FROM THE LATE LELAND "LEON" BUKER: THE ULTIMATE TRENTON MASS TRANSIT HISTORIAN

Lee was a dear friend of mine during my many years as a parishioner at St. Anthony Parish in Hamilton. He was also the ultimate local transportation historian and his family has very graciously and generously donated many of his historic photos and scrapbooks. Above is a fascinating and very clear copy of one of the Trenton trolley "work cars." Note that it is the same coming or going, with a driver cab on either end. It is parked in the building on Lalor and Davis (now Stokeley Avenue) where the roller skating rink was later located.

1939: REMOVING THE TROLLEY TRACKS ON PERRY STREET

This exquisite view of Perry Street in a bit of a shambles as the debris lies on Perry Street during the 1939 removal of trolley tracks throughout the city. The old fashioned trolley was being discontinued to be replaced with those newfangled rubber tired Trenton Transit buses. The Trenton Transit Terminal can be seen on the left in the middle of the photo.

1934: FROM TROLLEYS TO BUSES

One of the questions I often receive is information on when Trenton converted from the trolley to those rubber tired buses. Trolleys were before my time, and as you can see by the interesting and historic article above, they were converted in the latter part of 1934 and the conversion was completed in 1935. Every time I encounter a trolley or bus photo or article, I am reminded that my friend, the late Leland "Leon" Buker was the recognized historian of the mass transit history of Trenton. He along with my HHS classmate of 1951, John Hoschek were local transit historians; however, Lee maintained a comprehensive collection of the history of Trenton Transit from trolleys to buses.

1899: CADWALADER PARK TO YARDVILLE ON THE TROLLEY

I am a hopeless romantic. Indeed, this incredibly interesting and fascinating 113 year old article from the Trenton Evening Times will find fellow romantics hoping that the trip will never end. As the writer describes the scenes along the 3 or 4 mile journey, we romantics can imagine the cows grazing in open fields, apple orchards, the White Horse Tavern and........well, you click on the graphic and draw your own mental images as you ride a 113 year old historic journey to the past!

TENTON TRANSIT PASSES

At one of my Kuser Mansion on-screen presentations a few years ago, this graphic was brought to the viewing audience. As usual, that familiar story of the back window on the bus comes up. We all did it, and the driver usually knew it, figuring if we had to resort to that much effort to save a dime, we were in the lower poverty level!

TRENTON TROLLEY ACCIDENT FROM THE LELAND BUKER COLLECTION

Over the years, I have met many history-minded people who have specialized in advancing the history of their particular interest. One of my dear friends from my St. Anthony Trenton New Jersey years was the late Leland "Leon" Buker. Lee, along with my HHS '51 classmate John Hoschek were both THE historians when it came to mass transit. I know not what happened to John Hoschek's collection, which as I recall concentrated on bus photos and articles. Thankfully, the Buker family saw to it that Lee's remarkable collection will be preserved for the ages.

From the years of the trolley, to Rankin Johnson's Trenton Transit, Lee Buker kept a remarkable series of scrapbooks which reveal an incredible amount of local history as it relates to the city of Trenton and its mass transit program dating back to the 19th and into the 20th century. Lee spent his career as a Trenton Transit bus driver, and probably knew more about the streets of Trenton than most local residents. I have set up a special folder in the Hamilton Library Local History Database entitled, "TROLLEYS-LELAND BUKER COLLECTION.) It will take some time to digitize some of the incredible photos in his collection. We in Hamilton and Trenton should be very grateful to the Buker family for making sure Lee's lifetime collection will be shared by those interested in Trenton, Hamilton, and Mercer County transit history.

1921: PUBLIC SERVICE TROLLEY IN HAMILTON TOWNSHIP

Thanks to Mr. Bob Schopp for this great photo of the old Public Service trolley which cut through Hamilton Township from the Liberty Street-Sylvan Avenue area and headed north to New Brunswick and points north. Bob Writes:
Tom,

I enjoy your column and website.

I found a poor quality photo in a union booklet on the Public Service Railroad published in 1968. Photos of the Public Service Fast line in Hamilton Township are not very common. My best guess is that the photo was taken just east of Hoover Avenue in Mercerville. I base this on the earth cut to the right of the trolley. I was surprised that the high tension (voltage) towers were there while the trolleys were still running. The trolley is going toward Trenton. A scan of the photo is attached.

Bob Schopp

1895: THE E. TRENTON TROLLEY DYNAMO

My very good friend and fellow St. Anthony parishioner, the late Leland "Leon" Buker was a walking encyclopedia when it came to Trenton's mass transit history. Lee's family has generously donated the scrapbooks and photos which Lee kept during his long career as a Trenton Transit employee. The collection will be collated and catalogued as the "Leland Buker Collection - Mass Transit."
The article above is from my collection of Trenton articles. The accompanying photo is from Leon's extensive collection. The photo is a dynamo for the trolley cars that served the East Trenton area. The date on the article is 1895. There is no date on Leon's photo, but be assured that the "dynamo" described in the article would be the same, or very similar to the huge piece of electrical equipment in the photo.

