1912: PENNINGTON IS GROWING

This is one of the towns I would love to have called home after I married back in 1954 but unfortunately the real estate was geared to the more affluent in our community and Judy and I certainly weren't in that category. Here's a very interesting graphic showing the "movers and shakers" that were responsible for making "Pennytown" the delightful and bucolic town we have today.

1912 & 1914: PENNINGTON PROGRESSING QUITE WELL, THANK YOU!

 

The two lower articles give an idea of what the bucolic town of Pennington looked like 100 years ago. Imagine: Sidewalks! A hopeless romantic such as I can only resort to my imagination to visualize what a truly rural central jersey town "Pennytown" was back in the day. 

1938: PENNINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL CLASS OF 1938

It's that time of year again, time to check out some of the graduates from our local schools from past years. This nice Times photo of Pennington Grammar School's 1938 graduating class will surely be of interest to those Penningtonians who frequent this site. Indeed, I would bet that there are a number of familiar surnames in the assembled class of '38.

1793: Dr. Hezekiah Stites Woodruff

It will once again be my privilege to served on the "quartoseptcentennial" of Mercer County in the year 2013. I was on the committee years ago when we celebrated the Centennial of Mercer. Accordingly, I am rounding up any and all material that I have stored away in my vast archives, and compiling them for presentation during the events next year. Above is an early Sheriff's sale article from the Trenton State Gazette that hearkens back to the very earliest years of then Hunterdon County's Pennington.

1912: PENNINGTON'S JOHN KUNKEL AND WIFE PLAY SANTA

Along with William Patton Howe, the Kunkel name in Pennington history is written indelibly for posterity. Mr. Kunkel was one of the pioneer settlers in that lovely town, and indeed, according to the article above, took a large part in the layout of the town.

1933: PENNINGTON'S PENELOPE HART D.A.R.

There's a descendent of John Hart in the membership of Pennington's Daughter of the American Revolution organization. My father in law, the late Raymond Britton qualified as a son of the American revolution. His ties with the Van Liew and Hart families linked him to the direct ascendancy of John Hart. His uncle was on duty the night the National Guard was called out to quell a railroad riot at the "Hopewell Frog" where he was a telegrapher.

JOHN L. KUSER'S "STRAWBERRY HILL"

This delightful map shows the Pennington-Hopewell- W. Trenton area of John L. Kuser's beautiful estate at the foot of Bald Pate Mountain. Thanks to old time family friend "Beb" Bill Peters for the map.
I HAVE DIGITIZED THIS MAP AT A HIGH (300) DPI SO YOU CAN WANDER
DOWN THOSE BEAUTIFUL OLD COUNTRY ROADS AND VISIT THE BUCOLIC VILLAGES ALONG THE WAY.

1937: PENNINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL CLASS OF '37

I love class pictures when I can get them. Unfortunately, they are usually rolled up and if the years far distant, most of them develop cracks and other forms of physical distress. Another problem with class photos lies in the fact that a complete photo can be scanned, but the text identifying the class is too small. It ends up as a give and take situation. I have divided the photo into two parts which will visitors to see the faces. Unfortunately the identifying text will have to be accessed by moving from one graphic (Left) to the other (Right)

1912: Pennington New Jersey Begins to Grow

THIS IS A "RE-RUN" OF A 2009 PENNINGTON GRAPHIC. I AM POSTING IT AGAIN SO THAT VISITORS TO THIS SITE CAN NARROW DOWN THEIR SPECIFIC SEARCHES ON A SPECIFIC SUBJECT. HERE'S HOW: WHEN YOU LOG ON TO MY BLOG, YOU WILL SEE A WHITE SPACE UNDER THE HOME PAGE GRAPHIC WITH THE WORD "SEARCH." IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR "PENNINGTON" AS IN THIS CASE, TYPE IN PENNINGTON (UPPER OR LOWER CASE, NO QUOTATION MARKS.) CLICK ON SEARCH. WAIT A FEW MILI-SECONDS AND WHILE STILL ON THE PAGE, ARROW DOWN TO THE FILES FOUND. REMEMBER TO RIGHT CLICK ON THE GRAPHIC AND CHOOSE "OPEN LINK IN A NEW WINDOW" WHERE YOU CAN SAVE IT TO YOUR COMPUTER. PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO CREDIT THE TRENTON TIMES, GAZETTE, OR TRUE AMERICAN, AND ALSO THE HAMILTON TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION. HAPPY HUNTING AND ENJOY!

