1971: DISASTER IN MERCERVILLE: UNION METHODIST CHURCH EXPLOSION

 

I remember this disaster quite well. I had just passed the area on Quaker Bridge Road perhaps a half hour prior to the explosion as I was on my way to my New Brunswick office. One of my work mates was Al Tobias who lived on Holt Avenue, mere streets away from the explosion. It was the talk of the town way back there 42 years ago. How time has flown; it seems like just a few years ago. The church was rebuilt in the beautiful edifice on Paxon Avenue off Edinburg Road.

1955: THE GREAT FLOOD OF AUGUST, 1955

I was in the U.S. Army overseas when this disaster struck the Delaware Valley. The first I heard of it was on "AFN," the Armed Forces Radio Network. Eyewitnesses watched as the Yardley bridge was swamped by the angry waters. This event goes down in history as one of the area's most severe disasters. The riverfront would never be the same.

1936: THE HINDEBURG 1 YEAR BEFORE THE DISASTER

We had an aluminum structural base that a family member found at the site of the historic crash and burn of the Hindenburg. Somehow, it got lost in the attic when the house passed into the hands of the beneficiaries. This article from the "AIRCRAFT" folder in the Local History Collection is a testament to the fascination the public had with that huge aircraft. View the British UK Pathe' news clip by clicking on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWHbpMVQ1U

1912: TITANIC DISASTER 4 DAYS LATER

I have been watching the "TITANIC" mini series on Cable. It is truly a fascinating look back at the turmoil and struggles the builder and the unions brought to the forefront. The above full page article from the TRENTON TRUE AMERICAN is a natural for historic digital preservation. No scratchy printout of a microfilm reproduction could bring anywhere near the clarity of this 101 year old page. There are many more Titanic-related articles to be digitized and posted; stay tuned.

1912: WASHINGTON A. ROEBLING, TITANIC VICTIM

Included in the huge collection of bound Trenton newspapers in my collection is a number of pages detailing the horrible Titanic disaster. One of the victims of the disaster was a lady who resided in the Bromley section of Hamilton Township. Eventually there will be digitized graphics relating to the disaster posted in the "TITANIC" folder of the Hamilton Library's Local History Collection and also on this website.

1912: THE TITANI DISASTER

Above is a portion of the front page of the Titanic disaster, a week or so after the unsinkable vessel went down. I have laminated this page, and unfortunately, there is no additional pages foundup to this pointbut I am searching.

1912: YOU WILL BE READING A LOT ABOUT THIS CENTENNIAL DISASTER

It is interesting to note that a resident of the Bromley area was among those rescued when the Titanic was torn asunder by an iceberg a century ago. The article above should read, "A Hamilton Woman Survives Sinking of Titanic." The "Headline Edition" front page of the Trenton Times above has been scanned in "gray scale," which gives a pristine copy when compared to the articles on the genealogical web sites which scan in black and white to keep the size of the image down. "Black and white" scans have no shade differences between stark black and snow white." which very effectively removes much of the clarity of an offset photo. It took quite a while to tweak this grayscale front page with articles on the Titanic disaster which happened 100 years ago this Thursday, March 12, 2012. I am looking forward to the PBS miniseries which will air next Saturday.

1912: NEXT MONTH MARKS THE CENTENNIAL OF THE TITANIC DISASTER

Obviously, the Titanic disaster is, and has been a very necessary part of our national history. It is also of interest to us as a local historical incident when it relates to local passengers who were on the doomed giant. Few people know of Mrs. Bertie Pickett of Park Lane in Hamilton's Bromley area as being one of the survivors of the disaster. Future posts will have more on this historic tragedy; stay tuned.

1882: AN EQUINOCTIAL STORM HITS CENTRAL JERSEY

From the "WEATHER RELATED" folder in the Hamilton Library Local History Collection, this very large article details the incredible damage a torrential rail storm cause to the Mercer County area back in 1892. Bridges were washed away, hundreds of building destroyed, and the above report details some of the disastrous results of the storm.

NOTE: THE SIZE OF THIS GRAPHIC WILL REQUIRE A LARGE LCD COMPUTER DISPLAY. IT WILL PROBABLY BE TOO SMALL AND BLURRY FOR THE OLD CRT (CATHODE RAY TUBE) MONITOR WHICH MANY STILL USE. IT IS BARELY LEGIBLE ON MY 19" LCD MONITOR.

1981: NOT FORGOTTEN: A MIRACLE PLANE CRASH

This happened while I was commuting daily to my office in New Brunswick. As I look at that photo, I realize and assume the pilot was really a hero for avoiding hitting any of the homes along the roadway, crashing into the street rather than the lawn seen in the foreground.

