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TRENTON OLD and NEW by Harry J. Podmore Revised and Edited by Mary J. Messler
Published under the auspices of the TRENTON TERCENTENARY COMMISSION Printed by MacCrellish & Quigley CompanyTrenton, New Jersey 1964 FOREWORD FOREWORD TO REVISED EDITION III. THE PONTIUS D. STILLE HOUSE V. THE METHODIST MEETING HOUSE VI. THE CORNER WITH A CHRISTMAS STORY VII. THE HUNTERDON COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND JAIL VIII. THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IX. THE OLD BARRACKS XIII. THE STATE CAPITOL XIV. THE CENTER OF TOWN XV. THE CITY HALL XVI. EAST HANOVER STREET XVII. THE GOLDEN SWAN OR TRUE AMERICAN CORNER XVII. THE MERCER COUNTY COURT HOUSE XXII. THE POLICE STATIONS XXIII. THE NEWBOLD OR RIBSAM CORNER XXIV. STATE STREET WEST OF CALHOUN AUTHORITIES CONSULTED INDEX FOREWORD Progress has constantly been invading the Colonial and Revolutionary towns of America until they have become unrecognizable. The tavern, where the gay gentlemen in periwigs and knickerbockers once gossiped with the stage driver and the post rider, has gradually given way to the modern hotel with conveniences then undreamed of. The village blacksmith shop is a memory, and in its place stands the gaudily-painted gasoline station with garage and repair shop in the rear. Old dwellings, with their large rooms and open fireplaces, are becoming a rarity. The plain meeting house or church, where those before us worshipped on rough-hewn benches and listened attentively to long discourses on the weaknesses of the flesh, has been entirely renovated. The grist mill crumbled away years after its pad wheel ceased to turn. The placid mill pond disappeared with the removal of the dam and the waters of the once pretty stream that fed it are murky with industrial waste. Trenton is one of these transformed communities. In Colonial and Revolutionary days it was a center of life and trade - the main stopping place on the stage line running from New York to Philadelphia. Leading figures of those periods passed and repassed through its streets. In the history of the nation it has played no small part. It was the scene of two brilliant Revolutionary battles of George Washington’s winter campaign of 1776-77. The Continental Congress met in the town in post war days. For a time it was favored for the permanent national capital. It was selected as the site for the capital of the State and during epidemics of yellow fever in Philadelphia, then the seat of government, it served twice in that capacity. Vestiges of these days still linger. The narrow and crooked streets, landmarks, church graveyards and old structures partly hiding their identity behind modern construction are reminders of earlier life. How long these remnants of long ago will remain is, of course, a matter for speculation Hardy a year passes that some building, the pride of past generations, is not replaced. These sites have stories to tell. Some are of national interest, and others purely local in significance. The very life of Colonial, Revolutionary and post Revolutionary Trenton is embodied in these locations. The scene of Col. Rall's Christmas party was at a centre of town corner At another corner the early governing body of the land met, the State Legislature held sessions, General Washington, Martha Washington, General Lafayette and other eminent persons were entertained. At nearby places the first railroad charter in America was granted, noted trials were held; Prince Lucien Murat, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, pawned the diamond bracelet of Hortense, Queen of Holland; Louis Kossuth, the famous Hungarian patriot, and President Franklin Pierce were dined. At further distances Col. Rall had his headquarters, President John Adams was entertained and the famous Goodyear vs. Day rubber case was tried. These are but a few of the many high lights of Trenton’s rapidly-changing sites. The purpose of this work is to preserve these historic associations. In a vastly changed city it was believed that this could best be accomplished by presenting the sites as they were and as they are today. The old and the new have been placed side by side and in consequence the interesting story of Trenton’s development is unfolded. The whole is the outgrowth of twenty-five articles published in "Trenton," the magazine issued under the direction of the Chamber of Commerce. This volume is not by any means a history of Trenton. It is a sketch book on some of the many places of historical significance, covering the past and present. The material for this book is the result of several years of collecting and research. Many of the pictures and drawings of scenes of former days are from the author’s collection or loaned by friends. For valuable additional data the writer is indebted to William J. Harney, an indefatigable delver into the records of older Trenton. Works that have been consulted as well as the names of others who have furnished information are listed in the bibliography. For many suggestions in the revision of the original articles the writer is indebted to Alex Young Burslem and Leo A. Smith, and for making possible the publication of the work credit is due to Kenneth W. Moore. Harry J. Podmore. Trenton, N.J., December, 1927 FOREWORD TO REVISED EDITION Nearly the whole of Harry J. Podmore’s life was devoted to the investigation and writing of Trenton area history. His column "Trenton in Bygone Days" appeared regularly in the Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser for many years and his carefully-researched historical articles were published in numerous local and national publications. He also assisted substantially with the collecting of material for many historical publications which did not bear his name. As much of the material in the original edition of his book, Trenton, Old and New, was gathered by diligent perusal of the early Trenton newspapers or by personal interviews with old-time Trenton residents, and is not readily available in any other printed form, it seemed appropriate to publish a revised edition of the book in this Tercentenary year, both as one of Trenton’s contributions to the State’s celebration as well as a memorial tribute to one of the citys most-dedicated historians. In this new edition, changes have been kept to a minimum in text and form, except where a rearrangement of material made the chronology a bit clearer, or new material obtained since the original edition was published, needed to be added. The footnotes in the original edition have been incorporated into the text. A few errors, pointed out to the editor by Mr. Podmore before his recent death, have been corrected, and the text brought up-to-date as of March, 1964. At his suggestion, the article on "The Green Tree Inn" has been omitted and a new chapter on "The William Trent House" added. A number of new illustrations have also been added. It is hoped that this second and slightly-enlarged edition of Mr. Podmores book will prove no less interesting and valuable to readers of the present day than did the first edition of 1927, which has long been out of print. The editor gratefully acknowledges the interest and support of the Trenton Tercentenary Commission, under whose authority this publication is published. She is especially grateful to Dr. John Perry Pritchett, General Chairman of the Commission, and to all the members of the Historical Research and Publications Committee, whose names are listed below. Without their untiring interest and help, this publication would not have been possible. It is the hope of the Publications Committee that this revised edition of Trenton, Old and New will remain as a lasting memorial to the late Harry J. Podmore’s lifetime of devoition to Trenton’s historic past, as well as preserving for coming generations the significance of the part that Trenton played in the early history of our nation. Mary J. Messler Trenton, New Jersey, March, 1964 Historical Research and Publications Committee, Trenton Tercentenary CommissionDr. Helen M. CarpenterMiss Veronica CaryMrs. Arthur J. HollandMrs. J. R. MuehleckMr. Thomas J. MurrayDr. Arthur L. ParksMr. Donald B. RiceMr. Lewis B. Traver Miss Mary J. Messier, Chairman |
