1896: TRENTON SCHOOL NAMES

 The new process as seen in the article above tells of the change in naming the schools from the old method of using street names, to naming them after prominent local personalities.

1037: PARKER SCHOOL SINGERS

Hey Mike Kuzma, in keeping with the spirit of this website's slogan, "Local History With A Personal Touch," I am posting this graphic which I combined with a beautiful Blake Bollinger photo of that grand old South Trenton Parker Grammar school. I would bet that Lillian is a relative, but that is pure speculation. At the present time, I am involved with the incredible history of the local school systems, concentrating at the present time of those of Trenton. The parker school was one of Trenton's oldest, going back to the 1860's when it was known as the Union Street School. Early Trenton educators named their schools based on the street on which they were located. The article in the preceding post tells the story of why  they decided to change that method of naming schools, and name them from prominent educators from that era.

1913: CHRISTMAS AT TRENTON SCHOOLS

This list of schools doesn't include all of Trenton's schools. However, it will be of interest to those visitors to this site who are genealogically interested in the names included in the various classes. On a personal note, I see the names of family members whom I have been acquainted with over the years, and I would bet that there are other visitors who  also find familiar names.

(The formatting and highlighting of the school names

has been added to this article which was once a 14 inches in length.)

1937: FRANKLIN, ROEBLING, MCCLELLAN, MOTT, AND MOSES SCHOOL

Here is another post from the Trenton Evening Times' 1937 series of articles on the schools in the city of Trenton. I have consolidated two of them into one graphic; more to come.

1938: EDWARD J. WILDBLOOD - GREGORY SCHOOL

Hey Alan Wildblood, here's another photo of a member of the Wildblood family; a pioneer family in the Hamilton-Liberty-Colonial Gardens area of the township.

1909 MOTT SCHOOL TRENTON - HONOR STUDENTS

There are two Tessein, and two Barkholz family members in the photo above. In keeping with my custom of posting articles and photos of families I know personally, I am posting the above graphic from South Trenton's Mott School. Unfortunately, the students are listed but not identified.

1913: THE NEW FRANKLIN SCHOOL TAKES SHAPE

Another rare State Gazette photo of the Franklin School as it was being constructed during the year 1913. I am particularly intrigued by the building to the right. It looks like it could have been an austere school house. Hopefully I will uncover another article that will identify it.

1937: TRENTON'S MOTT SCHOOL

 This new Epson tabloid scanner Library Director George Conwell procured for the Local History Collection is incredible. Consider the fact that the graphic above is an offset photo. The "

de-screening" feature of the scanner, along with the ability to adjust the exposure of the photo has resulted in the graphic above which is not too far from the original Kodak photo.

1937: JEFFERSON SCHOOL HALLOWEEN PROGRAM

Could that little fellow identified as "Carmen Armenti" be our own former Trenton Mayor, the very popular Carmen Armenti? Only a visitor to this site with ties to the Armenti family can answer that question, or perhaps a member of Jefferson School during that era.

1893: Trenton Schools Summer Maintenance

This graphic gives an interesting detail of the cleaning, painting, and fixup projects taken on by the Trenton School system. The list of schools no longer in existance is particularly interesting.It would appear that the school yards were not paved. One of the schools mentioned had what I assume is a board walk.

1905; CONTROVERSY AT CADWALADER SCHOOL

I posted the article above and the two separate graphics in order to clarify where the Cadwalder and Joseph Wood Schools were located. (I added the black square to denote the location of the Cadwalader School.) Unfortunately, I don't have a photograph nor an engraving of the Cadwalader School, but the map will show where it was located in the Cadwalader Place area of the "West End" section of Trenton. The Joseph Wood School was located on Academy Street where the Trenton Public Library is currently located.

1919: "JUNIOR SCHOOL" REPORT CARD

I have no information on the numerous "Junior" schools in the Trenton of yesterday. I would assume that the board of education saved printing dollars by standardizing on a report card for each school, with no identification indicating which Junior School the student attended.

1935: TRENTON SCHOOL PATROL BOYS

Many familiar names from my 75 years in the local area .....Bonanni, Buffin, Lawton, Loser, Stia...

1925: CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW "JUNIOR 4"

Today it's known as the Grace Dunn Middle School. Many of my visitors are alumni from the old Junior 4 on Dayton Street in Trenton.

1914: DEDICATION OF TRENTON'S FRANKLIN SCHOOL

Due to their size, I had to download two separate graphics for this post, detailing the dedication of Trenton's Franklin School. Therefore, I would ask that you click on each graphic individually in order to acheive maximum size. The photo of the Franklin School is just plain beautiful!

1932: RACISM 101 IN TRENTON SCHOOLS

1938: "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL"

HERE'S A CLASS PHOTO OF LINCOLN SCHOOL'S CLASS OF 1938. IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO REALIZE THAT WE IN THE TRENTON-MERCER AREA HAD A SCHOOL DEVOTED TO EDUCATING THE BLACK COMMUNITY. THE ORIGINAL LINCOLN SCHOOL WAS LOCATED ON HIGBEE STREET, WHICH WOULD ULTIMATELY BECOME BELLEVUE AVENUE. THANKS TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE VISITORS, TOM REED, I RECEIVED AN EMAIL ADVISING ME THAT THE PHOTO ABOVE IS THE LATER LINCOLN SCHOOL IN NORTH TRENTON IN THE BATTLE MONUMENT AREA, BELIEVED TO HAVE ULTIMATELY BECOME "JUNIOR 1." THANKS TOM. GET BACK TO ME AND LET ME KNOW IF I AM CORRECT IN IDENTIFYING THE BUILDING IN THE BACKGROUND AS JUNIOR ONE.

1941: PAUL LOSER

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE CITY OF TRENTON EXCELLED IN EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE. SUPERINTENDENT PAUL LOSER WAS ONE OF THE "KEEPERS OF THE FLAME" BACK IN THOSE GOLDEN YEARS WHEN TRENTON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATED STUDENTS WHO WERE WELL PREPARED FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE CAREERS.

THIS FROM JIM PULITI, WHO REMEMBERS THE EXCELLENCE OF THE TRENTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS BACK IN THE 30'S AND 40'S. THANKS JIM.

Tom : glad to be back and catch up on your website.I love the historical items, many of which were new to me, but I certainly remember most the
class of 43 at Trenton High School and grew up on Kossuth St, no longer there. Hope they do a renovation on the beautiful School, and Dr Paul Loser was our Superintendent.
Our Class was a very dedicated group, and very loyal.
Keep up the great work on your web site, and columns. (Mumbles was on of my favorite Dick Tracy Characters) and Gasoline Alley with Skeesix the son. Great stuff remembered. Jim P.

LITTLE KNOWN TRENTON SCHOOLS

These photos date back to the years when Trenton's school system was among the best in the state. I recently wrote a column on the old Lincoln School, which was a school constructed strictly for the black citizens of Trenton. The white anglo saxton protestants ("WASPS") would never think of accepting anyone from another race in their lily white schools. The Skelton School on the top left looks suspiciously like the old High School on Mercer Street, which ultimately became McKinley School. It was very common back then to build schools of the same design. Indeed, the Klockner and Kuser Schools in Hamilton were "twins" right up to the 1920's when Kuser added two large wings.

1939: Cooper Street School

Years ago, long before the advent of all those glass encrusted high rise office buildings in the Market, Cooper and Lamberton Street area, there was a viable community of Jewish residents living happily in that neighborhood. Union Street, no longer in the neighborhood, along with Cooper and Market streets, were alive with consumer markets back in the mid 20th century.