to show how easy Austrian-born American opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936)
was very well known in Caldwell
While living at North Caldwell, Schumann-Heink became interested in efforts to honor President Grover Cleveland. The future president was born in 1837 in nearby Caldwell, New Jersey,where his father, Rev. Richard Cleveland was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. On September 10, 1912, Mme. Schumann-Heink performed a benefit concert at the church to raise money to purchase the adjacent Presbyterian Manse, Cleveland’s birthplace.
There were a lot of Nazi sympathizers in that area. Could the reason for the guards and dogs be that this was actually a bunker? Many of the old German families in the area there were loyal to Nazi Germany, and believed that Germany would prevail in the war, while at the same time, being prominent families, had to keep these beliefs secret. Check out the history of Federal Hill, and or Lake Valhalla, lots of stashes and caves have been found over the years.