1968: THE TRENTON RIOTS

Those 1968 riots changed the city of Trenton forever. In my opinion, the town never recovered from the incredibly senseless looting and destruction of public and personal property, all in the name of avenging the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King by a deranged racist animal. Why the city was blamed for that dastardly act is beyond reason. However, the city we all knew and loved never fully recovered from the senseless looting and burning which the town endured.

1942: CAROLE LOMBARD DIES IN A PLANE CRASH

I would estimate that 1 or 2 percent of the visitors to this blog are in the over 70 generation. That generation, of which I am proud to lay claim, remembers the world-wide and tragic news of the death of Ms. Lombard who died while on a Defense Bond Drive for the war effort. I remember the sentiment and love the average American had for Ms. Lombard and her husband Clark Gable. With the aforementioned observation that there are very few WWII veterans who visit this site, I would ask that all you "youngsters" who are on the web, print this out and hand it to grandma or grandpa.

1912: THE "UNSINKABLE" TITANIC

We have all heard countless stories on the Titanic Disaster of April, 1912. The article above lends a very close look at the situation as those involved answered questions to those who investigated the tragedy. Due to the size of the graphic, I had to re-format it and try to bring it into a more computer friendly size.

1971: How Well I Remember This BLACK Morning!

I was on my daily commute to New Brunswick when this disaster happened. For some reason, I opted to go via Quaker Bridge Road rather than my normal Route 130 route. When I reached five points, all was chaos. I detoured and seeing all the police and fire activity, tuned my radio and waited for the news. The rest is history. That devestating explosion was heard far and wide and but for the grace of God, there were no fatalities. This is another of those "Do you remember where you were when the Union Methodist Church exploded?" I do.

1918: THE GREAT INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC

From the "DISASTERS" folder in the Local History Collection, a stark record of the terrible Spanish flu epidemic which swept the nation during WWI. Thousands were victims of the disastrous epidemic.

1901: THE WRECK OF THE NELLIE BLY

DISIt was one of the most horrible train wrecks in New Jersey History. The page above is has been digitized in "Black and White" instead of grayscale in order to reduce the size of the graphic. To those who find the type too small, temporarily change your screen resolution to 800 x 600. ('START," "CONTROL PANEL," "DISPLAY," "SETTINGS," 800 X 600)

1938: THE KILLER HURRICANE OF SEPTEMBER, 1938

It took the Rafferty administration to figure out how to stop the flooding of Pond Run in the Bromley section of Hamilton. Prior to the construction of the concrete spillway back in the 1970's the folks along Greenwood, Johnston, Richland, and other streets in the area became inundated with flood waters. Here are two photos showing the area as the great hurricane of 1938 ran up the middle Atlantic to New England, spreading death and destruction.

1944: THE CRASH OF THE P47. THANKS GEORGE!

GEORGE GOLDY RECALLS THE CRASH. HERE'S HIS EMAIL DETAILING THE INCIDENT:
Tom
I remember the crash in 1944. I lived in Lakeside and went over the farms and visited the site the next day.The crash occurred on the Mays Farm which was located between Klockner Road and Rt 33 and. was in the area behind Cedar Gardens. The site was in a wood area and was a large hole filled with gas, oil and water. The engine was still embedded in the bottom. The trees at the site showed that the plane came in at about a 60 degree angle. I was outside the night it happened and remember the rest of the flight circling very low for about 10 minutes before returning to Millville. There is a housing development on the site now. I hope that this helps you. As you have indicated I too was very interested in airplanes at that time.
George Goldy

MANY THANKS, GEORGE.

1934: THE FLOOD OF SPRING, 1934

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF GRAPHICS SHOWING THE RESULTS OF THE FLOOD WHICH OCCURRED IN THE SPRING OF 1934. AS THE WINTER SNOWS THAWED UP-RIVER, THE DELAWARE OVERFLOWED HER BANKS AND MANY TOWNS WERE IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY.

1934: FLOODING IN HAMILTON

FROM THE HAMILTON LIBRARY'S LOCAL HISTORY FOLDER, "STREETS, ROADS, HIGHWAYS" COMES THIS PHOTO SHOWING THE INTERSECTION OF BERG AND LIDA STREET. THIS DEVASTATING FLOOD WIPED OUT MANY AREAS. THE SOUTH TRENTON AREA WAS ESPECIALLY HARD HIT AS ILLUSTRATED ELSEWHERE ON MY SITE.