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Saturday, March 23, 2013

1945: CAPITOL BODY & FENDER WORKS

They were located at 756 E. State Street, just past Monmouth Street, over the railroad bridge, past the Crossley Maching Shop and on the left side of the road.

2 comments:

rayfromvillapark said...

Hi Tom, You can definitely date this photo to late 1945, because The Ford in your Future billboard, atop the building, shows the 1946 model. I thought, at some point in time, this building was occupied by Fitzgibbon Auto Body, but my research does not bear that out. Fitzgibbon & Crisp were auto, truck and bus body manufacturers, in the city of Trenton, from the late 1800s to 1941. I don't know if there is a connection. This address is not listed in any historical documentation of the company. Supposedly, an early address,South Warren St. at Bank, is on a historical preservation list. Their property on Calhoun St. became the biggest toxic waste site in the city, when it was abandoned by Gould Battery, who purchased it from Fitzgibbon and Crisp. Can anyone fill in the blanks? rayfromvillapark

SJBill said...

This site was closest to R>C> Maxwells's home offices, being just about across the street. The building still remains and has a couple of billboards perched on the roof.

After seeing all these billboard pictures one can only wonder how well the property owners were compensated for hosting these structures. My Dad was a roofer. While working for him as a kid we saw a lot of roof damage where these things were attached to the buildings. Regular repairs were required, especially during hard winters.