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Thursday, July 23, 2015

1933: EAST STATE & STOCKTON ST. - THE GREAT DEPRESSION

The city of Trenton is completely different from that of my young years. I would guess that the tallest buildings were the Broad Street Bank building and the Bell Telephone building. Today it is a completely different city. Indeed, a few years ago I went through the city when I was detoured from Hamilton Avenue en route to Sacred Heart church when I was a parishioner there. I had to detour to the freeway, exit at Perry Street, then to No. Warren and down toward the center of the city. WHAT A CHANGE! I realized how Rip Van Winkle must have felt after taking that long nap.
High rise glass encrusted building all over the place!
By the way: The Auburn Cord dealer was included at the bottom of the graphic; a special gift to our automotive historian.

1 comment:

rayfromvillapark said...

Hi Tom, Thanks for the additional information, regarding the Auburn Cord dealership on East State St. I pointed out this location a couple of times, in other photographs you published from farther back from the corner, but I never knew the name of the dealership. I believe this building became Bill's Hobby Shop, or Trenton Hobby Shop. I can't remember which is correct, but I frequented it very often, and the owner got to know me pretty well. A very friendly and patient man. Nineteen thirty three was at the height of the depression, and the Cord, an expensive car, costing $2395.00, compared to a Chevrolet, at anywhere from $485.00 to $580.00, could not carry on, and ceased production in 1933. Auburn soldiered on until 1936, but Cord had a rebirth, in 1936, introducing, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful automobiles of the pre war era. Again, at $1995.00 and up. It lasted only two years, ceasing production in 1937. It was a hit at the auto shows, but only a few could afford it. Trenton housed automobile dealerships, for just about every brand of automobile, both domestic and foreign, even when I was growing after the war, and into the 1950s. The photo you published of South Broad St, near Center, with the Velie signature on the building, an obscure brand that ended production in 1927, is proof of that. Nice photo, and thanks again. rayfromvillapark