1920 CIRCA PHOTO OF WHITEHEAD POND

This photo from this vantage point is much the same today as it is in this old photo. The Goodall Rubber office building on the left still stands as does the old mill on the right. This pond has an interesting heritage. Back in the 19th and early 20th century, It was the winter visiting place of local ice merchants who came to the frozen lake and sliced blocks of ice for Trenton area customers.

1934: LAWRENCEVILLE AND SLACKWOOD: THE WAY THEY WERE

This re-formatted front page from a series on local towns which was printed weekly in the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser features Lawrenceville and Slackwood. Once again, as one reads this interesting vestige from the past, we realize how progress has changed the area from a truly rural and suburban community into a thriving metropolis. 

1943: THE CAMP GORDON CADENCE

From my extensive "WWII" folder is the front page of the World War II newspaper from Camp Gordon, Georgia. The complete newspaper is in my hard copy vertical file and being saved for posterity. As I age and move on in life, I find the WWII era to be a fascinating time I experienced as a young boy of 10. The sacrifices families endured during those years were fraught with fear and anxiety. I have enhanced the graphic with the red, white and blue.

1941: SOUTH BROAD ST. AT GREENWOOD AVENUE

This interesting view in the area of Sacred Heart Church shows a Chevy getting ready to make a turn on to Greenwood Avenue before this section of the street dead ended at the "Barlow Circle." Today there is a vacant lot on the site of the Gulf Station.

2003: HISTORICAL SOCIETY TENT ON THE JOHN ABBOTT II LAWN

2003: HISTORICAL SOCIETY TENT ON THE JOHN ABBOTT II LAWN

My two terms as President of the Hamilton Township Historical Society placed emphasis on the history of Hamilton Township, Hamilton Square, Mercerville, Deutzville and other villages surrounding the township. Were it not for Historical Society members like Georgiana Smith, Gordon Kontrath, and Dr. Jim Federici, there would not have been the successful lawn exhibit during my time as President of the Hamilton Historical Society. The above is one of the walls on the huge tent that the aforementioned members were instrumental in procuring. A selection of encapsulated (laminated) "headline" and advertising pages were posted on one wall of the tent and was very well received. 2003! NEARLY TWELVE YEARS AGO! My Lord, how the time does fly!

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.

CARL ADAMS AUTOMOBILES AND THE ELECTRIC CHAIR

 

 

This fascinating exhibit of graphics relating to Carl F. Adams of the Adams Garage and the Adams Electric Company came to me as a complete surprise. Most local historians are familiar with the Adams electric chair that was used in the Trenton State Prison. The top graphic shows an ad I enhanced and colored from Adams' Garage on E. State Street. The original Adams Electric was located on Chancery Street in the area of the old Trenton First Precinct Police Station.

1883: TRENTON'S FITZGIBBON AND CRISP

It was really fun gathering these graphics relating to Trenton's very famous carriage and wagon company. The above article from the Daily State Gazette tells the interesting story of how the company which was formed after the acquisition of the Union Carriage Company, and went on to become one of the most respected manufacturers of quality carriages, and in later years automotive coach works. Their incredibly beautiful detailing is seen on the 1917 Jeffrey Fire engine which I found at the Lawrence Road Fire Company website. I removed a few of the crease marks in order to enhance the photo.

1934: GRADUATES FROM EWING'S ALFRED REED SCHOOL

Here's the class of 1934 from Ewing Township's Alfred Reed School. Once again, a number of well known residents of Ewing.

1934: MERCERVILLE SCHOOL 8th GRADE GRADS

There are a number of familiar local names in the class shown above. I am slowly building a database of class photos from the newspaper of the pre-1940 era; this is one of many.

1898: THE TRENTON EVENING TIMES FIRST ANNIVERSARY

How the technology has evolved over these 100 plus years! Below is an engraving of the Cox press that was used in the printing of the Trenton Evening Times back in the latter part of the 19th century! The article above and the engraving below are from a special Trenton Evening Times "EXTRA" supplement that provides a very revealing look at early newspaper production. Today we have scanners, electronic transmission, and up to the second news with online editions of newspapers all over the world.

1875 AND 1905: WILLIAM YOUNG'S POTTERY

Historical research often relies on speculative observations. Thus it is with the graphic above showing the William Young's Sons Pottery. My very limited research on the subject indicates that the Willets Pottery took over the site of the former Young's Pottery. The map above, was scanned and indicates that the location of these potteries was along the D&R canal, which is today's Rte. 1 Freeway and along Southard Street. Corrections by more knowledgeable visitors welcome.

