1928: THE BURGEONING BOROUGH OF WILBUR

Long's Drug Store, Kushner's Mens' Shop, The Cook Y building on Greenwood and Olden, and many many, other vestiges of the past have morphed from a viable and alive area of Trenton into an area that has struggled to maintain a respectable community. Unfortunately, the 1968 racial upheaval in Trenton had a destructive affect on the area.

1909: TRENTON EXPANDS IT BOUNDARIES

Here is an interesting 1907 map by Abram Swan that shows the various "neighborhoods" that were annexed and became a part of "Greater Trenton." Even though it looks like a huge metropolis, many of the annexed areas were moving gradually from rural status.

Here is an example of poor offset printing as it was in the 1920's. When this photo was published, one could barely see any faces or background information. Thankfully, tinkering with Photoshop's image management feature allowed me to darken the photo and gradually tweak the brightness. Bottom line: this is the best image I could salvage. The scan below shows the original photo as actually published: 

1935: COOK SCHOOL SAFETY PATROL

Many familiar family names in this photo of the boys on William G. Cook School in the Wilbur section of Trenton.

BILL BARBER; WILBUR BOY SCOUTS TROOP 13

"Local History With a Personal Touch:" Herewith an article and photo of Boy Scout William Barber from the Wilbur section of Trenton. Another Bill Barber is a regular visitor to this web blog, and in keeping with the "Personal Touch" feature, the above graphic which may or may not be a family relative.

1887: TRENTON'S GARFIELD, CLEVELAND, SO. LOGAN AVENUE DEVELOPMENT

Right now I am going through my "NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT" folder; scanning,
cutting, copying, pasting, and tweaking images so you can see how the city of Trenton expanded into what were then the suburbs. Time has taken its toll on many of these neighborhoods. Most of the families of the original folks who availed themselves of the bargain lots as offered in the above 1887 ad subsequently moved out of the area to newer suburban developments. Time marches on.

1913: WILBUR'S NEW FIRE HOUSE

I really tried hard to enhance this photo, but the contrast and exposure settings on the computer in many different adjustment modes rendered the photo illegible. The best I can do is the gray-toned graphic above. Even though the quality of the photo is marginal, the photo is very interesting from an historic standpoint. The firehouse still exists on the corner of So. Olden and Walnut Avenues. You will notice the absence of "Ten Eyck's Gaiety Theater" in the open area on the left of the photo. Only sky and trees along So. Walter Avenue can be seen in the distant background.

1914: WILBUR AREA NEWS INCLUDED BROMLEY

Before the Bromley area of Hamilton became more heavily populated, the Trenton newspapers considered today's Bromley to be part of the Wilbur section of Trenton.

1915: An interesting observation

The accompanying graphic is an example of the way the contemporary press reported the persons, place and things from the area we know of today as Bromley. Note that "Wilbur Jottings" covers not only the Wilbur area and nary a word about the Bromley Section, which at the time the above article was written was at least 5 years old. The very famous Mercer Automobile Company was always referred to as being in Trenton, not Hamilton.

1935: Wilbur Trenton Times Delivery Boys

I never had a paper route when I was a boy. We lived in the "sticks" where the paper was delivered by a fellow in a car. The photos show a group of happy newsboys as they post in front of the Trenton Times Substation. Does anyboy know where it was located and if the building still exists?

The following information received from my friend, Paul Woolverton. Paul was grew up in the Wilbur section of Trenton:

*THE BUILDING (in the photo) WAS ON GARFIELD AVENUE BETWEEN EAST STATE ST. AND WALNUT AVE ON THE SIDE TOWARD CLEVELAND AVENUE.

*MIKE KEARNS IN THE PICTURE BY YOUR FRIEND DONLON WAS VERY ACTIVE IN THS SPORTS.. LAST TIME I SAW HIM HE WAS TEACHER AT TRENTON HIGH SCHOOL.

*ED CUNNINGHAM, WAS A NEIGHBOR. HE BECAME A LAWYER AND THEN A WORKMENS' COMPENSATION JUDGE.. I BELIEVE HE PASSED AWAY A FEW YEARS AGO.

Thanks, Paul. All comments gratefully received; especially when they shed additional light on a subject.

The Wilbur Department Store

Here's an ad from the "WILBUR" files at the library. I am accumulating a number of Wilbur, E. Trenton, and Chambersburg files, and will be posting them in the future.