Family home becomes part of legacy to boro
Santelle home demolished for park expansion
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

Dominick Santelle watches as his longtime home is demolished. The property will be used to expand a park that is named in his honor.

LITTLE SILVER - In the 1950s, he organized the borough's baseball program on his own and watched it grow into a full-fledged recreation program.

"I think other than maybe the firehouse field, almost every baseball field in Little Silver, Dominick Santelle was responsible for building basically," said son Paul Santelle.

Dominick Santelle then became the first chairman of Little Silver's Department of Parks and Recreation in the 1960s, a position he held for about a dozen years, according to Paul Santelle.

Dominick watched his Riverview Avenue home along the Shrewsbury River in Little Silver be demolished Monday morning, in the company of family, to pave the way for an upgraded recreational center for the community.

"We were fortunate that the park that this property will be incorporated into was dedicated to my father," said Paul Santelle, now a local businessman in a neighboring town. "It made sense if you looked at the property - you would say this looks like it belongs to the town. Basically, it was surrounded on three sides by borough property."

Demolition proceeds on the former Santelle home, which was the site of the Santelle Open, one of the largest amateur tennis tournaments in the county.

Dominick built the house himself in 1947. Last year the Santelles made the difficult decision to sell the family home, which includes a tennis court, to the borough for a minimal price in order to incorporate the property into the surrounding park.

Paul said that his parents, who were both longtime volunteers and active in the community, had always intended to give the property back to the borough. His father, 91, now lives in an assisted living facility in Lincroft.

"My father and my mother were always concerned about having a place for parents to take their children to, a place to play," said Paul of his childhood home. "They both always felt that … the house could be a center of a recreational facility there for the use of the community."

The original park was built in the early 1970s, and when the borough upgraded the park in 1996, it was dedicated to Dominick, Paul said.

"We were very specific about aspects," Paul said. "There had to be a certain understanding about the uses of the property for recreation."

He and his father met with Borough Administrator Mike Biehl to plan how the property would be used.

Biehl said last week the renovations to the park would not begin until spring, but said the borough is tearing the house down because it is a liability.

"It's an empty house … we don't want to have a problem," Biehl said. "I think the items that were in their plans will be incorporated into the renovations to the park and … we don't have an exact layout yet, and when we do, we will meet with the neighbors so they know what's going on."

Plans for Dominick Santelle Park include rebuilding the tennis court, the basketball court and the playground and expanding the parking area for the boatlaunching facility, Biehl said.

"I'm confident that everything is in good hands, that they are going to do it in the way that things should be done," Paul said. "I think that we are all in agreement that it is the best vision for the property - for the town."

Paul said while his father was known for different recreation programs, he was best known for his tennis tournaments.

Dominick built a clay tennis court, which will also be taken down, next to his house and opened it to the public.

He built it in a time when tennis was still a new phenomenon and not the popular pastime and competitive sport it is today, according to Paul.

The Santelle Open became one of the largest amateur tennis tournaments in Monmouth County.

"Initially it was just a local tournament, and then in 1953, the second year they did it, it became a lot bigger than Little Silver, and it just took off, and 150 people would play at it," said Paul.

He said the tournament would begin Memorial Day weekend and would last until Labor Day weekend, when the finals would take place at the house. He added other matches would take place all around eastern Monmouth County.

By the mid-1980s, the tournament was downsized and turned back into a local tournament for the community of Little Silver. It continued in that fashion until about 2003-2004 after 55 years of tennis tournaments on that one court, according to Paul.

"My father loved to watch people enjoy his tennis court," said Paul. "It was a very social thing, actually, for my father."

Paul said his former Riverview Avenue neighbors tell him that especially in the summer, not a day goes by when couples do not come to visit the house with their children to tell them the story of how they first met.

Paul joked that the house also has an "infamous" history as the site of social gatherings or "keggers," in his words, in 1970s. The soirees, which were held on the tennis courts and featured live bands, ended in 1978 when the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) raided a party and arrested those in charge, including Paul and some friends.

Dominick lived in the house, the site that Paul has dubbed a local landmark, with his wife, Marciaeene, who passed away in 1996, their two sons, Paul and Mark, and two daughters, Patricia and Judy.

"He's very sad," said Paul about how his father feels about the demolition of the house, "… but at the same time it is one of these things that is a silver lining, and as an end result the thing that is going to come out of it is going to last a lot longer than the house did."