2016: THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF HAMILTON IS A BLAZING SUCCESS!

We have found the secret of a successful local historical society! After assuming the leadership of the Historical Society of Hamilton Township, a few years ago, Dr. Jim Federici, Ms Lois Majarowitz and I have had our suspicions confirmed as to how to increase interest in our programming. we find that our historic poor attendance centered around former officers program choices. (Those former officers include Tom Glover and Dr. Jim Federici.) We found that the average citizen would really love to hear and see programs that were relevant to them personally: BROAD STREET PARK, WHITE CITY, NJ. STATE FAIR, KUSER FAMILY, CHAMBERSBURG, and on and on. These programs have proved to be successful with large crowds attending as opposed to programs such as "open hearth cooking," "tile making in Trenton," "Flemington NJ," and other bland and boring subjects of interest to only a select few. The attendance began to decline during my time as president when we were lucky if 15 people showed up for our meetings, most of whom were senior citizens. Now with what I have termed our "New Departure," we are experiencing incredible attendance numbers of attendees who are avidly interested in RELEVANT local history.

The photo is from last evening's BROAD STREET PARK - WHITE CITY" on screen presentation. It was taken before the program began at 7 P.M. The final count was 59 or 60 attendees, all of whom enthusiastically asked questions or contributed to our on screen photos and articles. Former Sheriff Gil Lugossy and local Broad Street Park Historian Jim Colello loaned us their historical expertise on the neighborhood and the program was a huge success!.
Our future programs will include material of interest to Trenton and outlying areas for those citizens who are interested in Trenton as it was in earlier years.

1947: THE WHITE HORSE CIRCLE

My many visitors have obviously seen less activity on this site over the past 45 days or so. The reason? I have been swamped with organizing programs for our sister history organization, the Historical Society of Hamilton Township. First, an update on the incredible change that occurred during the 2014 season of the society. When we realized that the Society was really becoming irrelevant due to the very boring programs that were being presented not only in the last administration, but dating back to the years that Tom Glover was society President, we decided to opt for the obvious solution that was right under our collective noses: 

LOCAL HISTORY!

 Gone were the speakers relating stories of historical interest to South Jersey, Molly Pitcher, colonial coinage, open hearth cooking, and other subjects of interest to only a few, with nary a program relating to the incredible history to be found in Hamilton, Trenton and Mercer County. We began the process of assembling on screen programming and lectures which were tailored with the average citizen in mind; in short, those who would be very interested in our local historic treasures. Our first meeting in March, 2014 was snowed out. (It will be presented during the 2015 season which begins in March next year.) The meetings in April, May, September, October and November resulted in an encouraging number of citizens who were, very much interested in local history; all of which verified our belief that attendance at our meetings would outstrip the few members who had been attending ho hum programming over years. Our October meeting with the "CHAMBERSBURG THEN" resulted in at least 80 in attendance; probably more as the count was lost as we scrambled to add seats to the library's Rooms 1 and 2. Each of our 2014 meetings found numbers between 40 and the aforementioned 80 plus attending. We have termed our new and improved Historical Society programming as a  "New Departure" in sharing local history with the community.

From Joe B.:
You have mentioned this a few times it would be great if we could get the old timers out to an afternoon meeting to tell us their stories of the Old Burg. Just the other day I was speaking to a friend of mine and he told me part of a conservation he had with his dad;he mentioned the Old Trenton High School at Chestnut and Hamilton ( which is now a bank) and Carroll Robbins School behind the School. Did you know there were tunnels underground from Trenton High and Carroll Robbins; just like I found out recently that there was a tunnels from the New Trenton High to St. Francis Hospital? Not earth shaking news but it would nice to know why they needed the tunnels.

2014: THE HAMILTON TOWNSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY APRIL 7 MEETING

Despite a blustery and very rainy night, the "Little Theater" at the Hamilton Township Public Library was filled to capacity on Monday evening, April 7th as the Hamilton Township Historical Society kicked off the 2014 season with what Broadway's fabled  "Variety" magazine would categorize as a "Boffo SRO crowd." To add to the wonderful and educational meeting, former Mayor Jack Rafferty, himself an accomplished historian, came to the meeting with my old friend, Viet Nam vet and Mayor's Patriotic Committee officer, Ronny Stewart. Their attendance gave much needed boost to the credibility of our cause. Did we ever have a good time! The Hamilton Township Historical Society has been on the wrong path even as far back as when I served as president of the group, with programs  having little to do with our incredible local history. With Dr. James Federici as our new president, we have embarked on an exciting new series of programs which will be of interest to not only Hamiltonians, but to Trentonians and  Mercer County. 

The next meeting on May 5th will also be devoted to local history as we present a program entitled, "ON THE HOME FRONT;" a pre-Memorial Day patriotic program  devoted to the military and life on the home front during World War II. You will learn about Blackouts, Air Raid Wardens, the Fifth Column, Rationing, and countless other war years articles and photos in a fascinating on-screen presentation. Included in the program will be time set aside for a musical sing along of patriotic music from "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'round the Old Oak Tree" to "Anchors Aweigh," "I'll Be Seeing You," and other songs to bring back those treasured memories. Details to follow; stay tuned!