Even though we know the location today to be the Mercer County Geriatric Center, to us old timers it is known as the Municipal Colony. The colony was originally established to house patients who were afflicted with Small Pox and other contagous diseases. Even though it is located in Hamilton, it was known as the Trenton Municipal Colony. Needless to say, there were many citizens in the then thinly populated area of Hamilton who were unhappy with the establishment of the site. There is also a burial ground along the Klockner Road portion of the property. I believe it was discovered while an area was under construction back in the 1970's or 80's.THIS FROM "STEPHEN:"
Tom,I am wondering if you know exactly where this facility was located. A granduncle of mine is enumerated in the 1930 census as a patient at the Municipal Hospital in Hamilton Township.
Stephen
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Stephen:
The entire complex is in a large plot of land at the northwest corner of Klockner Road and Hamilton Avenue here in Hamilton. Today it is known as the Mercer County Geriatric Center.
Tom
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if you know exactly where this facility was located. A granduncle of mine is enumerated in the 1930 census as a patient at the Municipal Hospital in Hamilton Township.
Stephen
Tom,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information. I always knew the place as Donnelley Memorial Hospital. I presume that my granduncle recovered sufficiently from what ailed him in 1930 because when he applied for a Social Security Number in 1938 he was living on N. Stockton Street in Trenton and in 1942 when he registered for the WWII draft, he was living on N. Willow Street. I never knew of his existence until 1990 when I found his 1889 Birth certificate.
Stephen
Tom, In my comment a little above on this site about the basketball team at Immaculate, I mentioned that my uncle, June Carr, was a patient at Donnelley in the 1930-1940 time period. He had TB and it appears there were other contagious diseases in the facility also. Amazing how one or two of your postings will kick off memories of so many.
ReplyDeleteI sit here at my computer just stunned at having found this site and what it has revealed to me. I was born and raised in Trenton, NJ in 1952. My grandparents raised me but I didn't know until I turned 50 when the person who I thought was my oldest sister and 19 years my senior informed me that she was my mother. My grandmother's sister Gertrude Saudners died of TB and my grandmother, Beatrice M. Sorber was hospitalized many times with this awful illness. I was a child and could only remember the name Donnelly hospital and so I began my search after my mother passed away. Much to my surprise my mother lived at Mercer Geriatric when she began to show signs of dementia and was unable to live on her own. This geriatric center used to be Trenton Municipal Colony. How strange it is that my mother and my grandmother would be housed in the same place so many years apart. I hope that I have broken the cycle.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting,Sandie. I did two of my music singalongs at the Geriatric Center for the Baptist Church on klockner Road a few years ago. Perhaps they were in the audience of about 60 people.
ReplyDeleteTom