolved Feb. 11, 1911; the latter sold half his realty interest to Stryker who took his nephew Lester H. Stryker as junior partner. Disbrow remained nearby to erect the handsome garage across the street at 25 Bridge Ave. the next year. He acted as his own architect and builder, claiming that the step-gable design element intended to reflect his aspirations for excellence. Disbrow began a number of automotive operations but sold the building later in 1912.
Lester Stryker, born in 1889 in Marlboro and a 1910 graduate of the New York University School of Veterinary Science, served in the Army Veterinary Corps. He returned to the Stryker Building in December 1918 after service in the Great War just as the firm reoriented the business. By then Frank, who had acquired his first auto moving van in 1913, realized that the era of the horse was rapidly waning. He shifted the focus of the business to automobiles as he sold at auction 10 carriage-driving horses and 25 carriages Dec. 13, 1918. The next year the partition between the garage and carriage house was removed to expand the garage to 100 by 80 feet, then the largest in Red Bank.
The building expanded as business grew. In 1922 the firm extended the western end of the Monmouth Street side to build three stores along with an auto repair shop on its second story with additional storage space on the third. The Anderson Brothers moving and storage firm bought the building in 1940 as its fourth location in Red Bank to begin their half-century occupancy. Frank Stryker, who had been a member of the borough council, head of the police department and a constable, was stricken in his automobile Sept. 30, 1943 and died a short distance from the building. Lester was resident of Ocean Township when he died in 1972.
The article originally appeared in the August 13 – 19, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
