015 HERE COMES NOVEMBER!

Memories of crisp fall evenings, Judy rising at 5 A.M. to put that turkey in the oven, scraping the ice off the windshield of the car, witnessing the first snowflakes of the season, remembering our military veterans....ah yes, it's November; time for bittersweet memories.

1909: THE LEGENDARY JERSEY DEVIL; JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN!

I spent many hours researching this early 20th century version of today's "Big Foot" All the newspapers of the day were telling stories of citizens from Bordentown to Groveville, to Morrisville and other local appearances of what was originally known as the "Leeds Devil" then the fabled "Jersey Devil." It all started in South Jersey.

 At the request of my Editor and friend Wayne Davis for one of my MERCER MESSENGER Halloween columns, artist Sharon Tondreau was kind enough to furnish this exquisite drawing of the Jersey Devil based on the many descriptions of those who claimed to have seen the creature. Like the Loch Ness Monster, and "Bigfoot," many persist that the creature was and is real.

1929: BROMLEY BEFORE THERE WAS A GOOGLE EARTH!

This fascinating photo shows the Bromley area as views from an airplane looking down on Greenwood Avenue. Fellow Bromley resident Bobby Shinkle was kind enough to locate all the many friends and neighbors he had back in his youth where he lived on Dickinson Avenue. FASCINATING INDEED!

1984: THIS COLUMN SHOULD BE CALLED, "MUSIC THEN AND THEN"

I'm still scratching my head as I try to understand the trend in music over the last 50 or so years. I am hopelessly stuck in the genre that contains happy, sad, bittersweet, beautiful lyrics and melodies. Thank heavens there is still a WBCB 1490 in Levittown, WFJS 1260 in Ewing where civilized real harmony is still in style!

2015: TOM GLOVER'S KUSER FARM:

I have established a sub-folder in my KUSER FARM master folder and named it

 "TOM GLOVER'S KUSER FARM." It will be a pictorial look back at the COUNTLESS places with which I have become so familiar over all these years. I mentioned to Ms. Patti Krzywulak ("Che-vo-lock") who is Curator of the mansion, that I would like to do a walking tour of the Kuser property, pointing out the many interesting stories that will be re-told in a number of stops on the tour. The scanned photo below was taken yesterday as my dear little dog "Daisy Mae" and I took one of my many walks in the place I love so much and the place where memories of the Kusers are alive and vivid in my memory.

ST. ANTHONY GRAMMAR SCHOOL - THE WORD WAS "AUSTERE"

Back in the 1980's I was approached by the County of Mercer to write articles throughout the Sesquicentennial year relating to various Mercer County persons, places and things. Above is one of the columns I wrote, part of a 4 part series of that wonderful old parochial grammar school which is no longer in existence.  How ironic that those closed parochial schools who took pride in the fact that their students far out performed those in the public school system, but were doomed for failure for financial reasons!

1946: Route 25 (today's Rte 130) at the Route 33 turnoff

How this intersection has changed! Back when I was a daily commuter to New Brunswick, I opted for Route 130 as opposed to alway clogged Rte 1.
Down Route 33 to 130, stop for coffee and a donut at Russert's Deli, then north on 130 to Adams Lane in No. Brunswick, Adams Lane over the mainline railroad bridge to Route 1 and then to 600 Jersey Avenue. Back then there were two traffic lights on 130. The first at 33 and 130, then to Princeton-Hightstown Road at the Old Hights Inn. Look at it now!

2015: YOU'RE ALL INVITED FOR A VERY PLEASANT HOUR AND A HALF OF MUSIC AND MEMORIES

Remember the "bouncing ball" on screen sing alongs we saw at the movies back in the 40's and 50's? This Thursday night from 6 to 7:30, my singing partner Jack Pyrah and I will be bringing "NOSTALGIA NIGHT" to the Hamilton Library's "Little Theater," Room 3. The program is free and open to all who are within driving range of the Hamilton Library. Quite a few of those who attended our summer "Kuser Koncerts" expressed an interest in a continuing program, and Jack and I will be going for a monthly program until the 2016 season begins. Come on out this Thursday night for an hour and a half of music and memories!

Circa 1900: THE MERCERVILLE ROADHOUSE

Today, this historic old tavern is known as "Bill's Olde Tavern." Back in the Late1800's and early 1900's it was known as the Mercerville Road House. Mercerville was originally known as Sandtown. George Washington marched from Trenton along today's Hamilton Avenue (then the Sandtown Road) on his way to the battle of Princeton. He never made it to the old tavern as his march veered to the north west (think Mercerville School area) thence to Quaker Bridge thence to Princeton. A note about this photo. Offset printing was in its early stages and most old news photos from this era where of poor quality; this one is relatively better than others from the era.

1909: The Poor Claires Arrive in Bordentown

I always loved that old convent. Each Sunday as Judy and I made our way to my sister in law's Bordentown home, we passed by that classic old architectural treasure.

Sorry...the text on the article is a bit faded. here's an adjusted version:

 

1949: SOUTH BROAD STREET APPROACHING FRONT ST.

Here's a splendid view of a very familar downtown Trenton view. A trip to Gimbels or across the street to Goldberg's or perhaps a Saturday night at the RKO Capitol with that significant other.

2015: STILL A LONG, LONG, LONG WAY TO GO IN MY DIGITIZATION PROJECT

I remember so many local newspaper columnists who have devoted their output to the history of Trenton. John Cleary, Harry Podmore, Bill Dwyer, and many others among whom is my favorite local historian, Ms. Sally Lane. Sally's columns were always accompanied by very interesting graphics. Unfortunately, in today's newspaper industry, graphics take a back seat to written content. Be that as it may, some time ago, I began digitizing some of Ms. Lane's columns. Details follow.
So many subjects, so much fast fading history, so little time! I envision myself standing at the edge of a heavily forested area trying to identify each tree; an impossible task. My computer is a Dell Precision M6400 which was manufactured to replace that huge tower those of my fellow computer users have on their desk top. There are 46,542 files on "TOM'S HISTORY" computer found in 1,199 folders. Indeed 53 gigabytes on my hard drive are taken up by the aforementioned files and folders. The graphic shows just one of those folders; in this case my favorite local historian, Ms. Sally Lane. As of the present time, I have succeeded in digitizing 48 of Sally's past newspaper columns. My point? Go back to that forest to the trees I referred to. It will give you an idea of how much more yet to be digitized local history is to be added to the hard drive on my M6400 Dell Precision computer. Please Lord, let me have 10 more years to keep adding!