1920's: HAMILTON AND PARK AVENUES, VILLA PARK

From my "VILLA PARK" folder, this photo was part of a real estate ad relating to the area of Hamilton Township's Norway/Hamilton Avenue area. In my younger years this was occupied as a store known as "Margerum's" where I often stopped for a double dip (side by side) vanilla ice cream cone.

THE FAMOUS YARDVILLE "MILL RACE"

I need an expert on Yardville as well as an interpreter for this mysterious but FASCINATIN photo of what they are calling the "Mill Race." My source of confusion revolves around the numerous other views I have seen of this particular vantage point: the old Lawrie's Mill, Gropp's Lake, Etc. Will anyone be able to tell me what that building with the widow's watch is, also is that bridge railing and the narrow raodway South Broad Street? I have seen many versions of this particular view, but this one is really clear and perhaps someone can tell me if we are looking SOUTH or NORTH, (ELEANOR G.? GEORGE G.? GARY L.? CLAIRE Z,? Any ideas on this confusing graphic?

1938: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE TAYLOR OPERA HOUSE AND THE RKO CAPITOL

Here's an interesting article telling the story of the heritage of the late, great RKO Capitol theater which took over the legendary Taylor Opera House which was built in 1867. To those of us who are interested in music, musicals, theater, acting, etc., the visions that come to mind are the old days when vaudeville was the entertainment of the masses. Judy's father, Raymond Britton came into the theatrical business just as vaudeville was on the way out. He and his partner Mickey Dailey, were end me in a po;ular Trenton area blackface mistrel show.

1918: EWING PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

This beautiful edifice is one of Ewing Township's historic treasures.The above graphic took up nearly 1/4 of the full page of theThursday, April 25th edition of "The State Gazette" and has been meticulously re-formatted so that it can be legibly be seen here in the year 2016.

1923: Trenton's notorious "Comfort Station"

Only those of us in the "Senior Citizen" category will remember this vestige of Trenton's past. As I recall, my Facebook friend Tom Tighue posted a photo of this building picturing workers shoveling snow from the sidewalk surrounding the building. Many are the citizens who wished they had brought a clip on clothes pin for their respective noses when they answered nature's call and they had to make a visit to the structure.

1940: NORTH BROAD ENTERING THE STATE STREET INTERSECTION

How I love these vintage R.C. Maxwell photos that bring our Trenton past so beautifully into view!
Here's an enlarged zoomed in photo of that very familiar downtown Trenton intersection as it appeared 76 years ago.

2016: ONE OF MY FAVORITE COLUMNS

Life is beautiful! Wake up and smell the roses! I have written hundreds of columns during my 32 years of freelance journalism. Some of my favorite columns tell of "all the girls I loved before" starting with my first true pupply love at age 10, Mary Lou Saxton; my next door neighbor who broke my heart when she moved to California. My early years of courting Judy Britton; the lovely girl who would end up being my dear wife for 62 years. My years at Kuser School and Hamilton High School before it became "West-Watson," and my musical attraction from singing in a boys' barbershop quartet and another octet, school choir, and singing around the Glover Gulbranson upright piano in our Hartley Avenue home. One of the God given and too often ignored by our hustle and bustle to raise a family and earn a living lies in the beauty of nature. The column I wrote and repeated a number of times for succeeding generations is reproduced below. If you haven't taken the time to take Robert Frost's "Road Less Traveled," try a woodland walk. It will go a long way to increasing your longevity and well being.

1941: MILITARY INDUCTEES FIVE DAYS AFTER PEARL HARBOR

 

Here is an historic photo and article from the December 13,1941 edition of the Trenton Evening Times. Perhaps a relative or neighbor of yours is among those shown in the photo.I am familiar with two of the inductees. One is Charles Paul who lived on Hobson Avenue here in Hamilton. He is  the brother of my brother in law, the late Bill Paul. The other is Al Serini who built a house on the corner of Hartley and South Olden Avenue after the war. Small world!

1930's: DID YOU KNOW THAT TRENTON WAS ONCE A SEAPORT?

