1909: OLD TRENTON LANDMARKS ARE DISAPPEARING

Did you ever wonder what Trenton would look like today if our forefathers weren't so eager to replace incredibly historic structures in center city Trenton in their pursuit of "progress?" I have started a folder in the Hamilton Library Local History digital database entitled "LANDMARKS-TRENTON." Many of those old columns are very painful to read.

1914: THE TRENTON BELL TELEPHONE BUILDING

A landmark building. This 100 year old article from the Trenton Times shines a little known light on just a bit of the battle of Trenton. Those of us who are familiar with the Trenton of the 20's through the early 1950's will agree that the Bell Telephone building was one of our "sky scraper" landmarks. It is interesting to know that the plaque illustrated above, along with a cannoball from the battle, were proudly displayed by that grand old lady all of us old timers know as the much missed, late, lamented "Ma Bell." Remember those olive green Bell utility trucks? Remember party lines? Remember Bell operator sitting side by side at the huge console, earphone-speakers on their heads, as they plugged into that console to complete a call? But most of all, do you remember when you made a phone call, the person on the other end of the line answered the phone......with no voice mail?

1910: "ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL SCHOOL"

 

I have around 50 articles and photos of Trenton's Cathedral High School, including a number of issues of the school newspaper, "BLUE AND GOLD." The charming seniors in the 1910 photo revive memories of the Victorian era when "a glimpse of stocking was looked on as simply shocking" and modesty in dress, etiquette and good breeding were the custom of the day. I note a number of familiar surnames in the lower photo: Sullivan, McLaughlin, Tobin, Martin, etc. Any family names in there that you know?

1893: TRENTON'S CADWALADER SCHOOL

One of my favorite subjects is the evolution of the local schools. As of this date, there are over 350 files in the "SCHOOLS-MISCELLANEOUS" folder, and more will be added to in the future. Here is a folio of photos and articles relating to the Cadwalader School which was once located on Murray Street in Trenton. Included is a 100 year old class photo of the class of 1914. Perhaps a visitor will recognize a relative.

1951: MY MEMORIES OF THE FIRST KOREAN WAR VICTIM KILLED IN ACTION

One would  think that the first area resident of the are, Sgt. Raymond Sypniewski, the first casualty of the Korean war would have been formally recognized by the Mercer-Trenton-Hamilton Township area. To the best of my knowledge, such recognition has not been forthcoming. Ray was a personal friend back in my youth. As I celebrate the memory of those brave veterans who gave their all for our country, Ray is foremost in my mind.

1935: ROTARY CLUB HONORS AREA PATROL BOYS

In keeping with my "Local History With a Personal Touch" slogan, herewith a local interest graphic. I have posted a little graphic showing the Keystone Automobile Club that we Hamiltonians wore back in the day. I believe the Trenton patrol boys had AAA as their sponsor. Be that as it may, there are MANY familiar surnames in the group of boys from 78 years ago. Maybe you are related to, or recognize one or more.

1888: DAVID QUINTIN'S RIDING ACADEMY

Even as the city of Trenton identifies it as Quniton Avenue, I'm sure it was an easy mistake to make, and assuming the street was named for Villa Park's historic Quintin Race Track, it should be identified as Quintin Avenue. The article above places the riding academy with the boundaries of No. Stockton, Academy and Commerce Streets with the canal to the east. What is not known at the present time is whether the Academy property encompassed the entire block or was just a building on the block. Perhaps future finds on the academy will turn up.

1924: HISTORICAL RESEARCH: FACTUAL OR FICTIONAL?

 

 Being an Historian is not an easy task. Hours and hours of research are an integral part of the process, along with close attention to the credibility of the source of material. Over the years and even into this year of 2014, we hear, see, and read about "Revisionist History." Back in 1924, as seen in the two graphics above, the subject again came up as schools across America were involved in a controversial effort to choose books; in this case relating largely to the Revolutionary War. Were you to pickup a number of vintage history books written and published by British authors and publishers, you would probably find discrepancies in the history books as written by American authors as to the events which took place during the Revolutionary War. Likewise, with German publishers of vintage accounts of the Hessians at Trenton during that fateful Christmas day, 1776, I would expect to read conflicting historical accounts from the Hessian side of the ledger. Accordingly, whenever there are conflicting accounts of an historical event, both sides should be included in the research. 

Anonymous said...

Tom, we can't ignore the fact the the British took advantage of twisting and exploiting historic facts in any way they could. One of their favorite and effective tactics was the dissemination of maps that showed British control or areas they in fact had no control or dominance but when they did intervene in with military force maps were consulted and it seemed they owned the contested property to begin with. The McMahon Line in India was one such example and of course many still question the legitimacy of the Balfour Accord that established the state of Israel. My sources for such information were my Geo courses at Trenton State College, hardly a radical institution.

