1909: KLOCKNER SCHOOL: LET'S KEEP THOSE REMAINING NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS

I hope my fears are not realized until I am out of the picture: Rumors are flying that our neighborhood schools are now obsolete and should be replaced. It is possible that incoming Boards of Education in the near future will be staffed with younger and more progressive members who are more interested in more modern and "airy" facilities. The prospect of a shiny new school will ultimately replace those old non state of the art buildings. I hope my fears are never realized.

1936: THE KLOCKNER AREA MINSTRELS

This is a nice reproduction of an August 1936 photo of the minstrels who performed for area residents at the Klockner School. Once again, numerous familiar family names are listed along with applicable photographs

1947: KLOCKNER SCHOOL CLASS OF 1947

Many thanks to Al Lombardo for this photo of the class of 1947 at Klockner School. Many of the students in the photo began their grammar school careers at White Horse's Maple Shade School and transferred to Klockner for their final grammar school year. Most of those in the photo were my classmates in the class of 1951 at Hamilton High School. One of my early childhood girl friends, Shirley Whitebread was in the Klockner class of '47. She and I made beautiful music back in Kuser Grammar School. Don't miss the designer shorts I was wearing; my older brother probably grew out of them, and became a generational hand-me-down. I told you the Glover family was just this side of poverty during those years!

Lee Belardino said...

Tommy
Nice picture of you and Shirely.She was a beautiful person as well as one of our finest alto's. We had many a practice session together and miss Baird had Shirley and I sing a duet.Mona Lisa at one of our assemblies. Shirley was my guardian angel and always looked out for me. Precious memories.
Lee

Wednesday, January 18, 2012


Tom Glover said...

Hi Lee:

I really had a case of puppy love in grammar school. I was heart broken when her family moved over to Finley Avenue in White Horse. She ended up with a friend of mine, Paul Woolverton. In my yearbook, she wrote, "I'll never forget you Tommy, you're first next to Paul."
Ahh, the innocent years of our youth!

"Tommie"
(A name all of my old friends still call me.)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

1949: KLOCKNER SCHOOL CLASS OF 1949

These "Klockner Kids" are now in their mid 70's. I have scanned the photo in 300 dots per inch in order to get a nice clear pristine photo with all the students easily identified by any Klockner class of 1949 visitor to this page. Klockner is more or less a twin of Kuser School. Both dating back to 1909, with 1908 being the year when the discussion of new schools was conducted.

1914: SCHOOL BOOKS WE WERE READING

"Old timers" will be quite familiar with the Traver name. In years past, Traver's Book Store was THE source for books. Mr. Traver was a kindly gentleman who was always willing to lend his assistance to booklovers. One of the saddest days in Trenton history was when Traver's closed their door and left Trenton without a book dealer. I remember the clearance sale they had back in the 1960's. It started out the one could by a bag of books for $3.00, and as the closing day arrived, all you could carry for a few dollars. I was there on the last day of the clearance sale. Mr. Jim Brimmer from the Trenton Rescue Mission was there. I had bags of books that were true rarities and as I was leaving, I asked Mr. Brimmer what was going to happen to the remaining books. They were going to be recycled! Trashed! Thrown away and crushed in a paper shredder! To a book lover such as I, the pain was awful! He and I were standing near the Rescue Mission truck which was being loaded for the trip to the paper recycling facility. I asked him if he would sell me a truck load. "Sure, $35.00 and you tell me where to deliver them." I was working in New Brunswick at the time, and at about 11:30 A.M. the next morning, Judy called me and said......"Tom, 5 men from the Rescue Mission were here at 8:30 this morning. They just left. I went out in the garage. There are books from the floor to the ceiling."I spent hours, days, weeks, going through those books. Mr. Don Sinclair was the archivist at the Rutgers "New Jersey Room." I called him and asked him if he was interested in any of the many rare volumes that were destined for destruction. I sent many rare New Jersey books up to him for inclusion in the New Jersey history collection.
I could write a book about my many years of collecting and seeking out historical material which would otherwise end up being destroyed. I also say with all the humility I can muster, that I had the foresight to procure the 100 year collection of local Trenton newspapers which were also going to the recycler. Somehow, I knew that microfilm preservation was not going to be the end of the preservation story. I was right! Along came the personal computer, and here we are, ready for the next 100 years of digitizing local history, "one page at a time." When the time comes that I am unable to function at this project, there will most certainly be a continuation of recording local history as it is found in the millions of pages in my Trenton newspaper collection.

1930: KLOCKNER SCHOOL PRESENTS "THE SWISS STORY"

Here's an enhanced photo showing the cast of the play to be presented by the school. Gravatt, Simpson, and Gladney are names with which I am familiar.

1908: KLOCKNER SCHOOL: IN THE BEGINNING

It was completed in 1909 but the preliminary legal proceedings was accomplished in 1908. Above is a scan of the actual Ballot which was part of the process. Would you believe that these incredibly historic documents were in a storage area that was destined to be destroyed?