Once upon a time for a very short while, the city of Trenton Joined Phildaelphia a seaport but alas, it didn't last. Apparently by the time one moved up river toward Trenton,the shallow Delaware resulted in the termination of the effort. It is supposition on my part but I believe the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that deepening the Delaware to Trenton would be much too expensive. Perhaps a visitor to this website with knowledge on the subject can enlighten me on this subject. It would have been a very important accomplishment if the deepening project came to fruition.

1910 (Ca. 1910) CHRIST P.E. CHURCH

This exquisitely beautiful church was where Mr. Thomas Eli Glover married Alice Naomi Mount back in 1923. My family were regular members of that church long before I was born and before converting to the Roman Catholic faith, I was a St. James P.E. Church member during my early childhood. This church was patterned on the typical Episcopal church one would see along the rual British countryside. A nasty schism took place back in the 1960's and the wonderful congregation fell apart and is no more.

1915: JOSIAH ALLINSON NOW LOCUST HILL

All the COUNTLESS hours I have spent over the past 35 years in digitizing local history has given me unlimited resources that allow me to share this incredibly interesting local history with the local communities which I try to include in the Hamilton Township Local History Collection. The graphic is one of MANY that are part of a "Power Point" type on screen presentation wherein I add some delightful backgrounds to a specific image. This slide is from my "YARDVILLE" on screen program which is open ended and allows for new material to be included as an update. Here in the year 2016, "Locust Hill" and "Montage" community take up a large part of the old Allinson Farm on Yardville-Hamilton Square Road.

1951: LET THE COURTSHIP BEGIN!

Every time I recall my very early years of dating Judy Britton and recall how I would "accidentally" be passing by the intersection of Hamilton and Newkirk Avenue and see her standing on the corner waiting for the Trenton Transit bust that would take her to State and Broad Street for her job at Yard's Department Store. Long story short: I ended up passing that intersection any time I was available and she was on the corner. Then it was off to downtown Trenton and an early detour for coffee and perhaps a doughnut at Clede's Luncheonette on E. Hanover Street for an intimate close up conversation and getting to know each other. The rest is history. My Judy ended up as Mrs. Tom Glover and I fondly look back on those precious hours I spent courting the most beautiful girl in the world. The photo of Clede's is a treasure. Of course Judy standing on the corner was put there thanks to the magic of PhotoShop.

1842:OUR LADY OF SORROWS CHURCH - MERCERVILLE

Since early February, I have been working feverishly on correcting the numerous problems on this website. It is, has been, and will be a tedious time consuming project and will be ongoing for some time. I have finally reached the most intimidating part of the "tweaks" and that is to try to retrieve and re-post those many 2009-2010 posts which eliminated the graphic and replaced it with a black triangle with a "!" I have made enough progress on the tweaks and repairs over the past few months that allows me to begin posting again and hopefully reduce the large number of those graphics which were eliminated not be me, but for some reason Google's copies were deleted from their cloud database.
HERE'S AN ARTICLE TELLING OF THE NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MERCERVILLE, OUR LADY OF SORROWS WHICH WAS THE MISSION CHURCH OF ST. ANTHONY'S HERE IN HAMILTON AND HAS CONSOLIDATE THE TWO CHURCHES INTO OLS-ST. ANTHONY PARISH.

2016: HAMILTON TOWNSHIP'S IMPRESSIVE LOCAL HISTORY PROJECT

Thank you, Former Mayors Jack Rafferty and Glen Gilmore for your respective roles in helping me to form a "HAMILTONIA" collection similar (but different in that it is based on digital technology) from the legendary "TRENTONIANA" collection in the Trenton Free Public Library. Jack, you will recall that back in the late 1980's or early 1990's it was you, Mo Rossi and Joe Bellina who accepted my proposal to form an historical collection for future generations similar to the aforementioned "TRENTONIANA" collection with the added feature of a digital database with 59 gigabytes of old photos, news articles, etc. And Glen Gilmore, even though your letter dates back to the year 2004, it added credibility to my ongoing local history project. The year 2016 marks my 25th year of building this "HAMILTONIA" digital local history collection and the accompanying the Hamilton Library's "Tom Glover's Local History" web site www.glover320.blogspot.com will soon reach 1 million visitors who come back frequently to view additional material. I like to think we are ready for any future advancements in digital technology after I retire at age 103 or so! (Lord willing!)