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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

1881: THE POLK BUILDING


In my opinion, my friend Sally Lane Graff is the expert on local Trenton architecture. The photo at the top shows the intersection of South Broad and Front Streets; a familiar area to me and many of my contemporaries. Directly below is an enlarged segment of the building shown on the corner of Front and Broad. "POLK - 1881 - BUILDING" can be clearly seen in this historic photo segment. Trenton has lost many of its lovely old architectural gems to the wrecker's ball. The article immediately above from 1919 tells of R.L. Polk, whose company was well known when I was in the business many years ago. One of their products was the sale of categorized mailing lists.It's so nice when two relevant photos and articles combine as in the above article and photo.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom:
RL Polk was a must have for every business I either worked for, or owned. The "criss cross directory" was imperitive to have in the credit collection business.
Like Mounties, we knew how to get our man.
Sally Lane is a delightful, and most knowlegeable woman.
I not only knew her, but made my 1st holy communion at Sacred Heart with her husband Sam who lived two doors from me on So. Warren St, and went on to become the Editor of the NY Daily Mirror ( or News)
Sally's grandfather Jim Kerney who was the Trenton Times publisher, grew up behind Sacred Heart on Cooper St. and the family remain active at Sacred Heart for many generations.
Funny how the circle closes even tighter as we grow older.
The poor parish of Sacred Heart with so many of us with attachments to it.

I watched the Polk building being demolished to make way for the surface parking lot that stood on the same site. I parked there while working for NJ DCA across the street where Rexall pharmacy was.

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Mike Kuzma

Anonymous said...

Tom - Maybe it's me and my computer, but if you click off of a blog to read the comments, get off, and want to get back on again to comment, it won't let you do this FYI
Also, what is the date of the top S Broad and Front St picture?
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! We are thinkful to you and this site!
Lakeside Girl

Tom Glover said...

HI ELEANOR: I DON'T KNOW THE DATE OF THE TOP PHOTO. I WOULD GUESS 1950 OR SO. AS TO YOUR QUESTION ABOUT WHEN YOU "CLICK OFF THE BLOG," SORRY I DON'T UNDERSTAND. THE COMMENTS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE UNDER THE PHOTO OR GRAPHIC SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO CLICK AND LEAVE THE BLOG; THEY ARE RIGHT THERE.

TOM