From my "HOPEWELL-PENNINGTON" folder, this interesting article detailing the real estate development of the town of Pennington. Did you know that Mayor William Howe purchased and planted trees from Pennington to Ewing, all along today's Pennington Road? He did!

1909 AND 1940: PENNINGTON TOWN NEWS

As I have stated in previous posts, Pennington has always been one of those towns in which I would have been very happy had fate placed me in that bucolic little village. On my numerous trips to the Howe home during my years with the Kusers, I found the nursery to be a place where I would really like to work. As one of the more prominent Penningtonians, Mayor William Howe is mentioned in these community news articles, there are many others where his presence was noted. He was a very important part of Pennington history. I consider his legacy on a plane with Mr. Kunkle. I do note Mr. and Mrs. Yates Corey in a news snippet. Martha and Yates were frequent visitors to Kuser Farm and the Kuser Sunday night movies.

Ca. 1910 READING STATION - PENNINGTON

In 1974 this exquisite structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The building was constructed in 1882 by the Reading Railroad Company.

1915: NOW THIS IS INTERESTING PENNINGTON LORE!

I was quite surprised and intrigued when I saw this little insignificant clipping which I found on page 6 or 7 of the Daily State Gazette. One wonders if there were further explorations to dig further into the subject.

1912: Pennington New Jersey Begins to Grow

From my "HOPEWELL-PENNINGTON" folder, this interesting article detailing the real estate development of the town of Pennington. Did you know that Mayor William Howe purchased and planted trees from Pennington to Ewing, all along today's Pennington Road? He did!

1914: LAND BOOM IN PENNINGTON

Under "Places I would like to live if I had to move from Hamilton," I would place Pennington at the very top of the list. Ever since the 1940's when Don Slabicki and I went to the Birches to visit Edna Howe Kuser's father, "The Mayor", William P. Howe, the small town flavor of that beautiful town won my heart. But alas, over the years, Pennington has become the abode of the more affluent members of society; far, far, above the financial abilities of yours truly.

1898: BURGLARS IN PENNINGTON

The bucolic village of Pennington was not immune from those dregs of society who steal other peoples' property.

1913: Pennington Volunteer Fire Dept. 21st Anniversary

This interesting look back at the Pennington Volunteer Fire Co. will give a good genealogical glimpse of the personnel who were active fire "laddies" back in the Late 19th and early 20th century. There are many locally familiar names in that article.

1946: Pennington news, Christmas Season 1945

And I thought those great, now extinct canteens were only being held at my alma mater, Hamilton High School! Here we see a photo of Penningteeens enjoying their own canteen, which was held in the old grammar school. The photo of the school in the lower right was extracted from and earlier graphic which I posted last week. We also learn about the Pennington Grange's Christmas party, 1945.

THE OLD PENNINGTON SCHOOL AS IT IS TODAY

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The graphic below shows the old Pennington School as it looked in 1916. The photo above was taken by my friend Bob Cherry and shows the building as it looks today. See Bob's message below.

I found the part about the Federal City School to be quite interesting. I looked in vain for the blinking red "stop" light on that vintage horse-drawn bus. Perhaps a Penningtonian can tell me if the school shown in the graphic still exists.

This grapic was previously published with a request that an informed Penningtonian could tell us if the old school was still in existance. Thanks to Bob Cherry, an old friend of mine from the amateur radio fraternity, we have an answer. THANKS, BOB. Herewith Bob's email:

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Hi tom, haven’t heard you on the air lately.

This school building referenced in your blog still exists but has been converted into condo’s. The old school building and surrounding playground has become a condo development.

I believe it was sometime in the 20’s that a new Grammar school was built on S. Main Street and this school became the Primary school. I started my education there, Kindergarten through 3^rd grade, I remember it well.

Bob

WB2F

1935: William P. Howe, Jr.- Pennington

We called him "young Bill." His dad, was an incredible man who was the Mayor of the bucolic town of Pennington. Young Bill was Edna Howe Kuser's brother. He also went on to be a big game hunter and I remember one Sunday evening at Kuser Farm when he spoke of his adventures while on an African safari.

1913: ST. JAMES R.C. CHURCH PENNINGTON

NINETY FIVE YEARS AGO, THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. JAMES HAD A CHURCH PICNIC. HERE ARE THE DETAILS. FINDING ARTICLES ON PENNINGTON, HOPEWELL, HAMILTON AND THE FARM LANDS HAS PROVEN TO BE A REAL TASK. VERY LITTLE SPACE WAS GIVEN TO NON-TRENTON TOWNS AND VILLAGES.