TRENTON'S OWN "FIVE POINTS"

I HAVE A FOLDER DEDICATED TO TRENTON'S NOTORIOUS "SWAMP," A PLACE WHICH MADE MUCH NEWS BACK IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY. AS I READ THIS ACCOUNT OF THE DISGUSTING NEIGHBORHOOD, I RECALLED THE RECENT MOVIE, "GANGS OF NEW YORK." THIS ENVIRONMENT WAS LOCATED IN THE ALLEN STREET AREA IN NORTH TRENTON. IT WAS VERY SIMILAR TO THE FIVE POINTS AREA OF NEW YORK AS DEPICTED RECENTLY IN THE MOTION PICTURE, "GANGS OF NEW YORK." (SO FAR, I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY ARTICLES WHICH TELL ABOUT ANY "BILLY THE BUTCHER" TYPES WHO PEOPLED "THE SWAMP," BUT IF I DO, YOU'LL BE AMONG THE FIRST TO KNOW!)

The "Hotel de Kelly"

Harry Podmore is one of my very favorite writers of our local history. The Local History Collection has preserved many of his columns, and a project is in progress to index each column. The column presented here deals with the area of north Trenton near Montgomery Street which was once the site of "the Swamp." It was here that the derelicts of the city lived in their cardboard hovels and according to many articles in the local press, the area was a very undesireable neighborhood.