1917 and 1925: HAMILTON TOWNSHIP'S NOTORIOUS "CLAY PITS"

 

"Dogtown:" Back in the late 19th and early 20th century the area where today's Hamilton Police Station and the Hamilton Library are located, and more specifically the area we know of today as "downtown Hamilton was known as "Dogtown." It was located near the intersection of White Horse-Mercerville Road and encompassed the area eastward and presumably was part of what we know of today as the "Morton Tract."  The strange neighborhood earned that strange name due to the fact that there were apparently a proliferation of dogs running loose around the area. Dogtown was also one of Hamilton's historic and notorious "Clay Pits." Trenton was a very viable pottery center back in the aforementioned late 19th and into the mid 20th century. Potteries needed very densely composed clay for use as "saggers;" a necessary product needed in molding pottery. I have been searching for historic information on this little known area of Hamilton and found the two articles above which will give a very detailed glimpse into the history of that old neighborhood and it's importance to the local pottery industry. On a personal note, the abandoned clay pits provided a very dangerous swimming area for many young boys back in the day. Mom Glover made it perfectly clear that the Glover boys were to avoid the hazardous swimming area which in later years had filled up with water and in many areas of the water equally hazardous Cedar stumps under the water. I remember when a Kuser School
student was killed when he drowned in those waters. I remember the clay pits as being very close to the area where the Hamilton Elks building and the office suites are located.