Keyport Considers Tearing Down Former Borough Hall

Keyport is talking about tearing down its former Borough Hall on Main Street, according to Monday's Asbury Park Press. The building is a former Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) office that was converted to a municipal facility in the 1950's, according to the 21 June 2000 edition of The Independent.

The old borough hall housed the police department on the first floor, and the council chambers and courtroom were upstairs. The old facility did not meet Federal standards for a police station and the second floor offices were not handicapped accessible. Council meetings were held at the Keyport Senior Center until the new building could be built, according to the 23 Aug 2000 edition of The Independent.

The new building at 70 West Front Street, just around the corner from the old hall, was built for just over $4 million and was open for business in January 2004, according to the 3 Mar 2004 edition of The Independent. Talk of needing a new borough hall began in earnest in about 1993, according to page 6 of the 5 Oct 1994 edition of The Independent.

The Keyport Day 1955 committee held its meetings in the "former Keyport borough hall on East Front Street," according to the 11 Aug 1955 edition of The Matawan Journal,, suggesting that the Borough had moved recently to the Main Street address. That's the closest I could come to finding a reference to that move. If someone knows when it was, I'll dig some more in local references for a news article documenting the event.