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I. THE HISTORIC FIVE POINTS Several days before the Battle of Trenton, Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall, commander of the Hessian forces in the village, accompanied by Captain George Heinrich Pauli, an engineer officer, made a survey of the site where Brunswick, Princeton and Pennington Avenue now intersect with Broad and Warren Streets, for the purpose of placing a fortification there to defend the northern end of the cantonment. Colonel Rall agreed to have the spot fortified, although he considered the rebels a miserable lot and the village safe from attack. Fortunately for the American cause, this project was not carried through. Early on the morning of December 26, 1776, a few hours after he had returned to his headquarters in the Stacy Potts House on Warren Street, after enjoying an evening of Christmas festivity at the home of Trenton’s wealthy merchant, Abraham Hunt, Colonel Rall was aroused from a deep sleep by his Lieutenant Jacob Piel, to learn that Washington and his army were already attacking Trenton. Although Rall hastily endeavored to rally his panic-stricken troops, his efforts were too late, as two divisions of the Continental army had already hemmed in the village and their artillery, planted on the site which the Hessian leader had neglected to fortify, was raking with cannon fire the two main highways leading into the town. Rall soon fell mortally wounded, while his Hessian troops, in disorderly retreat, surrendered in the apple orchard which occupied the site on East State Street where the Public Service building now stands. Washington and his army had won a most timely and brilliant victory, considered by many historians as the turning point of the Revolution. From the earliest settlement at Trenton, the site where the Continental artillery opened fire on the Hessian cantonment served as the northern gateway for travel in and out of the village. A little community of houses, shops and taverns soon grew up at the crossroads. Following the close of the Revolution, this small settlement seemed to have had a marked growth and by 1792 had become, according to Francis B. Lee, in his History of Trenton, "an established center for upper-country trade." THE FIVE HIGHWAYS
At the time of the early settlement of the North Trenton comunity, the stretch of the highway now known as Brunswick Avenue, was a part of the old Maidenhead Road, leading through Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville) to Princeton. Princeton Avenue was then only a lane running to the Beakes Plantation about a quarter of a mile north of the corners, but by Revolutionary times, had become known as the Post Road to Princeton. The Pennington Road was designated as the Pennington-Hopewell Road running to Queenstown (later Penny Town, now Pennington) and Hopewell. Following the opening in 1804 of the Brunswick Road, at a point above Mulberry Lane (now Mulberry Street) , and the incorporation of Beakes Lane as a part of the Princeton Pike a few years later, the site where the three highways converged with King and Queen (now Warren and Broad) Streets became known as the "Five Points." The gateway site at the "Five Points" has been a silent spectator of the development of Trenton from pre-Revolutionary times to the present day. It has witnessed the gradual evolution of locomotion from the days of the Indian, who silently passed on his way to the Falls of the Delaware, to the present era of the jet planes leaving their trails in the sky. Through these highways came the early Dutch trader with his heavy pack, the stagecoach and lumbering freight wagon, the traveling preacher spreading the gospel across the countryside, the gay traveler seeking new fields to explore, the traveling showman and magician, the road circuses and the postrider with the momentous news that patriot blood had been shed on the village green at Lexington and that Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown. Later came the canal barge and then the snorting locomotive on its way to north Jersey towns and cities. With the creation of the famous Lincoln Highway in 1913, the auto tourists came in ever-increasing numbers, followed by the motor trucks and buses of the present day.
Among the prominent travelers who passed through the "Five Points" prior to, and for some time after the Revolution, were William Edmundson, the English Quaker, in 1667; Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, in 1748; George Whitefleld, the celebrated Methodist preacher, in 1754 and Benjamin Franklin, in 1757. In 1775, came the striking figure of the young Virginia rifleman on his way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take command of the Continental army, while at the same place, fourteen years later, he bid the town farewell while on his journey to New York City to be inaugurated the first President of the United States. Thomas Paine, patriot and noted writer of Revolutionary days, whose ringing lines, "These are the times that try men’s souls," stirred the ragged soldiers on to action at the Battle of Trenton, journeyed through this gateway in 1803, when "a mob surrounded him with insulting music, and he had difficulty in getting out of town." Other notable figures who passed through Trenton in the early days of its history were Washington Irving, Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Captain John Paul Jones, Elkanab Watson, Richard Henry Lee, Lord Cornwallis, Sir William Howe, Aaron Burr, Martha Washington, James Monroe, Marquis de Chastellux, Duke de la Rochefoucauld, Duke of Saxe Weimar, J. B. Brissot de Warville, General Lafayette and President Andrew Jackson. At the time of the Battle of Trenton, according to William S. Strykers’ sketch of Trenton in 1776-77, there stood at the gateway site, the frame dwelling of Thomas Case, a Revolutionary soldier. His house is believed to have been the one that was later converted into shops for blacksmithing and wheelwrighting. For a number of years, James S. Robinson operated the blacksmithing enterprise. Later the building was demolished and upon its site was erected a brick carriage factory, owned by Jacob S. Valentine, his son-in-law. The carriage shop was demolished in 1891 to make room for the erection of the Battle Monument. Just south of the site for the monument across Brunswick Avenue, which then continued through to Warren Street, stood the "Lamb Tavern," known in later times as the "Bull’s Head." For many years this was the most popular hostelry at the "Head of Town" and nearby, at the head of Warren Street, stood the gaily-festooned arch under which Lafayette passed when making his dramatic entry into the town on September 25, 1824. The front part of the tavern, which faced Warren Street, was of brick, but the rear, of rough stone construction, was originally a separate building. In all probability, this was once the pottery of Joseph McCully, the elder. This pottery later came into the possession of Jacob Hester, another pioneer potter, who was for a long time the proprietor of "Lamb Tavern." The tavern was demolished in the 1890s at the time the Battle Monument was being erected. Other proprietors of the tavern were Isaac Hester, Patrick Conyery, Xavier Meyer, Henry Spencer and Jacob Gettler. The site of the hostelry is now part of Monument Park. A NOTEWORTHY MEMORIAL The Battle Monument, commemorating one of the most famous battles in American history, commands the gateway site today. The column of the memorial is hollow-fluted and of granite construction. The pedestal which supports the column is partly of the same material and partly of darker stone to give a more apparent solidity to the base. The style of the column is known as Roman-Doric. On top of the column is a cap, forming an observatory accessible by means of an electric elevator. Over the years from this observatory, thousands of tourists have obtained an excellent view of Trenton and the scenes of the battle. Encircling the column, just above the cap, thirteen electric lights, symbolic of the thirteen original states, shed their radiance at night. On the top of the shaft is a bronze statue of General Washington as he appeared at the opening of the engagement, with his extended right hand directing the fire of the Continental artillery down King (now Warren) Street. The great leader is represented in the uniform of a Continental general officer, an exact reproduction of the one worn by him at Trenton. The figure is thirteen feet high while the whole monument, including the statue, is one hundred and fifty feet above street level. On the east, west and south sides of the base of the pedestal are three bronze reliefs, depicting respectively, "The Surrender of the Hessians," "The Continental Army Crossing the Delaware River" and "The Opening of the Battle" The latter shows the battery of Alexander Hamilton about to fire down King (now Warren) Street. On the north side of the pedestal is a bronze tablet presented by the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jersey. Guarding the entrance to the monument stand two bronze figures of Continental soldiers. One is the statue of Private John Russell, a member of Colonel John Glover’s splendid regiment of seafaring men from Marblehead, Massachusetts, who gained fame by transporting Washington’s army across the ice-choked Delaware, Christmas night, 1776. The other statue is modeled after a likeness of Private Blair McClenachan, of the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop, which also took part in the Battle of Trenton. The cornerstone of the Battle Monument was laid on Saturday, December 26, 1891, the one hundred and fifteenth anniversary of the Battle of Trenton. The base and pedestal were erected in the spring of 1892, the capstone was raised into position Saturday, August 31, 1893, and the statue of General Washington was placed on top of the shaft September fifth of the same year. The completed memorial was dedicated with elaborate ceremonies on October 19, 1893, the one hundred and twelfth anniversary of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. Monument Park at the "Five Points" was acquired under the provisions of an ordinance passed June 28, 1893, to afford a setting for the Battle Monument.