I received the following guest book entry from Betty Smith Lewandowski from the Klockner Class of '54. I am re-posting this class photo of the class in case any visitor from that class would like to communicate with Betty. Her email address is marylew@aol.com. I hope you can find a classmate, Betty. This photo came to me via my dear friend, the late Billy Opferman, who purchased it at the Columbus Flea Market. He donated it to the Library's "KLOCKNER" folder.

Betty Writes:

Tom,
The Klockner school class of '54 was my class! Would love to hear from anyone else in the photo.
Betty

2009: THANK YOU, JERRY WELSH FOR AN INTERESTING EMAIL

I received this very interesting and insightful email from Jerry Welsh, who has fond memories of his grammar school years at Klockner and Mercerville grammar schools. Jerry referred to my Kuser School Centennial column which appeared in Saturday's Trenton Times. (See the side bar to the right for a link to that column). Jerry also remembers the graduation song they sang at the graduation ceremony in 1948. I will most certainly use that "Crusing Down the River"
melody in future presentations. Thanks so much for an interesting email, Jerry.

=================================================================

From: Jerry W

To: thomglo@verizon.net

Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 5:16 PM

Subject: re:School Days

Dear Tom,

I really enjoyed your column in the TIMES today,with the storyof the Kuser School's Opening 100 years ago.

That was a beautiful poem you wrote for the 75th Anniversary!

It got me thinking about my Grammar School Graduation from Klockner School.

I had been attending Mercerville School since kindergarten,and was in seventh grade as Winfred Applegate and I attended the Mercerville School Graduation,in June of 1948.

That fall,we would become 8th graders. We looked forward to being in Mrs.Bainbridge's Class,having Gym Class,the School Patrol activities, going to a big-league game in Philadelphia with the Patrol,getting "8th Grade Jackets,"making the Mercerville School Baseball team,etc!

But none of that was to be! That Summer,we were told we would be attending KLOCKNER School ! There would no longer be an 8th Grade at Mercerville. Children and Parents were irate! But,nothing could be done. Along with boys and girls from Maple Shade,and from Kuser,I believe,we became the Klockner Class of 1949,with 104 pupils.

It wasn't the same! I really didn't apply myself well to Klockner School! But,I "passed", got in the choir and had a part in a Musical we did,and in Graduation.

I remember our Graduation Song-to the tune of "Cruising Down The River"-

Leaving dear old Klockner

is a time that will not fade,

The scenes we know,just where to go,

friends that we have made.

The time worn bell's a-ringing

a message to our ears,

memories of Klockner

as we travel through the years.

as on we pass,from class to class,

new laurels to attain,

hardships may fall,but after all

we've everything to gain,

So we will all be singing,

a song of happi-ness

leaving dear old Klockner

on our way to HHS.

I don't know who wrote it,but you know,that Graduation was held 60 years ago next week! Wow!

Regards, Jerry Welsh

1988: KLOCKNER AND KUSER SCHOOLS: TWINS

Klockner school celebrated their centennial in 1988, the date when the township voted for a new school on Klockner Road. The school actually opened in 1909, the same as Kuser School which is now embarking on a 2009 Centennial year celebration. With few minor exceptions, Kuser and Klockner are twins. In fact, Klockner still maintains the little "Boys" and "Girls" foyers on either side of the school. Kuser had the identical construction back in 1909, and Kuser added the present "wings" in order to add rooms. Both schols started out as four room school houses.

1954: KLOCKNER CLASS OF '54

THANKS TO MY FRIEND BILL OPFERMAN FOR THIS PHOTO OF THE KLOCKNER CLASS. THE GRADUATES AREN'T IDENTIFIED. THE SCAN BELOW THE PHOTO CONTAINS THE SIGNATURES OF THE CLASSMATES. PERHAPS YOU KNOW ONE OR MORE OF THE "KLOCKNER KIDS."

1947: KLOCKNER DANCE

BEFORE THERE WAS A POLICE CAR AT EACH SCHOOL, BACK WHEN COKE WAS COCA COLA AND DRUGS WERE SOLD AT DRUG STORES, BEFORE KIDS CAME TO SCHOOL WITH KNIVES AND GUNS, BUT DURING A MUCH MORE CIVILIZED TIME, THE SCHOOLS HAD AFTER HOURS DANCES. REMEMBER THOSE SATURDAY NIGHT CANTEENS AT HAMILTON HIGH? HERE'S A PTA SPONSORED DANCE AT KLOCKNER WHEN INNOCENT CHILDREN PARTICIPATED IN GOOD CLEAN AND WHOLESOME FUN.

1944 Klockner School Keystone Safety Patrol

One of the things that makes Hamilton such a great place to live lies in the "small town" heritage it has for those of us senior citizens who have spent our lifetimes as residents. The above photo shows the safety patrol from Klockner School. Eddie Layton, in the lower center of the photo was the son of Mr. Joe Layton, who had the contract for providing the school buses for then rural Hamilton. Eddie and his father drove the buses. Eddie's sister, Dorothy Layton Fracella, was a classmate of mine in the Hamilton High School class of 1951. SMALLER AND RURAL WAS BETTER!