More than 125 years apart, two Washington Street buildings hosted schools dedicated to feats of refined athletic skill: The Hoboken Turn Verein, a German gymnastic club, which was established at 1st and Washington Streets during the first wave of German immigration to the city in the 1850s, and Hoboken Circus Arts, which was founded in 1979 in the Lining Store building, 412 Washington Street, by two former stars of the Moscow State Circus.
Photograph of members of the Hoboken Turn Verein, 1913. Manewal photographer.
Hoboken Turn Verein
Later in the century, from 1979 to 1981, Hoboken Circus Arts founders Nina Krasavina and Gregory Fedin offered students instruction on juggling, clowning, tumbling, trapeze, ballet, and high-wire walking, among other circus skills, on the second floor of the Lining Store building. The space boasted ceilings of more than 20 feet high, making it suitable for acts that might involve riding a unicycle across a tightrope or creating human pyramids.
Photograph of gymnasts in the Hoboken Turn Verein club, First and Washington Streets, circa 1910. Photo by Manewal, who had a studio on Washington Street.
Hoboken Turn Verein club
And of course there’s Hoboken’s YMCA, established at 1301 Washington Street in 1927. It was established to provide housing to men of modest means and to offer recreational programs, including swimming and track, to children and adults citywide.
Photograph of Karen Gersch with her Labrador retriever, Little Face, (nicknamed “The Professor” by instructors Krasavina and Fedin because he was so smart), jumping through a hoop held by young student Noel Selegzi, circa 1979. Courtesy Karen Gersch.
Face & Noel
Photograph of students from the Circus Arts center—Meret Ryhiner (bottom), Sonja Furiya (top), and Jessica Hentoff (upside down)—practice a three-person pyramid, 1981. Courtesy Jessica Hentoff.
Sonja, Meret, Jessica
Interior photograph of the lounge at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
YMCA lounge 20011260010
Photograph of First and Washington Streets showing the Napoleon Hotel and the Hoboken Turn Verein club, 1880.
Napoleon in mat
The Hoboken Turn Verein (“turners”) began as a club for men to receive instruction in gymnastics and to promote German culture. By the 1860s, women’s auxiliaries had formed. The club continued into the years just before the First World War.
Photograph of “turners” with pins used for juggling, circa 1900.
Turners with Pins
Washington Street has also been home to more conventional sports. Politics—one form of local sport—was twinned with bowling at 327 Washington Street. In the 1920s, the Hoboken Republican Club had a few lanes there; when the Hoboken Democratic Club took over the space in the 1930s, they bowled the same lanes. Evidence of their recreational pursuits was uncovered in 2020, when renovators took up the floorboards and discovered the lanes and dozens of duck pins (shorter, heavier pins that were set by hand by “pin boys”.)
Photograph of Karen Gersch, the “understander,” lifting her partner, Kathie Hoyer, in the Hoboken Circus Arts space, circa 1979. Jakob Bensten is at the back. Courtesy Karen Gersch.
Lift Kathy
Exterior of the Lining Store, 412 Washington Street, circa 1976. The ground floor hosted the Queen Store, a furniture department store. Hoboken Circus Arts was on the second floor, where the ceilings were more than 20 feet high.
Queens Store 20140440300-11
Interior photograph of the pool at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
YMCA pool 20011260016