Although various changes have taken place in the immediate vicinity of the Monument since its erection seventy years ago, the commanding figure of Washington still looks down upon the great industrial city and capital of the State, which has developed from the small village made famous by his signal victory at Trenton, December 26, 1776. |
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Hier Liegt der Oberst Rall, mit ihm ist alles all! ("Here lies Colonel Rall, with him all is over) was the epitaph written for Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rail, the commander of the Hessian forces at Trenton, following his death from wounds sustained in the engagement of December 26, 1776. It was written by Lieutenant Carl Andreas Kinen, a member of Rall’s regiment. but the words were never cut into stone. According to local tradition, the brave, but headstrong leader of the Hessian troops, sleeps in an unidentified grave in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church on East State Street. Colonel Rall died on December 27, 1776, at the commodious house of Stacy Potts, on King Street (now Warren) , where he had his headquarters while stationed in Trenton. It was there that General Washington and General Greene visited the dying officer at the close of the Battle. raking his parole of honor and offering words of consolation before leaving. Stacy Potts, the owner of the house during the Revolution, was a prominent Quaker resident of Trenton and mayor of the city from 1806 to 1814. He conducted a tanyard and a steel works in the rear of the property for some years. RICHARD HENRY LEE’S RESIDENCE The Potts House again figured in the history of Trenton when it was leased for one year by the State of New Jersey to provide official quarters for Richard Henry Lee, President of the Continental Congress, when that body met in Trenton from November 1, 1784 until January 11, 1785, when it moved to New York. When General Lafayette arrived in Trenton on December 10, 1784 to bid farewell to Congress, it is presumed that he was the guest of President Lee at the official residence, Sometime after the departure of Congress from Trenton in January, 1785, the Stacy Potts House became a tavern, which for a number of years was known as the "City Hotel." On November 9, 1798, the Honorable Charles Cotesworrh Pinckney, former Envoy to the French Republic, visited Trenton and was tendered "an elegant entertainment" at the "City Hotel," which was attended by the mayor, other city officials and heads of the government departments, according to an item in The Federalist, November 12, 1798. James Ewing, as Mayor of Trenton, made the address of welcome. From 1800, until its doors closed in 1857, the tavern was the scene of many noteworthy gatherings and meetings. In February, 1803, the question of uniting the waters of the Delaware and Raritan rivers by a canal was discussed at a meeting of the citizens held in the tavern. On January 18, 1806, a public dinner was given to Captain (later Commodore) Bainbridge upon his return from Barbary. James C. Martin, a portrait and miniature painter, made the place his temporary headquarters in November, 1808, and the State Bank opened its books for subscriptions at the "City Hotel" in February, 1812. For several years, the house was a boarding house, with John Mount, Jr., as one of the keepers, but in 1838, the place was again opened as a tavern. The occasion was announced in an advertisement in the New Jersey State Gazette, December 28, 1838, as "Once More Revived," and open for business under the name of the "Trenton City Hotel," with John Van Fleet as the proprietor. Some of the other proprietors during the intervening years were John Anderson, Peter Howell, Scott and Herbert, the Widow Harvey, Richard Davis, Hannah Herbert, Nicholas Bendel and Samuel Heath. The "City Hotel’’ had other attractions aside from the refreshments dispensed in its taproom. A great Natural Curiosity - Shark or Sea Serpent, 8 feet, 9 inches long, caught in the Delaware, 8 miles above Trenton, admittance 12 1/2 cents, children half price" was advertised in the Emporium True American, August 7, 1840, as being on exhibition at John Van Fleet's. Three years after the so-called monster of the deep was exhibited at the inn, a show featuring "Dan"Rice McLaren, called the greatest of American clowns, together with "Yankee Simpson" (Mr. Can-field), strong man, and the "Learned pig," Lord Byron, with its knowledge of letters and figures, was advertised in the State Gazette, June 26, 1843. The show was held in the tavern yard with "everything orderly and comfortable." In 1853, after its varied career as a tavern, the property came into the possession of Dr. Jacob Quick, who demolished the building four years later to make room for a brick dwelling which he used as both his home and office. The passing of the old Stacy Potts House is cited in the following item published in the State Gazette, June 12, 1857: "Revolutionary Relic - Workmen are now engaged in demolishing the house in Warren Street, opposite Perry, long known as the City Hotel. This house is probably over a hundred years old, and at the time of the Revolution was one of the largest and most elegant houses in the town. It was occupied by Colonel Rall, the commander of the Hessians, and was his headquarters at the time of the Battle of Trenton. It bears many marks of that combat, in the shape of bullet holes and marks in the weatherboards, and tradition relates that a Hessian officer was shot through one of its windows while shaving himself. The window with the bullet hole through the glass is preserved by Dr. Quick, the owner of the house." (This window is now on display in the "Armory at the old Barracks.) The Gazette then reprinted from its issue of January 10, 1785, a description of the place, as advertised for rent at that time: "To be let until the first day of November next, and maybe entered immediately, the House wherein Stacy Potts lately lived in Trenton. which was taken for use of the President of Congress. and is now vacant by his removal. The house is two stories high, spacious and elegant, having three rooms with fireplaces. besides a large dining room with two fireplaces on the lower floor. five rooms on the second floor, a large and convenient kitchen, a cellar under the whole, a pump at the door, a convenient lot with a stream of water running through it and an excellent garden - a stable sufficient to contain eight horses, with room for hay to keep them, may he had with it. For terms inquire of the subscribers. Moore Furman Conrad Kotts James Ewing"
Following the disastrous fire which engulfed the Cathedral on March 14, 1956, necessitating the demolition of the church and its adjoining rectory, this tablet was removed and safely stored by the church authorities. At the request of the Trenton Historical Society and the New Jersey Society, Sons of the Revolution, the authorities of St. Marys Cathedral had the tablet ftdv restored and placed on the front of the new Rectory, where rededication ceremonies were held on February 22, 1963. Among those taking part in the ceremonies were Msgr. John E. Grimes of St. Marys Cathedral, Mayor Arthur J. Holland, J. A. Bughee, President of the State Society, Sons of the Revolution and Howard L. Hughes, former city librarian. |
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III. THE PONTIUS D. STILLE HOUSE
At the southeast corner of what is now Warren and Perry Streets there stood until 1926, the Central House property, a building of considerable significance in local Revolutionary history. Although the place underwent a number of changes in its long and varied career, it still embodied a goody portion of its original outline when it was finally demolished. This building was the dwelling of Pontius Delare Stille, the first treasurer of the City of Trenton, and served as the headquarters guard-house of the Hessians before the Battle of Trenton. In it was billeted the Headquarters Company of Colonel Rall, commander of the Trenton cantonment, whose own quarters were in the Stacy Potts House that stood on the opposite side of the street. At the front of the house, in the center of King (now Warren) Street, were planted several Hessian cannon, one behind the other on account of the narrowness of the street; and in the capturing of these guns, Captain William Washington, a relative of the great General, and Lieutenant James Monroe, afterward fifth President of the United States, were wounded. Between the Stille House and the original St. Michael’s Church, built in 1748 but closed for seven years during the Revolution, which was used as a stable by the Hessian troops, ran Church Alley connecting the two main thoroughfares of the village, King and Queen (now Warren and Broad) Streets. Perry Street, originally called Centre, was not opened until the fall of 1813. In this alley, some of the Hessian troops sought shelter from the fire of the Continental artillery stationed at the "Five Points," and through it Colonel Rall, mortally wounded, was carried to his headquarters in the Stacy Potts House. In all probability, the Pontius D. Stille House dated back a number of years before the Revolution. The following extract concerning the site is from an article by John J. Cleary, well-known local historian, which was published in the Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser, May 31, 1925: "The site at the southeast corner ... has a history antedating the Revolutionary War. The New Jersey Archives of 1763 contain an advertisement over the signature of Mary Beadels, offering the property at public vendue on the eleventh of April of that year. Mention is made that Pontius Stille was then the occupant but a more interesting fact is stated, namely, that the house ‘has been a well-frequented tavern constantly kept for about thirty years past.’ This would take its history back nearly two hundred years from our time. Just when the house incorporated in the structure now standing was erected does not appear. It is described in the Archives of 1763 as of two stories with stabling, etc. . ." Among the early owners of the place were William Plaskett and his son. William, Jr., Joseph Clunn, Dr. William Bryant and Ratchel Stille After the latter’s death, the property came into the possession of Joseph Brumley, who offered it for sale in an advertisement published in the Federalist and New Jersey Gazette, September 16, 1799. The advertisement describes the property as being two stories high, sixty-three feet frontage, two separate cellars, a good room on each side of the entrance, a kitchen and six chambers, two rooms in front stiitable for stores, a passageway for wagons running under part of the building, pump in the rear, cistern, pump, garden, good stable and a chairhouse. At this time, Brumley operated an ironmonger in one of the large front rooms on the first floor. Another part of the building seems to have been occupied by a cabinetmaker. Other Trentonians who conducted businesses there were: Gilbert Brown, brushmaker, 1802; Foster Hart. shoemaker, 1804; Samuel Paxon, dry-goods and medicine merchant, 1806; publisher’s office of the Federalist, 1807; P. Smiley, dry-goods merchant, 1809; Peter Parrish, tobacco manufacturer, 1814; Samuel Paxon, hardware and cutlery merchant, 1815; and Richard Burdsall, Jr., baker, 1816. The family of William Potts owned the building for many years. In 1826, and perhaps earlier, Mr. Potts condticted a leather business there and subsequently it became his residence. He was a member of the Potts family which came from England with Mahlon Stacy in 1679, and later the two families intermarried. William H. Potts, tanyard owner, and leather and wool merchant, lived in the stone house on the west side of Warren Street, between Bank and Chauncey Streets, which was purchased and remodeled by the Public Service Electric & Gas Company, which still uses it as a buisness office. About the year 1884, William H. Allerton opened the former Stille House as a hotel, known as the Central House. Extensive alterations, including the raising of the building an additional story, were made in the summer of 1904. At that time, two skeletons, one the body of a child, the other of a man, were found in the place by workmen. When the old roof was removed, a number of bullets were found imbedded in it.
The building was later purchased by Newton A. K. Bugbee, who had it razed in 1926. Mr. Bugbee, senior warden, later presented the land to St. Michael’s Church, in memory of his mother, Mrs. Lucy Kendall Bughee, who died Januarv 29, 1926. Impressive services on November 1, 1931, marked the dedication of the churchyard, by the Rt. Rev. Paul Matthews, Bishop of the New Jersey Diocese, assisted by the Rev. Samuel Steinmetz, rector of St. Michael’s Chtirch and the Rev. Milton Kraft, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, and formerly assistant rector at St. Michael’s. |
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One of the few buildings still standing in Trenton whose history goes back to the years 1746-1750, when Trenton was a free borough town, exercising its powers and privileges under a Royal Charter of Incorporation granted by His Majesty, King George the Second, is the Friends Meeting House which standis today on its original site at the northwest corner of Hanover and Montgomery Streets. When it was built in 1739, Trenton was a little settlement of less than one htindred houses north of the Assunpink Creek. Because it was the county seat of Hunterdon County, the court sessions were held in the town and twice a year, fairs attracted a yaried populace from the neighboring countryside. Although there had been Friends at the Falls of the Delaware since Mahlon Stacy built his gristmill on the south bank of the Assunpink in 1680, and an early Quaker burial ground in the extreme southwesterly part of what is now Riverview Cemetery, there was no meeting house in the town for some sears and the Friends assembled in the homes of members William Yardley, James Harrison, Phineas Pemberton, William Biles, Nathan Beakes, Thomas Lambert, John Bainbridge and Isaac Watson. When the Chesterfield Meeting, with which the Society of Friends in Trenton was affiliated, finally granted permission for a meeting house at Trenton, the committee proceeded at once to erect the building, which was completed in November, 1739. The original meeting house, built by William Plaskett, was of plain red brick and faced Montgomery Street, then known as Quaker Lane. The entrance was in the end of the building, on Third, now Hanover Street. There was one long room inside which was later divided into the hall and a room for worship. The facing benches where the officers were seated are in the same position today. There were two long benches for the membership. When first erected, the house was thirty by forty feet, one story high, with a hip roof. Although many changes and enlargements have been made to the Meeting House during its two hundred and twenty-five years of existence, the greatest changes have been those it has witnessed as the city developed around it. Its once quiet corner has become one of Trenton’s busiest traffic centers while the shadows of modern bank and office buildings have taken the place of those cast by the orchard where the Hessians surrendered at the Battle of Trenton in 1776. Under its roof, the British Dragoons, and later, the Continental soldiers, each in turn found shelter. Here also in 1776, was held a meeting of the Convention of New Jersey Province. Mahlon Stacy’s gristmill passed away many years ago and the once-beautiful Assunpink, with its shady nooks and placid waters for boating, has now dwindled to a slowly-purring stream, with litter-strewn banks. It is encouraging, however, to find included in the Urban Renewal plans now being formulated by the city, that the Assunpink Creek is to be returned to much of its original beauty, with the landscaping kept natural to provide relief from the city atmosphere. Trenton’s present Mayor Arthur J. Holland, in commenting on the plans has said: ‘‘This is a chief natural and historic asset in the city, and we plan to preserve and beautify it." In the burying-ground adjoining the Meeting House are buried many citizens who played prominent parts in the early history of the city. Among these are Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, first burgess of the free borough of Trenton, 1746-50; Colonel Lambert Cadwalader, his son, who was a member of both the Continental and Federal Congresses: General Philemon Dickinson, head of the New Jersey militia in Revolutionary days; Richard Howell, Governor of New Jersey, 1792-1801; and George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. A copy of an engraving by John Sartain after a miniature of George Clymer by Benjamin Trott, probably made about the year 1788, now hangs in the library on the first floor of the Meeting House. Although the Friends Meeting House has been occupied as a place of worship since its erection in 1739, differences arose between the followers of Elias Hicks and the Orthodox members in 1827, which resulted in a separation in the meeting. The Meeting House was retained by the Hicksites. In 1838, the Orthodox Friends purchased the Methodist Meeting House at the northeast corner of Broad and Academy Streets, when the Methodists moved to their new church on South Broad Street. In 1858, the Orthodox Friends erected the red brick house of worship on Mercer Street which was used as a meeting house until 1955. In 1957, the building was turned over to the Mercer Street Friends Center for use as a community center.
