Announcements: 


•  The Sayreville Historical Society will be collecting for Sayreville Food Pantry at our monthly meetings. Please bring a non-perishable food item to help support our neighbors. 

•  250th Anniversary of America Celebration Committee
Any one interested in serving on the Committee please contact VP Art Rittenhouse at info@sayrevillehistory.com or leave a message at 732-390-7048. A meeting will be held late January or early February. 

It is with great sadness that the Sayreville Historical Society announces the passing of longtime member and volunteer Robert C. “Pooch” Puchala.

Bob was a lifelong Sayreville with deep roots in the borough and gladly talked about his hometown with museum visitors. Any Sayreville Historical Society event, from Sayreville Day to St. Stan’s Carnival, would find Bob welcoming people with his friendly, quiet smile. For years, he and his wife, Amy, organized refreshments at monthly society meetings. Bob helped in numerous other ways, including hanging Christmas wreaths on the museum windows with another volunteer every December. This holiday season was the first time in years that the windows weren’t decorated by Bob.

He served four years in the United States Navy on the USS Topeka and submarine Skipjack. During his time in the Navy, Bob crossed the equator and years later described the traditional Crossing the Line ceremony to visitors during A Night at the Museum event.

Bob gave back to Sayreville in other ways. A retired Chemical Operator at DuPont, he was an active member of the American Legion Post No. 211 Honor Guard, the DuPont 25 Year Club, and a lifelong member of St. Stan’s.

The Sayreville Historical Society offers its deepest sympathies to his wife, Amy, and their two daughters. Bob will be deeply missed.


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Sayreville Historical Society

About: The Sayreville Historical Society was founded in 1974 with the mission of preserving, researching, and making accessible to the public the history of Sayreville, NJ and the surrounding region. Membership is open to all. With membership comes the opportunity to serve on a number of committees that help the society continue to operate successfully and continue to grow as it has continually done for almost forty years. The Sayreville Historical Society prides itself on its ability to educate, inform, and entertain the public both through our museum, a brick schoolhouse built in 1885 that houses over five thousand artifacts, and community outreach, which includes the production and sale of books, DVDs, and pamphlets, conducting and making available to the public oral histories with Sayreville residents, genealogical research, and actively moderating both a YouTube and Facebook page.


The Society meets on the second Thursday of each month, September through June at 7:00 pm, at the Sayreville Senior Center. Each meeting is highlighted by a guest speaker, and concludes with light refreshments and baked goods.


Visit: In 1984, Sayreville New School No.1 became the permanent home of the Sayreville Historical Museum. The museum is located at 425 Main Street, near the corner of Pulaski Avenue and is open every Sunday from 1:30 to 4:00 PM. Docents are also available upon request to conduct group tours. If you are interested in visiting the museum on a day other than Sunday, please contact us by phone or email, and we would be happy to accommodate your group.

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