1895: Groveville-Yardville Community News

I TRANSCRIBED THIS ARTICLE ON
JULY 14, 1983 - GAZETTE:

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1895
GROVEVILLE FUNERAL

Mrs. J. H. Lord, wife of J. H. Lord, Superintendent of the weave room of Morris & Co.'s cotton mills in Groveville, was buried on Saturday. The funeral was a very sad occasion, made so from the fact that she had no relatives in this country, being of English birth. Her husband has the sympathy of the entire community.

BORDEN REPORTS A SUCCESSFUL SEASON

Edward Borden, our mince meat manufacturer, reports a very successful season.

YARDVILLE WAITING FOR A TROLLEY LINE

The people of our quiet little village of Yardville are waiting for the Trenton Electric Railroad Company to run its line as far as Yardville. A spokesman declared that Yardville had the best railroad footage in the county, where some thrifty party could build a factory and, besides making a good thing for our village, find a cheap place to run his plant.

1935: The End of the Trolley Era in Trenton

I was only an infant of 2 years old when Trenton converted from the trolley to buses. My older brothers tell of their occasional trips to downtown Trenton on a Trenton trolley. There is still evidence of the trolley era over in Hamilton Township near the intersection of Sylvan Avenue, where the trolley veered off of Liberty Street and journeyed to points north. The route is quite obvious at the intersection of Newkirk and Camp Avenues where there is still a huge island dividing the road.

1873: SOUTH TRENTON AREA A BETTER SITE FOR THE TROLLEY

BACK IN THE VERY EARLY YEARS OF "MASS TRANSIT" IN THE CITY OF TRENTON, THE HORSE DRAWN TROLLEY LEFT TRENTON AND TRAVERSED OUT TO THE END OF THE LINE WHICH WAS IN THE AREA OF CALHOUN STREET. THE SHADED ARTICLE IN THE PAGE EXTRACT ABOVE SUGGESTS THAT THE LINE WOULD BE MORE PROFITABLE IF IT EXTENDED TO THE GROWING SOUTH TRENTON-CHAMBERSBURG AREA.

1876: THE TRENTON STREET RAILWAY

OPENING DAY ON THE INITIAL RUN OF THE HORSE-DRAWN STREET RAILWAY SAW THE CITIZENS OF TRENTON LINING THE STREETS ALL ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE EXPANDED "MASS TRANSIT" HORSE DRAWN STREET RAILWAY.

THIS ARTICLE IS "MILD" COMPARED TO MANY OF THE OUTRAGEOUSLY RACIAL ARTICLES RELATING TO ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA. SPECIAL VITRIOLE WAS RESERVED FOR IMMIGRANTS AND BLACK PEOPLE, AND ROMAN CATHOLICS BY A LARGELY "WASP" (WHITE, ANGLO-SAXON PROTESTANT) LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS.

1932: ANOTHER UNIQUE TRENTON PHOTO

ONCE AGAIN FROM THE "TRENTON, VIEWS OF" FOLDER, THIS EXCELLENT PHOTO OF THE TROLLEY TRAVERSING UP NO. WARREN STREET TOWARD THE FIVE POINTS. ON THE LEFT IS THE READING RAILROAD STATION AT TUCKER STREET AND NO. WARREN. OF COURSE THE BATTLE MONUMENT IS IN THE PHOTO.

1924: ANOTHER EXQUISITE TRENTON STREET SCENE

THIS BEAUTIFUL PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE SIDE OF TRENTON'S CITY HALL, AND LOOKING WEST TOWARD THE N.J. BELL TELEPHONE BUILDING AND CENTER CITY IS JUST ANOTHER WONDERFUL PHOTO FROM THE "TRENTON, VIEWS OF.." DIGITAL FOLDER AT THE LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION IN THE HAMILTON LIBRARY. MORE TO COME.

WHEN THE TROLLEY CAME TO BROADWAY

I WROTE THIS COLUMN MANY YEARS AGO. THE STORY OF INDEPENDENCE AVENUE AND THE OTHER STREETS IN TODAY'S HAMILTON GIVES AN INTERESTING LOOK BACK TO THE YEARS OF THE TROLLEY. MANY PASSENGERS RODE IN THOSE OPEN "CONVERTIBLE" TROLLEYS AS THEY JOURNEYED TO "THE CONEY ISLAND OF NEW JERSEY," WHITE CITY.

Thanks, Bud Foley!

Francis "Bud" Foley and his two sons, Sean and Mike, are true historians on the history of our railroads.....especially interested in the late, lamented Pennsylvania Railroad. These two exquisite photos relate to the trolley era in America. Unfortunately, there is no indication on whether these are locally sourced photos, but they certainly might well have been. Thanks, Bud!

From Tom Buker comes this email relating to the overturned trolley in the photo. Lee (Leland) Buker was the uncontested expert on Trenton's mass transit history from the earliest years, through the Trenton Transit years. His son Tom has followed in his Dad's footsteps. Thanks, Tom!

FOLLOWING IS THE EMAIL I RECEIVED:

----- Original Message -----
From: tbuker@optonline.net
To: thomglo@verizon.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 4:35 PM
Subject: trolley pictures

Tom,
The picture that you have on your site of a trolley belongs to the Trenton Princeton Traction Co. I found a copy of the Princeton Recollector from 1982 and it relates a story of an overturned trolley on Witherspoon St. The trolleyman was Mr. Festa and the women who remembers the incident was the trolleyman sister Mrs.William Marsh. That type of car was never used on the Trenton trolley system.

Tom Buker