1914 ST. MARY'S GREEK-CATHOLIC CHURCH

The above graphics are from 3 different eras in the history of this very interesting parish. The engraving of the church on the left was from an April, 1914 article on the church. In the upper right, is a small article describing the black and white engraving (upper left), and on the lower right, is an exquisite post card size engraving of the interior of the church which was donated by Ms. Doris Petruska. In the upper center, we see that the church changed its name and its location, converting the Grand and Malone site into a school and moving over to Adeline Street.

BELOW IS AN EXTRACT FROM THE CHURCH WEBSITE

http://www.avmbcc.org/history/index.shtml

During the same year, 1892, the construction of a new church was initiated on ground purchased for $1200 on the corner of Grand and Malone Streets. The cornerstone was laid on April 16, 1893 and a brick church with a steeple and bells was erected on a stone foundation. The bells, which cost $500, were blessed on July 30, 1893. Two months later, in September 1893, the church which would accommodate about four hundred people was dedicated with elaborate ceremony by the Most Reverend Michael O'Farrel, D.D. the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton assisted by six clergy of the Byzantine Rite. Prior to these later events, the church was incorporated on July 11, 1893 by Bishop O'Farrel. The first Board of Trustees consisted of five individuals: Bishop O'Farrel; Monsignor James A. McFaul, chancellor; Reverend Father John Szabo, pastor; and laymen, John Hatrak and John Breza. As recorded in the minutes of the first meeting, the first by-laws of St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church were formulated and promulgated in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey and in compliance with the regulations of the Catholic Church. Thus, under the guidance of Father Szabo, both the legal and spiritual foundations of the new church were secured.

 

1937: SOUTH BROAD APPROACHING LIBERTY STREET

Still another pristine photo that needed only a bit of tweaking, shows-one of Trenton/Hamilton's familiar intersections. The bank on the corner, that familiar building with the widows' watch, and back in the day, the Lee Workingman's Store. Ahh the memories.

1876 AND 1888: THE TRENTON "CITY MARKET"

One of my New Years resolutions includes posting more antiquarian history of our Mercer County area. There are many "hard copy" folders in the Hamilton Township Public Library. One of those folders is entitled "MARKETS." Including the historically famous market that once stretched along Greene Street, the Stockton Avenue market, the Washington Market, and the "City Market," shown in the graphic. It was located on the corner of Academy and North Broad Street, just down the street from the old Academy, the Joseph Wood school, and today's Trenton Free Public Library. The engraving on the left is from the 1875 Everts and Stewart Gazetteer.

1917 NEW YORK AUTO SHOW

I was once very deeply involved in collecting automobile sales catalogs. However, with coins, stamps, and all things collectible, old automobile catalogs rose to a financial status that was far, far above my limited means. I disposed of much of my collection to a gentleman in Ohio and locally with the late Nat Adelstein. Nat met his match when he encountered Tom Glover, who had an incredible find of hundreds of old catalogs that were in the basement of a deceased salesman for the Roller Bearing Company of America. I had dual copies of the fabled Dusenberg "J," 4 or 5 very early Mercer catalogs, and names few people will remember from the teens through the 1930's. In retrospect, and even though I made a handsome profit selling those old catalogs, "seller's remorse" set in and when I see the prices being paid these 35 or 40 years later, I cry in my coffee. (It would be in my beer if I were a beer drinker.)

1936: GARRY SALES COMPANY, INC.

Taken separately, these 3 graphics seem to be "individualistic." Bringing them all together into one graphic gives a small idea of the little known Ford dealer in Trenton. I had run into these obscure ads while going through a few of the annual Trenton Times feature on Trenton's Automobile shows at the Trenton Armory.
Above is a graphic that took a bit of Photoshop "tweaking" to finalize, but it has now become an integral part of the "AUTOMOBILIA" folder in the Hamilton Library's Local History Collection.

2013: A CONVENIENT GOOGLE SEARCH TOOL

This website has reached "maturity;" the point where there are 8,000 plus pages. With that maturity has come many pages with many differing subjects. Searching those many pages can be a daunting task. I find that Google provides a very fast and easy way to find a specific subject buried within the 8,000 plus pages. Use the information in the graphic and try it. You will find many pages dealing with the subject for which you are searching. This process also works for BING, ALTA VISTA, and probably others, but the search is not as productive, due to the fact that GOOGLE is the home of my website. Try it; you will be saving a lot of time and effort.  

Examples: type in tom glover hamilton trenton Lucarella, or Kuzma, or Trenton Catholic, or Trenton high school, or Mott school, etc, and you will probably find any and all posts containing those search subjects.  