In 1873 and again in 1896, as well as in later years, the Hicksite Friends have enlarged and remodeled their original meeting house at Hanover and Montgomery Streets so that its aspect has been changed considerably, although much of the original walls still serve and the original adz-hewn timbers support the present structure. |
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V. THE METHODIST MEETING HOUSE Before the outbreak of the Revolution, four religious denominations already had houses of worship in Trenton. The first three to establish themselves in the town were the Presbyterians, the Friends and the Episcopalians. In 1771, the Methodists organized a congregation and sought a place in which to conduct services. This denomination had already gathered a number of adherents to its faith, largely through the leadership of Joseph Toy, a brilliant and dedicated young preacher, the convert of the traveling officer-preacher, Captain Thomas Webb, who had preached in Trenton in the 1760’s and had also done some missionary work in the town.
In looking abour for a place in which to worship, the Methodists purchased a site at the northeast corner of what is now Broad and Academy Streets from John Rossell and his wife. ln 1772, the Trenton Society, consisting of about nineteen members, secured subscriptions from one-hundred-and-twenty-two persons for the erection of a meeting house. The stibscription list bears the date of November 25, 1772 and the total amount stibscribed was £213. When the frame meeting house was erected in 1773, it meastired thirty by thirty-five feet and was finished with glass doors and windows. It was the first Methodist church in New Jersey and the third in North America. This little building sheltered part of a Hessian artillery detachment at the time of the Battle of Trenton, and it was here that Colonel Rall, the Hessian commander. was first taken when he was shot from his horse during the course of the battle.
The first annual conference of Methodists in New Jersey was held in Trenton, May 23, 1789, with both Bishop Coke and Bishop Asbury present. "lt was Opened in great peace. We labored for a manifestation of the Lord’s power and it was not altogether in vain. Sunday, the 24th, we had an abundance of preaching,’’ wrote Bishop Asbury, commenting on the event. The Trenton Circuit at that time included Trenton, Pemberton, Mount Holly, Burlington and Monmouth. This was enlarged in 1817 and, in 1818, Trenton was made a station with a membership of two hundred and thirty. The joint meeting of the State Legislature was held in the Meeting House in May and June, 1779. according to William S. Stryker’s monograph, Trenton One Hundred Years Ago. Among the nineteen members who sponsored the meeting house in 1772 was John Fitch, whose small commercial, steam-propelled craft traveled on the Delaware between Trenton and Philadelphia, seventeen years before Robert Fulton’s so-called first steamboat, "The Clermont," plied the waters of the Hudson. The first trustees of the church were James Emerson, Conrad Kotts, Robert Singer, Joseph Toy, George Ely, Alexander Cart, Jacob Link, Richard Sause and Lambert Wilmore. In 1806, the original frame meeting house was replaced by a brick church located on the same site. This church was called "Bethesda" and was used as a Methodist meeting house until it was sold to the Orthodox Friends in 1838, when the growing church organization made a larger place of worship necessary. A plot of land was purchased on the western side of Greene (Broad) Street. just below Second (State) Street as the site of the new house of worship. The new church was a large three-story brick building which for years remained one of Trenton’s familiar landmarks. It was dedicated on Sunday, September 9, 1838, with appropriate exercises, and was called "Trenton Methodist Episcopal Church." When the Front Street Methodist Church was organized in 1846, in what was previously a Dutch Reformed Church, the mother organization became known as the "Greene Street Church." In 1894, the name was again changed to the "First Methodist Episcopal Church." In 1894, the brick church was demolished and an imposing structure of light granite and brick in Romanesque style, with a seating capacity of 2,000 was erected on the same site at a cost of 580,000. It was dedicated May 5, 1895. This building was used until partially destroyed by fire on December 16, 1956. Due to an active rebuilding program, the church was reopened on February 2, 1958, with a refurbished front entrance set in the original granite facade which had retained intact. Among the treasured religious symbols salvaged from the fire were the original pewter communion cups used by Bishop Francis Asbury to serve communion in the original church at Broad and Academy Streets almost two hundred years before. The former meeting house at Broad and Academy Streets continued to be used for various purposes after 1838. While the Court House was being erected at Flemington. the Hunterdon County Freeholders met in the building, at a rental fee of fifty dollars. In 1851, the property was enclosed by a neat brick wall After the Friends moved to their new meeting house on Mercer Street in 1858. a public school held sessions in the building for a short time. In May, 1859, the school moved to Temperance Hall at the southeast corner of Broad and Front Streets, and by June first, the work of demolishing the edifice was completed. In the graveyard adjoining the building, a number of pioneer residents of Trenton were buried. Some of the bodies were removed in the spring of 1849 when the yard was being leveled.
