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In 1911, Wall Street financier James Cox Brady purchased 180 acres in New Jersey for $100 per acre only 50 miles outside of New York City. It was said that Brady initially spent $1 million on constructing the property. He named the farm after his wife, Elizabeth Jane Hamilton Brady. Little did Brady know that Hamilton Farm would stand for over eighty years and would be a symbol of equestrian sport in the United States. It remains today as a landmark and will hopefully continue this presence for years to come. Construction started in 1911 and the barns were ultimately completed in 1913, with the main stable and headquarters of the USET Foundation of today built in 1916. Brady continued to add on to his estate, and it eventually reached 5000 acres and spanned three counties. The stable grew in the 1920’s, and every animal was an outstanding specimen of its breed. Dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese were raised at Hamilton Farms, but Brady was especially interested in horses. The famous stable is made of brick and concrete and is reinforced with steel. The ornate interior includes carriage rooms, tile walls, terrazzo floors and brass fittings. There are fifty-four stalls, and the barn originally had forty rooms: tack rooms, offices and living quarters. The central entrance leads through to a tiled octagonal foyer, with a split-level stable on the left and the former carriage house on the right. In 1961, one of the most palatial farms in America and America’s equestrian team were joined. Although the United States Equestrian Team was formed in 1950, it had no permanent home to base its training operations. William Steinkraus won the individual gold medal in show jumping at the 1968 Olympics and was a member of the 1952, 1956, 1968 and 1972 Olympic teams. He stated that it was the effort on the part of Arthur McCashin, who lived in the Gladstone area and was another USET rider and member of the 1952 Olympic Team, which brought the USET to Hamilton Farm. The USET show jumping discipline was led by Bertalan de Nemethy, a former Hungarian cavalry officer and riding instructor at the Royal Hungarian Cavalry School. Mr. de Nemethy came to the United States in 1952 and became the coach of the USET in 1955. He retained this position until 1980 and was a large part of the Team’s success during those years. He is credited with bringing a strict training regimen to U.S. riders that emphasized dressage and gymnastics. “What he found with our team were riders that had done showing and riding a lot, but didn’t have the foundation and the fundamentals of riding,” said Steinkraus. “Bert’s teams abroad were very well prepared- the riders and horses.” Chrystine Jones Tauber has also been involved with Hamilton Farm for many years. She came originally in 1965 after being discovered at a training clinic. Tauber rode for the team for years and eventually came back to Hamilton Farm in 1981 after de Nemethy retired. She took over the show jumping activities at Hamilton Farm and estimated that the farm “was and still is used for a lot of clinics and educational purposes.” From the 1980’s through today, Hamilton Farm was occasionally leased for special events for organizations such as the U.S. Pony Club, Somerset Hills Handicapped Riders, and local driving, eventing, and dressage competitions. Driving became a very big discipline for the USET, and the Gladstone Driving Association was developed. In the past twenty years, the USET added four more disciplines: driving, vaulting, endurance and reining. On December 1, 2003, the United States Equestrian Team became the USET Foundation. The USET Foundation still has its headquarters at Hamilton Farm, along with the High Performance Division of the U.S. Equestrian Federation. This year, Hamilton Farm will host and provide the facility for the USEF Grand Prix and Intermediare 1 Dressage Championships, USEF Talent Search Finals- East, and the Fall Gladstone Driving Event. Jenkins declared, “The USET Foundation intends on being good stewards and doing what we can to preserve the traditions and rich history that we have here in Gladstone.” Tauber concurred, “We created a greater awareness, and that was part of the development program: to get more people to support the team and donate to the Foundation. The use of Hamilton Farm and the visibility of it has changed a great deal. We increased community awareness, which is an important way to go now that the USET has become a Foundation.” Sally Ike was a member of the three-day eventing team and first came to Hamilton Farm in 1964. She has since moved on to working for the USET and now the U.S. Equestrian Federation and has an office at Hamilton Farm. Ike expressed, “This is a magical place. The stables are unique from anybody’s perspective because of their size, scope and the way they’re built. I don’t think anyone can walk through them without thinking about the many, many famous horses that have been stabled here. I’ve had that feeling from the first day I came here in 1964, and I still do when I come to work every day.” Hopefully, many will continue to support this grand old place and keep it as the historical landmark that it has become. |