THE SWAMP ANGEL

Thankfully, not all of our area historic relics have been destroyed. The Swamp Angel, which for many years was on display at the intersection of Perry Street, No. Clinton and Lincoln Avenues is shown in the above engraving to which I have added my hand colored rendition. That beautiful old Civil War veteran was to have been scrapped after the Civil War, but history minded Trentonians saved it for posterity. Over the years, the city of Charleston tried to pry it away from the local citizenry without success. And then along came those wonderful historians from the Camp Olden Civil War Roundtable who restored the historic treasure and placed it in a place of honor at Cadwalader Park.

1940: THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

The "CCC" provided many young men to get a taste of the military life and be exposed to the discipline required to become a productive citizen. In 1940, there were many families who had sons who were unemployed. The CCC was the perfect answer and many young men answered the call. At the time, we were on the cusp of WWII, and the CCC ultimately provided many very qualified young men who were well prepared for the rigors of military life.

1941: GRAND OPENING OF THE WHITE HORSE BOWLING ACADEMY

I dare say that grand old bowling palace was the most popular venue back in the day. I wasn't and am not a bowling person, but most of my buddies were. Indeed, I would guess that most of the local community visited this legendary bowling academy at one time or another.

1932: GLOBAL WARMING DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION?

I present here a graphic which clearly shows that global warming was not a factor back in the 1930's as can be seen in the full page Trenton Times article. However, I must admit, I remember ice skating for days on end back in the 1940's when Kuser's Pond and St. Mary's pond were frozen over for days. I also remember when snow was a frequent occurrence in the central Jersey area. Today, all those storms miraculously evade our area, and most of the meteorologists forecast the weather we used to experience "to the north and west of the area."

1950: NO. OLDEN AVENUE EXTENSION

WOW, what an interesting photo! How this area has developed over the years! I worked at 1812 North Olden Avenue back in 1952 and made the trip from the Greenwood Village apartments on a daily basis. When we consider the incredible crowding on today's Olden Avenue Extension, the above photo is a stark reminder that there has been an incredible change in what always has been a busy thoroughfare.

1915: PENNINGTON ROAD AT THE ODD FELLOWS HOME

Not all graphics can be as clear and pristine as the R.C. Maxwell Duke University Collection. The above 1915 view is a somewhat primitive news copy of an offset photo during the years when the process hadn't been perfected. However, with a bit of imagination, we old time Trenton area residents can easily see the familiar area on Pennington Road at the Ewing-Trenton border.

1949: WEST STATE STREET AT RIFKIN AND GRANNICK

I liked this photo because it bought back memories of a 1950's W. State Street landmark store, Rifkin and Grannick at West State and No. Willow Street in downtown Trenton. As I recall, IBM had the building next door to R & G back when computer cards were the high tech predecessor to today's computers..

1941: NORTH BROAD STREET AT THE BATTLE MONUMENT

The high definition photo of one of Trenton's most historic spots also shows an historical photo of the Monument House; a popular local gathering place back in the late 19th and up to the mid 20th century. It is believed that the building was constructed in 1888 by a gentleman named McClurg. The Google Earth view below shows the current site; a vacant lot.

1926:WILBUR'S GETHSEMANE BAPTIST CHURCH

This gorgeous vintage photo of Trenton's Gethsemene Baptist Church, like neighboring St. James P.E. Church has been vacated and is now the home of the Macedonia Baptist Church community. The tree in the foreground is long gone. A CVS pharmacy now occupies the lot on the left, out of the picture. The graphic below shows the home page banner of the current tenants of what was Gethsemane Baptist Church at 1300 Greenwood Avenue. Macedonia Baptist Church acquired the property on November 2, 1980.

 I have removed all comments relating to my original post wherein I mis-spelled Gethsemane, (Thanks Alan W. for the correction.) I have removed the comments that revolved around my choice of words and re-posting the entire page for the benefit of future visitors who are using the net to search for "Gethsemane Baptist Church." I didn't like the direction in which my original description was written and the veiled controversy accompanying it.

1946: WEST STATE AND WARREN STREET

I have a tremendous soft spot for photos of the downtown Trenton of my youth. It is truly an wonderful experience to maximize the size of these beautiful Maxwell photos. With a bit of imagination which is innate in most of us who knew and loved the Trenton of the 30's, 40's and 50's we can spend a few fleeting moments gazing upon a scene that will never again be experienced.

IN 2013 MY DEAR WIFE JUDY AND I WILL REACH THE GOLDEN AGE OF 80. WITH AGING COMES MENTAL LAPSES. WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS?  

