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Friday, May 10, 2013

1932: AN EXQUISITE AND PRISTINE VIEW OF THE TRENTON MUNICIPAL WHARF

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and so it is in this incredibly clear R.C. Maxwell photo of the old Municipal Wharf down on Lamberton Street. Ocean going vessels regularly plied their way up the Delaware which was then a "deep water" port. Over the years the river lost the depth necessary to accommodate ocean going vessels.Thanks to Mike Kuzma for correcting me. I assumed the Municipal Wharf was the same as the Marine Terminal. Had I looked closer I would have realized that the Marine Terminal was further down river nearer to Duck Island. Thanks for the correction, Mike, and to all visitors for keeping me honest!

6 comments:

SJBill said...

Tom, this is way upstream, at the head of navigation of the river. The picture was taken from the PRR bridge. I think the area was later called the Ferry Street Landing.

You can see the American Bridge gantry in the background. Before that should be an oil terminal, that was used into the 60s or 70s. I cannot remember the name, but it may have been Richfield. The other oil terminals were down on Duck Island.

Since I used to fish for herring and shad from the old wharf, and some of the structures remained in the late 50s, this pic is a GEM.

In the image, the landing halfway up the stairs to the rooftop observation deck, was made of steel, and we used to climb it. Some of the more daring youths used to dive from the deck. The bollards were also present back then.

Arial views show much of the pier has wasted away over the decades.
The wharf was difficult to get to by water with a large vessel - a narrow channel, very rocky waters at low tide across the river, and during the spring freshet, the current was incredible.

This was a very bad location for a terminal.

Anonymous said...

WAS THE OLD FARMER'S MARKET NEXT TO THE RIVER CLOSE TO THIS? WE USED TO GO TO THE FISHING DOCK WHILE MOM WAS SHOPPING AND WOULD WATCH THE PEOPLE FISHING AND LOOK UP TO SEE THE TRAINS GO BY. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL WAY TO SPEND A FRIDAY EVENING. IT WAS A TREAT TO GO THERE EACH WEEK. THIS MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE 1940'S.

RALPH LUCARELLA said...

HI TOM...I RECALL THE TRENTON YACHT CLUB, IN WHICH FELIX FORCONI WAS PRESIDENT, DOWN BY THE RIVER. WE ATTENDED A FEW OF THEIR PARTIES IN THE 30'S AND HAD GREAT TIMES.

SJBill said...

The notable trait of the "Port Trenton" sign the sign is that it can be seen only by those riding the PRR. The terminal is configured for passenger traffic, likely a relaxing boat ride down to Burlington, Bristol or Philly.

Anonymous said...

Tom & all:
This is not the Marine Terminal.
SJ was correct.
This was my neighborhood playground.
I learn to swim off this warf, but the buildings shown hereon were gone in the late 30's, and early 40's. The opening you see between the "Warf Buildings" and American Bridge was called the basin.
We began by swimming across this body of water before venturing in to the active river. My brother in law Joe Bastecki had to rescue me a few times before I finally made it across. Joe, Johnny & Stan and I would jump from the railroad bridge into the river in our teen age years. One year I neglected to put my arm close to my body, and thought I lost my arms when I hit the water.
Just off the dock was a channel marker that we dove into the water and touched the marker, and swam back.
I remember the boats, and barges coming into this dock to unload the sand, and silicone for the china manufacturers that made Trenton the great ciy it WAS!
I think if you look closely you can see the sheds the farmers would back their trucks into to sell there crops across Fitch way.
I think the Oil tanks you refer too was "Consumers Oil Co."
A locally owned independent.

Mike Kuzma
an original South Trenton River Rat

Tom Glover said...

THANKS FOR THE CORRECTION, MIKE. IT HAS BEEN CHANGED.

TOM