1882 - 1890's: Monsignor Hogan: The Monsignor McCorristin of the Victorian era

I think I qualify as a veteran of the art of scanning historical photos and documents. Way back in the early years of scanning I purchased a "Bearcat" scanner with the hope of being able to get a beautiful reproduction of some extremely interesting historic local history subjects. At the time, I had just moved from the old "MS Dos" computing to the new Windows 3.1. Wow, what an improvement in technology! Along came "Corel" with their graphics program along with the software that I have been using for over 30 years: Photo Shop; and incredible graphics program with a very steep learning curve. I climbed pretty high on that learning curve but still have much to learn. However, what I have learned, along with accumulating 80 plus gigabytes of digital news photos and articles, is the remarkable ability to find older posts and combine them with more recent posts and put them together in the graphic shown here. It's an exciting journey and there's never a dull moment. My only problem is that age old problem credited to the Pennsylvania Dutch: "Ve get too soon old und too late schmart!"

TRENTON LANDMARKS: FORT RAWNSLEY

I am currently working on long forgotten Trenton and area landmarks. One of them is the FASCINATING story of South Trenton's "FORT RAWNSLEY." This historic edifice was an extremely popular gathering place back in the 12800's, and many a politician stood on that balcony and spoke to the public that gathered there at the triangular intersection of South Warren, Fadtory, and Lamberton Streets. That extract above is from the 1882 map of the city of Trenton and parts of Hamiton.

From a huge and very rare "Nol 1882" map that came into my possession, I am learning some very enlightening tings about who was where during the year 1882 in Trenton and a tantalizing glimpse of the Hamilton suburbs including a street map of Greenwood Cemetery. I never knew those many roadways had names.
Here's 1882 showing Villa Park before it became Villa Park and was subdivided between two huge parcels of land owned by Samuel Wilson and David Quintin. The property is shown from Chambers Street on the left of your screen and down to the Olden area community of Bismarck, Centennial Avenues. Mr. Quintin's historically famous race track took up a large part of the property.

1882: FROM TRENTON IRON COMPANY TO TRENTON IRON WORKS

This historic district in Trenton today is being largely converted into upscale loft apartments and a museum. Cooper Hewitt, Trenton Iron Works, Trenton Iron Company have all occupied this site at one time or another. This rare map from 1882 shows the Trenton Iron Company before Mr. Cooper acquired it and changed the name to Trenton Iron Works.

1938: PART OF THE South WARREN STREET BUSINESS DISTRICT

Many of the younger generation who are familiar with today's city of Trenton have asked me about South Warren Street when it used to traverse southward all the way to the southern area of the city. Today it is a one way street heading south from Perry Street from whence it takes a left curve in the road to connect to South broad Street.

1882: CHAMBERSBURG FROM MOTT STREET TO BAYARD STREET TO HAMILTON AVENUE

For all my Chambersburg friends who lived in this area of "the Burg;" here's your chance to see who lived in your house on Mott, Elmer, Butler and Bayard Street back before the Italian population began to occupy the area.

1882: A TANTALIZING GLIMPOST OF JUST ONE SECTION OF HISTORIC MILL HILL

My dear friend, the late Georgiana Phillips Smith passed this very rare 1882 ap of the city of Trenton and portions of Ewing, Lawrence and Hamilton. This graphic is extracted from the HUGE wall map. How I wish I had an 8 x 8 foot scanner to capture this historic treasure. Current Mill Hill residents will be delighted to see who lived where they and as their neighbors in this 130 year old map. When one works on rare historic specimens such as this, "HANDLE WITH CARE" becomes "HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE," and I am!

1882: STATE AND GREEN STREETS A VERY RARE VIEW

How many hours I will spend referencing the residents of the State and Greene (Broad) Street area of downtown Trenton as it was 135 years ago! This rare map came into my possession as a gift from the late Mrs. Georgiana Phillips Smith who was a Hamilton Educater for many years during the 1930's and 40's. It is a true historic treasure and a gold mine for historic research.

1899: MAKE WAY FOR VILLA PARK!

This rare wall map recently came into my possession and I immediately placed in the Hamilton Township Public Library's. Local History Collection. It is a very rare wall map and wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't in one of Hamilton's one room schools back the the 1800's. My speculation is based on the long and loyal contributions of my dear friend the late Georgiana Phillips Smith as a long time teacher in the Hamilton School system and her incredible record as a charter member of the Hamilton Township Historical Society. You will note that I added a comment in the gray open space on the map. Were you able to see the complete map, you would see the two farms of David  S.Quintin and Samuel K. Wilson whose combined land holding occupy the entire Villa Park area over as far as Chambers Street which is shown on the map (not in this scan). A lonely corner plot on this map is shown on the corner and marked: "Chapel and St. Francis Hospital." FASCINATING and very interesting view of Villa Park before it was laid out in 1899!