WELL, IN A CLASSIC CASE OF SENILITY, ABSENT-MINDEDNESS, OR JUST PLAIN STUPIDITY, I LABELED THIS PHOTO AS STATE AND WILLOW AND I KNEW AS WELL AS ALL YOU FOLKS WHO CORRECTED ME THAT IT WAS WARREN STREET. 

 THANKS TO ALL YOU FOLKS FOR KEEPING ME HONEST! PLEASE KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR FUTURE GOOF UPS BY THIS AGING BRAIN! 

This R.C. Maxwell/Duke University Library closeup of the intersection of Calhoun Street and Bellevue Avenue is a pristine view of the area as it appeared 63 years ago.Each time I post one of these beautiful photos of various Trenton neighborhoods, I am reminded of a time when Trenton and its environs was a beautiful place.

1909: GROPP'S LAKE READY FOR MEMORIAL DAY

Here is another of those poorly defined offset photos that are so prevalent in early 1900's newspaper photos. However, one can get a general idea of the scene depticed. In the background can be seen Mr. Struble's Lakeside Hotel; a very popular location which was once located on South Broad Street at Lakeside Boulevard.

1949: CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN ON NEW ST. ANTHONY CHURCH

Let me see.....I started out as a parishioner at St. Paul's P.E. on Centre Street church way back in 1939. Then it was on to St. James P.E. Church on Greenwood Avenue until the mid 1940's. Then, I was attracted to that little church on Liberty and Wesley in Hamilton where I stayed for a year or so and left after I felt that then Pastor Rev. Graham was rabidly anti-Catholic and stopped going there. Then, in the early 1950's when I married into an Irish Catholic family., I became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. The Britton family's youngest daughter Judy became my wife and with the Brittons being among the first parishioners at St. Anthony's, I was impressed with their steadfast devotion to devotion and took "instructions" with then Father Leonard Toomey, the man who should have been a Bishop. Unfortunately, shabby treatment of our singing group "Wings of Song" led to our family moving on to Sacred Heart, which fittingly is the oldest parish in the state of New Jersey.

1897: ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL

This delightful early engraving of St. Francis Hospital is an exquisite view of the legendary Trenton landmark during the time of Sister Hyacintha. Indeed, her greenhouse can be seen in the lower right in the graphic. In 1897, the Daily State Gazette did a multi-page feature on the city of Trenton. The pages have been encapsulated in crystal laminate and preserved for posterity.

1931: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROEBLING ARRIVAL IN TRENTON

The front page says it all, but there is a continuation of this article (Page 2) which has yet to be digitized. It is a multi-column continuation, and will require substantial time to format into legible content. Almost every old time resident of the Trenton area had a relative or friend who worked at the John A. Roebling plant on South Broad Street in Trenton. During my time at a ball and roller bearing company, I was on a first name basis with Paul Toth who was the Purchasing Agent in the 40's and 50's. I also remember C.G. Benninghoff, one of the upper management personnel.

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.

1935: CATHEDRAL HIGH SCHOOL PRESENTS " A CHRISTMAS FANTASY"

Chances are pretty good that at least one visitor to this site will recognize one or more names in the photo arrangements above. Unless a visitor corrects me, I believe that Cathedral was "Co-ed" during this time.

1876: "PATRIOT'S WEEK" 1876

This fascinating look at the events surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Revolutionary Ware and the town of Trenton gives a pretty complete portrait of the activities that were part of the celebration. Unfortunately, the page had a hole in it and a small part of the original text is missing.

1916 and 1925: FROM MY "POLISH-AMERICAN" FOLDER

My best friend today, and growing up as a boy was Don Slabicki. Don and I lived just around the corner from me on Sylvan Avenue. We both worked for Fred Kuser as young boys, doing odd jobs and caring for the Kuser Mansion when the Kusers were away at Jackson, New Hampshire in the summer, and wintering in Florida. Don taught me to appreciate Polka music, and taught me a number of Polish words, even teaching me to count from 1 to ten. "Yeden, Dva, etc.." The Polish immigrants like the Italians andmost immigrants during the early 20th century, came to this country for a better life. Unlike today, many of them attended night school in order to become more familiar with the English language and the customs of their new country. The graphic above is an example of the mark these wonderful people made in the city of Trenton. Wenczel Tile, N.J. Porcelain, and I'm sure many others were responsible for the success to those of Polish extraction.

1893: DEDICATION OF TRENTON'S BATTLE MONUMENT

 

The above graphics have been extracted and enhanced using the available engravings and information from the 1893 October "MONUMENT EDITION" in the Trenton "DAILY TRUE AMERICAN" newspaper. I have added the color and other outside graphics. The week following Christmas will be Trenton's annual celebration of "PATRIOT'S WEEK."