The neighborhood adjacent to Broad and Academy Streets was identified with Methodism in Trenton for a long period of years. Thomas Webb, a captain in the English army stationed at Albany. preached the doctrines of Wesley in a stable in 1766, and in 1866. a short distance east on what is now Academy Street, on the south side, stood the Trinity Methodist Meeting House, known locally, as the "Plank Church," because the pews were hewn from planks and set up like those at a camp meeting. This building was used as a church until 1869, when the Trinity M.E. Church was completed on Perry Street. The "Plank Church" was then occupied as an armory by the Emmett Guards, local State militia, so named because of its large membership of native Irish and those of Irish extraction. According to an article in the Daily True American, the church was demolished in May, 1872, and subsequently four fine brick houses were erected on the site. In 1859, a store building was erected upon the meeting house corner, which was occupied by Forst and Taylor, wholesale grocers. who furnished edible supplies for Civil War troops; and in 1881, by the establishment of Elwood, Minor H. and George C. Ivins, trading under the name of Ivins Brothers, grocers and commission dealers. In 1895, an L. Lehman and Company Grocery Store bought the property from the Ivins Brothers for $30,000 and conducted Trenton’s first chain department grocery in the building, with Emanuel New as manager. It was the first grocery to give trading stamps in Trenton. The building was later enlarged and renovated for the Lehman business, which continued to flourish on the corner for over twenty-five years. Later Smith Brothers Company, furniture dealers, occupied the place, followed in 1927, by Stern & Co., of Philadelphia. In 1937. Stern moved to a remodeled store on the southeast corner of Broad. and Academy where it remained until 1963, when the business was given up. The last firm to occupy the Lehman corner was Whitehill Brothers. furniture dealers, which also took over the five-story building at112-114 Academy Street, formerly occupied by Murrax Griffith & Messler, wholesale merchants. Both buildings were razed in 1961 but the site is still an empty lot. |
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VI. THE CORNER WITH A CHRISTMAS STORY
The march of time has brought many changes to the site formerly occupied by the Trenton Banking Company at the northwest corner of Warren and State Streets. In fact, four transformations have taken place there within the past seventy years. With a record as a business mart, dating back to Colonial days, this location may well lay claim to having witnessed the growth of Trenton’s first "town center of trade" from its days as a hamlet to the flourishing city of the present day. At this corner in Revolutionary times, stood the dwelling and general store of Abraham Hunt, the rich merchant of the village and also its postmaster. Nearby stood the City Tavern where important meetings of the city and state were held, the Hunterdon County Court House and jail, the early street market and the original town pump, each of which contributed its part to the city's center of activity. Probably the first merchant to do business at this corner was Joseph Reed, whose son Andrew Reed, father of Joseph Reed, Colonel Washington’s Adjutant General, was appointed postmaster of Trenton in 1734. Some of those who followed Abraham Hunt as shopkeeper at the corner were Wesley Hunt, George Kinney, William Miller, West & Cole, and William Norcross. In the early 1840’s Charles Howell conducted the "Washington House" there. The Hunt building was demolished in 1884. It was in the Hunt House that an important incident of Revolutionary history took place, for it was here that Abraham Hunt’s commercial activities worked hand-in-hand for the cause of liberty, serving as a means toward the winning of the Battle of Trenton, a timely Christmas gift to a struggling nation. Did Abraham Hunt plan a conscious part in the plans of General Washington before the Battle of Trenton or was his lavish entertainment of Colonel Rall on Christmas Eve, which facilitated the capture of the Hessians, merely coincidental? While both questions have been debated by historians for many years, we are led to believe that Hunt was entirely unaware of the current designs of Washington. Whichever version is true, "Certain it is," says General Stryker, in his Battles of Trenton and Princeton, "that he was a most active though perhaps unconscious agent in bringing disaster and defeat to the British arms." Aside from all tradition and assumption, however, the records tell us that the dwelling and store of Abraham Hunt at the corner of Second and King Streets figured so prominently in the noteworthy Revolutionary incident that the site may well be named "The corner with a Christmas story."
History records that when the Hessians were stationed at Trenton in December, 1776, General Washington, who was encamped on the Pennsylvania shore with his small band of patriots, was well informed of the doings in the enemy's cantonment in Trenton. The Battle of Trenton was a well-planned and timely stroke, due part to the intelligence obtained from the patriotic farmers of Hunterdon and Burlington Counties, as well as to the work of Washington’s trusted spies who were able to learn the strength and position of the Hessian forces. One of the most famous of these spies was John Honeyman, who lived in Griggstown, Somerset County, and was noted for his cunning and keen observation. Just a few clays before the Battle, Honeyman, disguised as a butcher and dealer in cattle, made a number of visits to Trenton and reported to Washington what he saw there. Was Honeyman in touch with Abraham Hunt who at that time was a Tory in the eyes of his townsmen? While there is no proof that the two worked together in securing information, there seems to have been an opportunity for such to have taken place. John Honeyman, known as the Tory butcher, purposely wandered from the town a few days before the Battle and was captured along the River Road by several soldiers of the patriot army. He was transported across the river and brought before General Washington, who after interviewing him privately, ordered him held for court-martial the following morning. What actually transpired between Honeyman and General Washington is not known, except that there was no court-martial in the morning, as the spy had vanished from the log hut where he had been confined for the night. His mysterious escape and his return to Trenton with greatly exaggerated information concerning the poor condition of the patriot army, all planned by Washington, is a matter of history. THE CHRISTMAS STORY It is Christmas night, December 25, 1776. Snug and warm in their quarters throughout the village of Trenton, the Hessian mercenaries are celebrating the occasion in traditional German style. Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall, the Hessian commander of the cantonment, is being royally entertained at the home of Abraham Hunt, where he is busily engaged in tasting the best wines the village affords. He imbibes the delicious spirits between each hand of cards and when the clock on the wall shows that it is nearly dawn, there is a loud knock on the door. It is opened by a servant who is confronted by a Tory farmer who asks to see Colonel Rall. The messenger is undoubtedly Moses Doane, one of the notorious Doane Brothers of Pennsylvania, with the timely message that the Rebels are crossing the Delaware are planning to march on Trenton. Being informed by the servant that Rall’s card game cannot be interrupted, the messenger hastily writes a note which is given to Rall by the servant. But the Hessian Colonel, in no mood to trouble himself with a carelessly-written message, places it in his vest-pocket without reading it, and returns to his card game, unaware that he soon must pay with his life for this apparently trivial act. Meanwhile the famous crossing of the Delaware has been accomplished, and Washington’s loyal army of cold and bleeding patriots is already marching on Trenton. before Rall and his troops are aware of what is happening. The story of the defeat of the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, which General Washington called "a glorious day for our country ," is so well-known to every student of American history that it need not be repeated here. In answer to the charge that Abraham Hunt was a Tory because of his entertainment of Colonel Rall on Christmas night before the Battle, General William S. Stryker, in his Battles of Trenton and Princeton, has this to say in refutation: "It has never been stated that he ever claimed protection from the British. His property does not appear to have been confiscated which would have been done if he had been a Tory, and he certainly was in full enjoyment of it to the date of his death, long after the close of the war. He also retained the office of postmaster of the village under the national government for many years." THE YEARS ROLL BY
It is the year 1885—Abraham Hunt has been in his grave for over sixty years and his former property at Trenton’s early "center of trade," with its Revolutionary story, has been recently demolished In its place stands the new Masonic Temple, in whose large assembly hall on the second floor will be held many balls, weddings, fairs ant theatrical performances.
It is the year 1919—The Masonic Temple is gone and on its site stands the new home of the Trenton Banking Company, Trenton’s first banking institution, formerly located at 16 South Warren Street It is the year 1958—On September second, the First Trenton National Bank opens its doors for the first time. The occasion is marked by a ribbon-stretching ceremony across State Street, from the doors of the First Mechanics National Bank to those of the Trenton Banking Company, symbolizing the merger of those two famous banking institutions.