Ed Millerick

Friday, May 23, 2014

Tom, after I posted this I did bring back some memories of my vacations to the Republic and to the North of Ireland, to the point that my wife, of Norwegian persuasion thought I was exaggerating till she accompanied me. In London the customs clerk at the airport refused to stamp my passport when I indicated that I would only be in England a single day in response to the question "How long will you be in the UK/" as we were catching a ferry to Dublin and only stamped it with a thunderous roar when I requested to see a supervisor. Another time when leaving the North in Derry/Londonderry I was again detained at a heavily armed checkpoint when I was again asked "how long will you be in UK"; this is akin to returning to the US from Canada and having a Canadian customs officer asking how long you will be in Canada, while you are parked on the Rainbow Bridge just yards from the border line. Having time to kill waiting for a friend, I thought I'd drive to the border of Scotland, I drove the main highway and scenic coast road but alas not a single sign. Later, my hosts informed me that this was part of the subtle ways used to suppress any notions of national identity. Later, I found that my actual name is not Millerick, but O'Maoilgheric and was changed by the English during a period of "The Troubles".

Ed O'Maoilgheric

It brought to mind your comment some years back when a teacher stressed that your name was Glover, as in the apparel worn on the hands, and not to sound like clover.

 

Tom Glover said...

FASCINATING STORY, ED. BY THE WAY, I HAVE ALWAYS PRONOUNCED MY LAST NAME GLOVER AS IN CLOVER. HOWEVER, THE TRUE PRONUNCIATION IS "GLUVVER."However, I just can't bring myself to sing "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf CLUVVER;" doesn't cut it.

 

Tom Glover said..

.

Great input Ed, Thanks very much.

Friday, May 23, 2014

1912 - 1913: "WIRELESS RADIO"

 

I have been a licensed amateur radio operator for 38 years. It is one of those incredibly interesting adventures that relatively few outside the hobby know or understand. Cell phones, Ipads, tablets, email, texting, "Skype," and other internet communication possibilities have made it possible to communicate around the world. As these new electronic miracles evolved, I looked back on my 3 years in the Army Security Agency when I was over in Europe. A 3 minute transoceanic call to my dear wife would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 dollars per minute. Today, those folks who replaced me and my military contemporaries, can text each other, talk to each other via the computer screen and basically come much closer to home. How I would loved to have had that technology back in 1956! 

We can take comfort in the knowledge that there will ALWAYS be amateur radio operators involved during any emergency; be it a local or national disaster. It is comforting to know that in the event of a dreaded "EMP" electric magnetic pulse attack where ALL standard electronic communications will be useless, amateur radio operators will come to the rescue, passing emergency messages through their incredibly efficient emergency radio nets. With cell phone and cell phone towers rendered powerless, radio communications running on temporary battery power, and other taken for granted electronic equipment unable to function without power, the amateurs will be the "minutemen" who come to the rescue.

1951: TOM REMEMBERS HIS EMOTIONAL GRADUATION DAY

My Sunday, May 25th Times of Trenton "Sentimental Journey" column will recall that warm night in June, 1951 when 17 year old Thomas Glover received his high school diploma and ventured into the unknown future. ("C" average in history due to what we call the "feminine mystique.) The graphic above was sent along with the manuscript to accompany the article, but space constraints often result in my graphics being eliminated. Each year at graduation time, my thoughts wander back to my wonderful years as a student in Hamilton Township's excellent educational system. My classmates are now octogenarians and based on my recent attendance at our 60th reunion, I find that most agree that we were privileged to have been educated in an era much different from today. 

2 Comments

Lee Belardino said...

HI Tommy
I too think of 1951 ND THE 4 years
at Hamilton. The other choral group had a concert from the songs of the 60's. We were great but I keep asking our director ,when our we going to the songs of the 50's?.She says some day. I remind her that I may not have too many "some days". She just smiles.Keep remembering.Your pal.
Lee

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Tom Glover said...

That's the problem with becoming a member of a choral singing group. Most of the organizers are younger than we old timers and have no idea what great music came from the 1940's and 1950's. Right now, I am preparing for a July through August Sunday summer sing alongs at Kuser Park Gazebo. I may even start in June this year. How great it would be if you lived here in the area. Miss you and your perfect pitch tenor voice. By the way.....you can contact me via my email at tglover320@optimum.net. It will be easier to communicate.

