2012: "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS"

What a treasure! Cleary and Podmore's "Trenton in Bygone Days" is an incredible fountain of local history. The above is just one of the many, many Bygone Days columns I have digitized and preserved in the Hamilton Library's Local History "BYGONE DAYS" folder. I have highlighted a section in gray as a reference for my ongoing collection of St. John's-Sacred Heart Parish historical files. However, as you read this fascinating article by Mr. Cleary, you will see interesting information on Brearley, T.C. Hill, Scudder-Dunham, and other Trenton notables from the past.

SOME EARLY TRENTON INDUSTRIES

THERE WAS A PAPER MILL LOCATED ALONG THE ASSANPINK CREEK IN DOWNTOWN TRENTON BACK IN THE 19H CENTURY. AS CAN BE SEEN BY THE ALWAYS INTERESTING "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS" COLUMN ABOVE, TRENTON WAS ALSO THE HOME OF ANOTHER PAPER MANUFACTURER, THIS ONE MAKING PAPER BAGS. THE STORY OF THAT HUGE SAW BLADE IS ALSO TIED TO THE AMERICXAN SAW MANUFACTURING COMPANY THAT CALLEDPublish Post TRENTON HOME.

BEAUTIFUL, ISN'T IT? "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS"

YES, I AM PROUD OF THIS GRAPHIC. NOT ONLY DOES IT GIVE WONDERFUL HISTORIC INFORMATION ON ONE OF MY MOST REQUESTED SUBJECTS (TOLL GATES), IT IS ALSO AN EXAMPLE OF THE PRISTINE DIGITIZATION PROJECT I HAVE UNDERTAKEN TO PRESERVE THESE INCREDIBLE PIECES OF TRENTON HISTORY. JOHN CLEARY AND HARRY PODMORE WERE THE WRITERS OF THESE COLUMNS BACK IN THE 30'S AND 40'S. MOST OF THE SURVIVING COPIES ARE IN SCRAPBOOKS WHICH HAVE DEVELOPED RIPPLED PAGES, AND ALSO ON SCRATCHY MICROFILM. ALONG WITH DIGITIZING THE IMAGES, I AM ALSO UNDERTAKING AN INDEXING DATABASE WHICH WILL LEAD RESEARCHERS TO A SPECIFIC "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS" COLUMN. MANY OF THESE COLUMNS NEED INDEXING DUE TO THE FACT THAT ONE COLUMN MAY COVER MULTIPLE SUBJECTS.

1930: BILLY DWYER IN BYGONE DAYS!

THAT LITTLE FELLOW IN THE SECOND ROW, 4TH FROM LEFT IS NOTED HISTORIAN BILL DWYER WHO TOOK OVER HARRY PODMORE'S "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS." THE BYGONE DAYS COLUMN WAS STARTED BY ANOTHER HISTORIC LEGEND, MR. JOHN CLEARY. BILL WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED TENNIS PLAYER.

I ADDED THE CIRCULAR PHOTO IN THE UPPER RIGHT OF THE GRAPHIC AND PUT IT IN A CIRCULAR FRAME.

1931: CIVIL WAR COMPANY A, 7TH REGIMENT

ONE OF THE MANY "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS" COLUMNS WHICH IS APPROPOS FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW, WHEN THE GUYS AND GALS AT THE CAMP OLDEN CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE STAGE THEIR ANNUAL SPECTACLE OF CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTMENTS. THIS JOHN CLEARY "BYGONE DAYS" COLUMN SHOULD BE OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO THOSE HISTORY-MINDED CIVIL WAR AND GENEALOGY SCHOLARS WHO WILL FIND THE NAMES OF MANY, IN FACT MOST OF THE MORE PROMINENT LOCAL AREA MEN WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.

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TOM'S NOTE: THE GRAHIC IS NOT AS FOCUSED AS MY OTHER POSTS. THIS DUE TO THE FACT THAT IN ORDER TO CAPTURE THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, I HAD TO ABANDON "JPEG" AND REVERT BACK TO PLAIN OLD "BLACK AND WHITE."

HARRY PODMORE'S "TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS"

ONE OF MY MORE FASCINATING PROJECTS ON WHICH I AM WORKING AT THE HAMILTON LIBRARY'S LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION IS THE DIGITIZATION OF PODMORE'S FABULOUS "BYGONE DAYS' COLUMNS. THIS IS A MONUMENTAL PROJECT, AS THE COLUMN APPEARED WEEKLY FOR MANY YEARS. INDEED, IT IS ONE OF THOSE "ON-GOING" PROJECTS. BEFORE DIGITIZATION CAME ON THE SCENE, MOST OF THE "BYGONE DAYS" COLUMNS WERE PASTED IN SCRAPBOOKS. UNFORTUNATELY OVER THE YEARS THE ARTICLES HAVE FADED AND IN MANY CASES THE PAGES HAVE "RIPPLED." FORTUNATELY, MY COPIES WERE PROTECTED WITHIN THE PAGES OF THE HUGE BOUND NEWSPAPER VOLUMES.

HARRY PODMORE, JOHN CLEARY, AND MORE RECENTLY, BILL DWYER DID A LOT TO KEEP TRENTON'S ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY ALIVE.

The "Hotel de Kelly"

Harry Podmore is one of my very favorite writers of our local history. The Local History Collection has preserved many of his columns, and a project is in progress to index each column. The column presented here deals with the area of north Trenton near Montgomery Street which was once the site of "the Swamp." It was here that the derelicts of the city lived in their cardboard hovels and according to many articles in the local press, the area was a very undesireable neighborhood.

Harry Podmore Writes About Trenton Street Names

Here's another PRISTINE copy of the Harry Podmore "Trenton in Bygone Days" column; one of the many in the BYGONE DAYS folder in my Hamilton Library Local History Collection.

How I love those "Trenton in Bygone Days" Columns!

Gallows Hill, the "Hotel deKelly, "The Swamp," and other fascinating historic lore are found in the Hamilton Library Local Collection's Cleary and Podmore columns. The beauty of this collection lies in the fact that they do not have to be viewed via microfilm readers which have a penchant for scratching the film containing the image. Furthermore, the printed output on microfilm reader-printers leaves a lot to be desired.

"TRENTON IN BYGONE DAYS"

As a young boy, I eagerly went to the pages of the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser to read "Trenton in Bygone Days." John Cleary and Harry Podmore made local history come to life. Their writings are a treasure trove of local history.
One of the very exciting aspects of my local history digitization project is the ability to preserve my collection of "Trenton In Bygone Days" columns. Most of the Bygone Days columns I have seen were pasted into scrapbooks, and through the natural aging process have faded and the scrapbook pages developed a "rippled" effect.
Thanks to computer technology, the pristine original newspapers in my collection allow for equally pristine reproduction of the many BGD columns available. For the benefit of the many senior citizens who are interested in history, these files are being scanned at high definition, allowing those who need large print to zoom in to a comfortable reading level.