1933:COLEMAN DRUGS - STACY LAUNDRY - STANDARD FIRE INSURANCE

 

I seem to recall that my friend,the late Meredith "Med" Havens worked for the Standard Fire Insurance Company. Old timers will remember that old reliable Coleman Drug store that was on the corner of Greenwood and So. Olden Avenue. The building still stands but Coleman is long gone. As to the Stacy Laundry, when I saw their appearance on the graphic, I tried to recall some of the others that still linger in my memory......Blakeley, Lincoln, and......my gosh, I forgot many of the others!

1911: RIKER'S DRUG STORE

I posted the photo below on this website many months ago and it has since been appearing here and there around the internet.However, the article I attached to that photo tells the interesting story of the Riker company who had similar super stores in other cities. Every time I look at that beautiful fountain, images of Victorian splendor come to mind. Perhaps a lovely Judy Garland hopping off that trolley with Tom Drake to partake in an ice cream soda with two straws! What an imagination!

1911 and 1923: RIKER'S DOWNTOWN DRUG STORE AND SODA FOUNTAIN

 

What charming old fashioned nostalgia comes upon us when we gaze upon an old fashioned drug store soda fountains. You remember drug stores, don't you? They sold drugs.....not be confused with the definition of the word today. I can imagine a Saturday night date with that lovely girl or one of them that I dreamed of back in my now ancient teen years, taking in a movie at the RKO Capitol, Trent, Lincoln and stopping in for an old fashioned ice cream soda! (Remember them?) Riker's was replaced by the Liggett chain of drug stores. On another note, the Kuser family sold the City Hall building which I added to the article above to the Lissner family back in the 1920's. (Little known historical fact)

1933: INCREDIBLE DEPRESSION ERA PRICES

This was the year I was born. My mom and dad were completely enveloped in the depths of the Great Depression. My father lost his "Gills Express" business which he purchased in 1928 and was just getting ahead with his pickups and deliveries to the local potteries. Like a lightening chain reaction, people were out of work, businesses began to lose money, and in my father's case, he began to lose business that was shut off by the economic crash. The bare financial necessities were very poor and ultimately led to him not being able to feed the family and keep up with his other bills, including the telephone. Bankrupt!

1916: (Ca. 1916) THE TERMINAL HOTEL

Here's a rare photo of a little known hotel among the many that proliferated in the city of Trenton during the last century. Note the Reading Terminal building on the right.

Note that R.C. Maxwell-Duke University Library photographs published on this website, are in compliance with the U.S. copyright holder's “fair use” provisions and that the 

material displayed is for 

EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE USED FOR ANY COMMERCIAL OR OTHER MONETARY PURPOSES.

 

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rcmaxwellco_xxg0130

1947: REMEMBERING THE TERMINAL DINER

This closeup view shows the popular "Terminal Diner" next to the Perry Street bus terminal. I had a cup of coffee hear back in the 1950's, waiting for a TRAILWAYS bus to take me back to Fort Devens in Massachusetts.

Note that R.C. Maxwell-Duke University Library photographs published on this website, are in compliance with the U.S. copyright holder's “fair use” provision and that the material displayed is for 

EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE USED FOR ANY COMMERCIAL OR OTHER MONETARY PURPOSES.

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rcmaxwellco_XXH1568

1947: GUS HEINTZ'S BAR - CHAMBERS STREET APPROACHING LIBERTY

 

Above is an R.C. Maxwell photo  zeroing in on Gus Heintz's bar on Chambers Street; a very popular "watering hole" back in the 1940's. The 1964 ad under the photo was imported from the Hamilton Library's Local History database.

Note that R.C. Maxwell-Duke University Library  material published on this website, is in compliance with the U.S. copyright holder's provision that the material displayed is for 

EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE USED FOR ANY COMMERCIAL MONETARY PURPOSE

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rcmaxwellco_XXH1560

1944: TRENTON'S GOLDBERG'S OLD TIME EMPLOYEES

I tried posting this on Facebook and as usual the limits on graphic size rendered it illegible unless one has a 20 plus inch monitor which most of us do not. I have decided to publish only very small graphics on FB and save the good stuff here where it belongs.

1914: CHAMBERSBURG MERCHANTS IN THE "TEENS"

Solimando and Salamandra: very familiar names in the Chambersburg of yesteryear. Indeed the two name still crop up quite frequently in my extensive digital database in the "CHAMBERSBURG" and "AMERICAN-ITALIAN" folders in the Hamilton Library Local History Collection.

1931: GREAT DEPRESSION? LET'S GO SHOPPING

I see Max Introlligator's "Specials" in this full page ad from the Trenton Times, as well as Kinney Shoes  advertizing a real good deal on sneakers. (From "PF's" to "Addidas to Nike;" what a huge giant step in price and functionality!