"Tommy"
(Only my oldest friends know me as "Tommy.") "Old friends are the best friends"

1950: A BUCOLIC VIEW OF TRENTON CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL

Just stop in your busy day. and take a minute to look at those two bucolic views of the beautiful campus of Trenton Central High School as it was before society's fashionistas decided to wrap up the good grooming package and throw it into the trash can. Girls in skirts and blouses, boys in dress shirts with a tie, or a sport shirt, and creases in their trousers. How I yearn for those years of my youth when good grooming was the order of the day! Even if you were from a poor family as in my personal case, my mom would never let me go to school unless I looked "presentable," as she used to say. Today we see the boys with knees torn out of their jeans, not from actual wear as was the case when I was a boy, but they are actually fulfilling a "fashion statement" dreamed up by a twisted member of the clothing industry who has the unique talent of starting a trend in what I call "rebellion dress code modification." Even a number of female Hollywood personalities are joining in the idiotic trend. It was probably the same genius who decided to get the boys to buy jeans that look like they are worn and torn. "Don't wear that baseball cap in the conventional way, wear it backwards. Only old fogies wear their baseball cap with the peak and logo on the front..." "let those jeans down around your thighs and expose your underwear; you will be cool....you will really be noticed...." "Girls, isn't that blouse a bit prudish? Look at how all those Hollywood gals are revealing more and more of their lovely physical attributes. Why not you? 

Note: The above rant is my personal observation and opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of those who are fast approaching majority status.

Tom Glover

Active Member "Old Fogies Club"

1940: TRENTON CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL ELEGANCE

 

Even as the city of Trenton had an era I call the "Golden Age," so too did Trenton Central High School; that magnificent red brick structure on Chambers Street in Trenton that will soon be a memory. Thanks to Mr. Wayne Moore, TCHS '50 for sending me his "Bobashela" yearbook from way down in Frederick, Maryland where the Moore family now resides. It was just plain wonderful to see the photos of the school during the years when it was well maintained. Also wonderful to once again take a look at a vanishing period in our history when dress codes resulted in well groomed boys and delightfully clad fashionable young girls. 
Sally Logan Gilman said...

Hi Tom: Nice to see something that brings back wonderful memories. I graduated from THS in 1955 and it was indeed a lovely school with well-dressed students. Thanks so much for running the shots. Regards

Monday, May 19, 2014

1939: LITTLE KNOWN LINCOLN SPEEDWAY - HAMILTON TOWNSHIPO

 

 

Today the Nottingham High School occupies the spot where once local racing fans from Central Jersey came to watch the "midget races" at Hamilton Township's Lincoln Speedway on Klockner Road near Hamilton Avenue. This little known race track is known to only a few (until now!) Above is an article from 1939 telling of the July 16 race to be held at the little fifth mile oval track at Lincoln Raceway. Facinating and little known local history, but you saw it first on this Hamilton Library Local History Collection website!

1938: TERNSTEDT DIVISION OF GENERAL MOTORS

Here's the beginning of the end on one of the area's MAJOR employers. Back in 1938, Ewing Township was the site of what would be one of the most important factors in the industrial northeast. Starting out as the manufacturer of auto door handles and other General Motors automobile hardware, the company was transformed into a manufacturing facility for the United States Navy during World War II when the fabled Grumman TBF "Avenger" was made here along with another Avenger plant at Bloomfield, New Jersey.

There are few in my generation who don't know many of those local residents who worked at that incredible factory on Parkway Avenue in Ewing Township.

1948: TO THOSE OF US WHO WERE MODEL BUILDERS

What wonderfully nostalgic memories the above graphic brings to an 80 year old looking back 70 or even 65 years at one of the inexpensive joys we shared as model airplane builders! Only those of us who recognize "LePage's" and "Testors" will relate to this ad from one of the few "AIR TRAILS" magazines in my collection. My best friend Don Slabicki and I spent hours in the Glover Hartley Avenue basement pinning the plans of a model we were to build. My older brother Bud and his two buddies Bill and Elmer Peters inspired us with the beautiful models they were building on the other end of the bench. We pinned them to a board of soft "Homasote" wall board, and began laying those 1/16" inch "stringers to the upper and lower levels of the fuselage on the plane we were building. You can safely call yourself a balsa wood, rubber band propelled model builder if you recall the kit names like "Comet" and "Guillows."

1870: GOLD FOUND ALONG TRENTON'S "PETTY'S RUN"

Articles such as the above make the heart beat a bit faster when those of us who are into the metal detecting hobby read about the exciting find of Colonial Spanish coins found along Petty's Run in the Chancery Street area of Trenton. I have been a metal detector operator since the early 1960's when the hobby was just beginning to evolve. My first unit was a "BFO" squealer that had depth capability of about 2 or 3 inches. The technology evolved as hi-tech detectors became available during the 1960's and 70' from popular detector manufacturers such as White's, Garrett, Wilson-Neuman, Gold Mountain, and numerous others. It is interesting to note that many of them went out of business very rapidly, but new ones spring up every month. Over the years I had a number of detectors. Wilson Neuman "Daytona GBD," a "Bobcat" from a manufacturer whom I can't recall, two Garrett detectors, a Fisher, two White's, and I currently own a Bounty Hunter "Pioneer 500," a Garrett GTP 1350, and my favorite, a vintage Fisher 1265X. The metal detecting hobby is a very rewarding hobby both physically and if you are lucky, financially if you are able to detect any gold or silver coins.