After the Trenton Banking Company building was razed in 1961, a new drive-in, walk-in office, connected with a parking lot, was opened on the historic site. On August 13, 1962, there was a rededication of the historic plaque, gift of the Trenton High School Class of 1904 to the Masonic Temple, which proclaimed "Col. Rall was entertained on Christmas night, 1776, in the house of Abraham Hunt, which stood on this site." The plaque is now to be seen on the base of the flagpole at the corner of the parking lot. |
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VII. THE HUNTERDON COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND JAIL
More than one hundred and eighty years ago, the little village of Trenton was very much astir. The citizens, excited by the events of the conflict in New England, eagerly awaited any word that might alter their conditions of life as Colonists. The tavern-keeper hurried from his inn, the housewife, worried and unhappy, rushed from her doorstep, the artisan abandoned his tools on the bench. the shopkeeper left his counter, and all hastened to the center of the little community to hear what news was in store for them. Little did they realize, however, that what they were to hear was a pronouncement which was to shake the throne of an obstinate king and eventually become the foundation for a republic which was later to grow into one of the greatest Democratic governments in the world. For the pronouncement was the Declaration of Independence, proclaimed from the steps of the old Hunterdon County Court House, which stood on the east side of Warren Street, just south of State Street. The assemblage at Trenton, history records, was the first to hear that famous document read publicly outside of the city of Philadelphia, where it was conceived and formulated, and later agreed to, on Thursday, July 4, 1776. The reading of the famous document in Trenton took place on Monday, July 8,1776, following its printing in Philadelphia, and its reception here by post. It is believed that Samuel Tucker, the President of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey and a leading citizen of Trenton, was the person who read it on that notable occasion. It is recorded that the reading was held "in the presence of the Provincial Congress, the gentlemen of the committee, the officers and privates of the militia under arms and a large concourse of the inhabitants." Although no Trenton residents signed the famous document, six of the signers were from the Trenton area: Francis Hopkinson, of Bordentown; George Clymer and Robert Morris, of Morrisville; John Witherspoon and Richard Stockton, of Princeton; and John Hart, of Hopewell. The Court House also figured in other events of national interest. In all probability, the building was the meeting place of the seven members of the Court of Commissioners, appointed by the Continental Congress in 1782, to settle the land dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, known in local history as the "Pennamire War." The decision in the case, rendered December 30, 1782, is known as the "Trenton Decree," and terminated a controversy which had been pending since 1757. From the steps of the building on April 15, 1783, the proclamation of Governor William Livingston, declaring the cessation of war between Great Britain and the United States, was publicly read to the townspeople. On this occasion, the Vice-president of the State, members of the Legislature, judges of the Supreme Court and other public officials were present. The ratification of the Constitution of the United States by New Jersey was read aloud before a large body assembled at the Court House on December 19, 1787, followed by the firing of thirteen rounds, together with one more for the State of Delaware and another for Pennsylvania, by the militia who were present. New Jersey was the third State to ratify the Constitution, being preceded by Delaware on the seventh, and Pennsylvania on the twelfth of December. TRENTON’S FIRST PUBLIC BUILDING In the five years, 1746-50, that Trenton was a free borough town. under a charter granted by King George the Second, the Court House was used both as a Borough Hall and as a place for confining offenders. The Hunterdon County Court House was Trenton’s first public building and according to tradition, the lot on which it stood was given to the county by Chief Justice William Trent, for whom Trenton is named. The following description of the building is given in John 0. Raum’s History of Trenton: "It was a two story building erected of gray sandstone, with stuccoed front. The cells were in the lower story. The upper story was used as a court room, the entrance to which was by a number of stone steps, erected on the outside of the building and surmounted by an iron railing. The steps extended over the pavement, commencing from the gutter, and persons going up and into the court room were compelled to ascend from the street. Pedestrians going up and down the street passed directly under these steps . The steps were afterward removed from the street and placed crosswise upon the front of the building, commencing from either corner, on the north and south sides of it, and meeting at the top, in the center of the building, forming a pyramid, so that anyone going into the court room could ascend either from the north or south of it. Subsequently these steps were removed and placed inside the building." The old courtroom was the scene of a number of interesting trials among them the case of the Rev. John Rowland, a famous traveling evangelist. It was undoubtedly a case of mistaken identity. By establishing an alibi for Mr. Rowland, the Rev. William Tennent renowned Presbyterian minister, then pastor of the church at Freehold, and Joshua Anderson and Benjamin Stevens, lay members of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, found themselves being tried for perjury. Before an acquittal was finally obtained, "To Trial of William Tennent, 1741," aroused more lasting interest than any other case tried in New Jersey in early times. THE OLD JAIL The common offenders confined in the jail were largely counterfeiters and horse thieves. Repetition of these offenses often led death penalties being imposed by the authorities. As executions in those days were public affairs, they attracted many people from the countryside to Trenton. Such an event is recorded by George Whitefield, the famous Methodist minister, in his journal under the date of November 21, 1739: "Being strongly desired by many, and hearing that a condemned malefactor was to suffer that week, I went in company with about thirty more to Trent-town, and reached thither by five in the evening. Here God pleased humble my soul, to and bring my sins to remembrance, so that I could hardly hold up my head. However, knowing that God called, I went out, trusting in Divine strength, and preached in the courthouse [sic]; and though I was quite barren and dry in the beginning of the discourse, yet God enabled me to speak with great sweetness, freedom and power before I bad done. The unhappy criminal seemed hardened, but I hope some good was done in the place." The Trenton jail, like other Colonial jails, was not very secure, so that escapes were common. During the Revolution, British soldiers, Tories and persons arrested for high treason were kept there. Toward the close of 1755, a group of Indians, who were skulking about the countryside in Sussex County, were taken into custody and held in the place for the safety of the inhabitants, who were terrified by outrages then being committed by the red man in Pennsylvania. COUNTY SEAT REMOVED The Court House of Hunterdon County was removed to the house of Henry Mershon, formerly the home of John Ringo, in Amwell township, by an act of the Legislature, March 4, 1780. After that date, Trenton was no longer the county seat of Hunterdon, although prisoners of war and the Admiralty Court were kept in the Court House for a time. When the county prison was finally abandoned, the jail in Trenton was placed in charge of a town jailer who had the custody of prisoners of the city. When the Hessians were stationed at Trenton, a part of Colonel Rall’s own Grenadier Regiment was quartered in the old Court House. It is said that during the Battle of the Assunpink, January 2, 1777, the wall around the rear and sides of the building was struck by a cannon ball fired from a Continental battery. CONVERTED INTO BANK
When the charter of the Trenton Banking Company was granted on December 3, 1804, a committee was appointed to secure suitable quarters for use as a banking house. Just at that time, the Old Hunterdon County Court House was being offered for sale and the Directors of the new bank, finding the building ideally suited for their needs, purchased it for the sum of $2,055.00. The new bank was officially opened for business on April 30, 1805, with Isaac Smith as president, and Pearson Hunt as cashier. The former was a man of remarkable talents: a graduate of the College of New Jersey (at Princeton) in 1755, he later became a practicing physician, commanded a regiment during the Revolutionary War served for eighteen )‘ears as an Associate Justice of the New .Jersey Supreme Court and two Years in the United States House of Representatives. Pearson Hunt, the bank’s first cashier, was the son of a Director of the bank, Abraham Hunt, who entertained Colonel Rall prior to the Battle of Trenton. In 1839, the remodeled "goal and courthouse" building was demolished and a new bank building erected on the site, which became known as the "White Marble Bank." An addition was added, and changes to the interior were made in 1872. The bank continued to occupy the building until 1919, when it moved to its imposing new home on the northwest corner of State and Warren Streets. No story of the early history of the Trenton Banking Company would be complete without some reference to an exciting night in its history. This occurred on Sunday evening, January 21, 1872. when a party of burglars entered the bank And of the affair, as given in a history of the institution published in 1907, runs as follows: One of the watchmen. Mr. Bailey. was seized and gagged after he entered the bank. the other, Mr. Asher Swem, being also attacked as he entered the front door of the bank. The latter defended himself with so much vigor, and resisted their attempt to bind him with so much noise, as to attract the attention of Mrs. John V. Hutchinson a lady who was passing by, who instantly gave the alarm in the neighborhood. The police arrived too late to secure the burglars who abandoned their attempt and fled from the rear of the building. The boxes of some of the depositors were broken open, and several thousand dollars in bonds and other securities were carried away, some of which were never recovered. A short time after the occurrence a letter bearing a Brooklyn postmark, reached the bank, containing $6,800 of bonds and coupons of the State of New Jersey, payment of which had been stopped, and which the burglars thought best to return. The burglars were never traced but the alert action of Mrs. Hutchinson was not passed over and she was rewarded with a gift of silverware by the Directors of the bank.