Circa 1930's: GROCERS AND "CORNER STORES" IN TRENTON AREA

Unfortunately this graphic is much too large even for this website. I posted it on Facebook and it is completely illegible. The original is in color. However, color takes up a huge amount of space so it has been converted to "gray scale" which, even though it is still a large graphic, allows for legibility. It is an interesting log of the countless small "mom and pop" stores that proliferated in the area before the present day "convenience stores" took up nearly every intersection in the area.

1925: TRENTON MERCHANTS ABOUNDED

This graphic is probably much too large to gain full legibility, but the line engravings will give a good idea of the Trenton in the "roaring twenties."

1927: CLOVERDELL PORK ROLL ("SUGAR CURED")

This very interesting photo of an R.C. Maxwell sign is accompanied by baskets of potatoes and who know what else? I pasted the caption at the bottom of the photo which was a remark written by a Maxwell employee.

1920's - 1930's: REMEMBERING THE NON SLICED LOAF OF BREAD

Back when I was a boy 7 decades ago or more, we bought unsliced bread. Why? Money was tight. Bread cost a nickel or dime a loaf and with 5 hungry mouths to feed, Mom Glover saw that slicing one by one kept the other end of the loaf fresher than if there were air circulating between the slices. The interesting sales ad from Freihoffers lists the "corner stores" and others who carried the then popular bread.

1921: ASHTON MILL SUPPLIES

The article above relates to a story with which I am very familiar. My career was spent in a dead end job in the bearing and power transmission industry with the Brown Bearing and Supply Company. I spent 42 years as a non-engineer specialist in bearings and power transmission equipment; the latter equipment including power transmitting belting of all types, roller chain, sprockets, pulleys, "V" belts and really, anything that was used to power the equipment of the many industrial factories in the Trenton - Mercer, and Delaware Valley area. The Ashton company began way way back in the mid 19th century with a center city Trenton location. The above article describes the new building which still stands on the corner of Spruce Street and New York Avenue. You will note that one of the employees was Lee Wiley. Lee was to take over the business and form the Wiley Hughes Supply Company which was in business right up into the 1960's. One of the monstrous errors I made in my career was to decline the offer to move from the bearing company to the Wiley Hughes company where I would get benefits and a salary increase. I opted to stay with a company that ultimately placed their sons in the positions my partner and I should have had and the company went Chapter 11 in less than 2 years.

The Jewish section of South Trenton in the Union-Market Street area was once a thriving community with incredible vitality. Most old time Trentonians probably at one time or another  journeyed down Market Street for the much heralded and famouse "Jewish Rye Bread" from Kohn's Bakery. I must admit that I am not familiar with the Kunis Bakery, but thanks to Tom Tighue who found these photos, Kunis' bake shop has been re-introduced to the 21st century. I recall back in the early or mid 1960's when they were re-developing that area of town, being allowed to enter a vacant building where the former occupant had left a cellar full of old books and papers relating to Trenton. They were recovered and now have a repository here at the Hamilton Library after many years in the Glover storage area.

1921: BLAKELY LAUNDRY; A CLASSIC

Anyone who has been a Trenton area resident will recall the Balkely Laundry in that familiar North Montgomery and Brunswick Avenue location. This page from "BUSINESSES - TRENTON" folder in the Hamilton Library Local History Collection is from the Daily State Gazette. The photos below give an idea of the size of this, probably the largest laundering facility in the area.

1923 AND 1931: MAX INTROLLIGATOR JR. AND MAX'S DEPARTMENT STORE

How very popular Max's Department Store was back in the 1930's and early 1940's. Most of our Hamilton neighbors during those depression years were searching for a store where one could find a genuine bargain. As a young boy, I remember going to "Maxie's, as we called him where mom stocked up on items that were much more expensive in the downtown Trenton stores. Finding this set of graphics in my "NOTABLE PERSONS" folder reminded my of two other Jewish stores we frequented: Finkel's and Schnur's; both Trenton legendary stores for the budget conscious buyer with limited financial means. 

REMEMBERING THE "SUPER MARKET"

This may be a duplication of an earlier post, but I must exercise the privilege of repeating an engraving that I find to be exquisite as it recalls the A & P supermarket as it was in neighborhoods all over the area. In our area, the A & P was located on Hamilton Avenue between South Olden and South Logan Avenues. "Red Circle, Bokar,

Jane Parker and too many others to mention were the specialties in these small by comparison super markets. The auto in the photo and the ladies in the photo place it in the early 1930's. FASCINATING!

1945: CAPITOL BODY & FENDER WORKS

They were located at 756 E. State Street, just past Monmouth Street, over the railroad bridge, past the Crossley Maching Shop and on the left side of the road.