1921: DEUTZVILLE: THE FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

Few newcomers to Mercer County know there is an area on the border of Trenton known as Deutzville. In all my 77 years of living in Hamilton Township, I have seen little written or known about that little village situated south of Lalor Street in the old "Lalor Tract," and in close proximity to St. John's Cemetery. Back in the 1940's, I and my buddies were regular visitors to a junk yard that was once located in Deutzville,l and a number of others in the area have visited St. Jehosophat during the Easter season for some delightful home made perogies. Few people know that there was a Deutzville school, and the namesake of the town, and that Adam Deutz, operated a jewelry manufacturing operation. The above article is an extremely fascinating story of his amazing enterprise.

Areas such as Deutzville, Bromley, and Broad Street Park, sometimes seem to get less attention due to their proximity to the city of Trenton.

THIS FROM SJ BILL:

I'm not sure if Deutzville is still a predominantly Ukrainian residential area with a few churches and civic associations, but so didn't the Hungarians and Germans in my neighborhood. The village was comprised of small homes on open lots where the Burg had its row houses. I think that proximity to "The Swamps," where Trenton dumped most of its refuse, rubbed off onto the residents of Deutzville. In the late '60s, I recall a street being named for Taras Schevchenko, a Ukraianing freedom fighter.
Another thing: the youths from Deutzville, now in their 60s and 70s, didn't "get along" with us Burg and South Trenton kids down at Sturgey" or Sturgeon Pond. There were numerous turf related altercations, especially during ice skating season.

THIS FROM BOB WALTER, DEUTZVILLE NATIVE:

Hi tom, Just a few more facts about Deutzville. My family moved there when I was 5 years old. The jewelry factory later was a pottery which extended from Bunting ave to a little dirt alley behind our house (1206 Deutz ave). Deutzville was unofficially defined by from Bunting ave to Hewett ave (Roebling's wire mill),and from Lalor st to South st, (which we affectionatly called "the end") We were bordered by St Johns cemetery, the dumps, Peter Cracker's cardboard recycling, Granny Parent's house, the acid ponds from Roebling's waste, the Sturgy pond, the railroad tracks, Riverview cemetery, and not to far to the river. Allot for a young boy to do, most of which was forbidden by our parents. My good friend Alvin "nappy" Mitchell drowned in the river when he was 9 years old. My mother knew we were sneaking away to swim but that day She caught us (me and my brother) and kept us home. Much different for young boys to do now days. We, the young boys from Deutzville, were very protective of our "turf"from the boys from Goat Hill (across Lalor st and the city) and also from the Lamberton st group of boys who were called "the river rats". Both groups usually reciprocated when we "strayed" in to their space. As forthe street, the "DP's" (displaced persons) wanted to rename Deutz ave to Shevchenko Blvd. (Shevchenko was a poet who I think was jailed by the Russians). Well that was a no-no from most of the long time residents who were mostly Polish, Hungarian, and Slovakian, and there were demonstrations from these people and the street was not renamed. As for sjBill's comment about refuse rubbing off on Deutzville residents, he is wrong. He is probably still angry that maybe he was not allowed to come into Deutzville. His comment about not having row homes was wrong, hell, I lived in a row home (affectionatly known as "Bed Bug Row." They were all good families and every body knew each other. I have good memories of Deutzville. Thanks Tom Bob Walter

Anonymous said...

I live in the house on the corner of deutz ave and henry st. When I purchased the home in 2006, the real estate agent told me I was the third owner of this home! I was amazed and fell in love with the home from the first moment I set eyes on it. The history of this area is amazing and I would love to know more about my home if possible...the address is 1101 Deutz ave...the RE agent told me that it was home to one of the relatives of the jewelery manufacturer....The woman who owned it before me was Katarina Fedorack (not sure about the spelling) she was known as the perogie lady and her son's name was Roman