Except for the red brick building on the far left, the houses in this nearly century-old postcard view of Devon St. at Wilson Ave., Kearny, are the same today as then. But what used to be a small green space is now a parking lot. Call it ‘progress.’ The card is postmarked 1915, so the name of the site was still Devon Circle. It would later offi cially become McMahon Circle, named in honor of Army Capt. Christopher C. McMahon, a World War I veteran.
A plaque had been placed on a boulder in 1926, a year after his death, and luckily the town kept it on site, although now in a block of concrete, when the parking lot was built in the 1980s. It reads:
In memory of Christopher C. McMahon. Husband, Father, Soldier, Hero. Captain, 113 U.S. Inf., A.E.F. Enlisted 1st N.J. Inf. N.G.N.J. Jan. 14, 1902. Honorably Discharged June 30, 1919. Died June 13, 1925.
We have tried to fi nd out more about McMahon, to no avail. If any history-minded reader knows his story, we’d appreciate a call. We admit that we never even knew the circle had a name, or a monument, and we thank the posters on kearnyalumni.com for noting these facts.
– Karen Zautyk