1930: WALKER-GORDON'S PLAINSBORO "ROTOLACTOR"

The fascinating Rotolactor, where milk cows are standing on a fascinating merry go round as they are being collectively milked was big local news back in 1930 when the company threw the doors open to the public to see the very latest in sanitary dairy procedures. I am probably one of many who went on a school trip to witness that incredibly interesting concept. Through the years it was a "must visit" for anyone in the very rural town of Plainsboro. The unit was disassembled in 1979.

HILDEBRECHT'S ICE CREAM

I put the graphic together as I was researching the Hotel Stacy Trent and the Hotel hildebrecht. As you can see Mr. Hildebrecht had a thriving ice cream factory in center city Trenton, The interior of his ice cream plant was quite elaborate,

2014: ONE OF MY FAVORITE PASTIMES

I have been a bird watcher for most of my adult life. My Hartley Avenue home was just across Newkirk Avenue from Kuser Farm where I spent much of my younger years playing in the woods, and as I grew and matured, walked in Kusers Woods and the surrounding area. Prior to the township taking over the farm, there was an unbelievable number of birds which I have added to my "Lifelist." I believe the Audubon Society coined that phrase for those who are "birders" list all the countless birds which are native to our area and pass through on their migratory journeys to the north or south. Kusers woods were originally very heavily overgrown with marshes, thickets, dense foliage and other habitats favored by various members of the bird community. It would be impossible for me to recall all that I have on my Kuser Farm lifelist, I will name a few: Baltimore Oriole, Redstart, Scarlet Tanager, Rose Breasted Grosbeak, Woodcock, Brown Thrasher, Catbird, Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Cardinal, Blue Jay, Grackle, Red Wing Blackbird, Phoebe, and countless Warblers. Ironically, in all those years, I had to wait until May 8, 2014 to see the Indigo Bunting that visited my feeder hear at the library. The very poor out of focus 3x zoom doesn't do justice to the sheer beauty of this, one of God's masterpieces of nature.

1899 and 1917: JOHN W. HARTER-BROMLEY PIONEER

 

 Along with Charles Fulkert who established the Bromley Inn on Nottingham Way back in the latter part of the 19th century, John W. Harter also was a pioneer Bromley resident. As can be seen in the graphics above, Harter was a Trenton insurance agent and later included real estate in his career portfolio. Note that today's Nottingham Way was referred to as "Clinton Street" back in the 1890's. The reason probably due to the fact that Trenton's North Clinton Avenue terminated at today's Mulberry Street and today's Nottingham Way.

2014: LAKESIDE PARK PROGRAM COMING TO THE HAMILTON LIBRARY IN AUGUST!

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, August 6th from 1-4 PM at the Hamilton Township Public Library. Ms. Eleanor Goldy Guear and Ms. Nancy Johnes Fell are two historians whose families were pioneer settlers in Lakeside Park. These two talented ladies will be presenting an incredibly interesting program inviting residents of Lakeside Park along with those of us who have an abiding interest in this incredible neighborhood which is nestled along Gropp's Lake, or as we called it, "Lakeside." My last "Sentimental Journey" column in the Times recalled our Hamilton High choir beach party as we said our sad goodbyes and headed out on our respective careers. I am still getting comments on that column, most of them fondly recalling the wonderful years they spent on the sandy beach of spring fed Lakeside. 

THERE WILL BE FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS AUGUST EVENT AS RECEIVED AND I WILL BE SURE TO POST THEM HERE ON

 "LOCAL HISTORY WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH."

1914: CENTENNIAL OF WORLD WAR I.

1914 MARKS THE CENTENNIAL OF THE START OF WORLD WAR I. 
There will be a number of World War I posts on this website during this centennial year of the start of  what was known as "The war to end all wars."
My brother, the late William"Bud" Glover was a Hamilton High class of 1945 classmate of Don Whiteley who has a fabulous website (donremembers.blogspot.com) dedicated to Yardville Heights wherein he recalls memories of growing up in that beautiful elevated community on the banks of the Crosswicks Creek. The news article above would be Don's dad, who was among those who went into World War I military service, along with David McGalliard, another family with an historic heritage.

2014: IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN FOR HILTONIA HOUSE TOURS!

 

 

 

This fascinating and historic neighborhood is once again inviting the public to the annual Hiltonia House Tours where vestiges of the Trenton that was, and still can be will be presented to those area residents who love the flavor of a vital and historic community which managed to escape the proliferation of neighborhood deterioration. Residents of Hiltonia, like beautiful Mill Hill, exhibit pride in their neighborhoods.