Old records of the Trenton Banking Company reveal the names of prominent and international figures among its depositors. It s shown that a loan was once made to Prince Lucien Murat, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, who offered a diamond bracelet as security for $8,000 which he needed to return to Europe. This bracelet had been entrusted to the Prince by Hortense, Queen of Holland. The loan was later paid and the bracelet redeemed. Other distinguished persons who had business transactions with the bank were Joseph Bonaparte, a brother of Napoleon; General Victor Moreau, one of the great generals of the First French Republic; L. Maillard, secretary to Joseph Bonaparte; Jasper Harding, an owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer; and Commander Richard Dale and Lieutenant C. M. Hunter, both of the United States Navy. After the Trenton Banking Company moved to its new location on the northwest corner of State and Warren Streets in 1919, the old building was owned for some years by the Public Service Corporation. It was razed in 1930, and the land has since been used as a parking lot. A few sections of the wall of the old jail can still be seen at the sides of the lot. |
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VIII. THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Few landmarks in the city are more expressive of early Trenton than the First Presbyterian Church and its graveyard. In the heart of Trenton’s business section, it is Trenton’s "Old Trinity," clinging with ancient dignity to a modern world. In its churchyard, now overshadowed by business establishments, lie prominent citizens of Colonial and Revolutionary Trenton, as well as of later years. The history of the plot of land on which the present church stands goes back to the year 1726, when there came a demand for a chapel so that the people living near the Delaware would not have to go all the way to the log church at Ewing for worship. A part of the present property was given to the trustees by a number of residents of Trenton and city, with the understanding, as specified by deed: "for the special uses and trust following, that is to say, to be and remain forever for the use of public worship and as a burial place for the Presbyterian congregation of Trenton forever." The other part of the plot was acquired by purchase some years later. FIRST HOUSE OF WORSHIP
The first church building, which is believed to have been erected in 1726, one year prior to the deeding of the original piece of land, was a small edifice of stone construction, which stood on the southwest corner of the present property. John Fitch, whose name is identified with early steamboating on the Delaware, worshipped there following his dispute with the Methodists because of his working on the Sabbath as a gunsmith and armorer for the Committee of Safety. When the first military company was formed at Trenton, Fitch was one of the lieutenants and held that rank in the encampment at Valley Forge. John Fitch Way, which originally ran along the Delaware from the Old Municipal wharf at the foot of Ferry Street to the Assunpink Creek, and now is the name applied to the former East-West Highway, is named for Trenton’s early inventor whose steamboat made trips on the Delaware River from Trenton to Philadelphia, in 1790, seventeen years before Robert Fulton’s boat, the "Clermont," ran on the Hudson. A memorial boulder honoring John Fitch was erected along the river front in the rear of the ancient Bloomsbury ferry-house, by the City Commission, in 1921, but the bronze plaque was stolen from the boulder by vandals during World War II and has never been replaced. An historical plaque, however, was erected in 1956 on North Warren Street, near the site of the gunshop operated by Fitch, which was destroyed by the British in 1776, when they occupied the city. Near the early Presbyterian Church stood the parochial schoolhouse where many of the children of the settlement were initiated into the mysteries of the three R’s by Nicholas Dubois, who also filled the offices of elder and chorister. This little place of learning. which is believed to have been erected in 1735, was leased to the Trenton Academy in 1800 for its girls’ school. "The lessees," according to Dr. Hall, in his History of the [First] Presbyterian Church,"added a story to the building and it continued to be used for school and church purposes until it was taken out of the way at the erection of the present church." The first Presbyterian Sunday school was held in this building in 1816. The Trenton Academy held examinations in the building, which were attended by the Governor, the State Legislature and persons of national prominence. Richard Henry Lee, President of Congress. Baron Frederick William Augustus von Steuben and other prominent persons were present at the examinations held in 1784. THE CHURCH INCORPORATED On September 8, 1756, the church was incorporated with the following incorporators: Rev. David Cowell, the first settled pastor, Charles Clark, Alexander Chambers, Andrew Reed, Joseph Yard, Arthur Howell and William Green. On May 4, 1788, this charter, which had been granted by King George the Second of England. was superseded by the action of the congregation which accepted the provisions of the general act providing for the incorporation of religious bodies. In 1762, the congregation purchased a lot on Third Street, now Hanover, where a parsonage was erected. During the winter of 1776, this house was used as a hospital by the Hessians, who badly damaged the place and totally destroyed the stable on the premises. A number of the Hessian mercenaries were also quartered in the church, which was badly damaged and plundered by them. Major Friedrich Ludlwig von Dechow, of the Von Knyphausen regiment, was severely wounded near the church during the Battle of Trenton. He died the day after the engagement and was probably buried in the churchyard. Other outstanding figures interred in the cemetery surrounding the church are Moore Furman, Aaron D. Woodruff and James Ewing, the first, second and third mayors of the city; Alexander Calhoun, Sr., the "Head of town" shopkeeper for whom Calhoun Street is named; Dr. Nicholas de Belleville, the eminent French physician, who accompanied Count Pulaski, the Polish hero of the American Revolution, to America and settled in Trenton in 1778; Col. Isaac Smith, head of the local militia, a member of the U. S. House of Representatives and first president of the Trenton Banking Company; General John Beatty, a member of the State Legislature and later a member of Congress; and Abraham Hunt, the wealthy merchant who entertained Col. Rall, the Hessian commander, on Christmas night, 1776. Tradition also says that somewhere within the enclosure reposes the dust of a number of Hessians who were killed or died later of wounds received in the Battle of Trenton, including the brave Col. Rall himself. On the east side of the church, stands a monument erected to the memory of the Rev. John Rosbrugh, who was massacred by the British just prior to the Battle of the Assunpink, January 2, 1777. Many of those who rest in the sacred ground were of the Presbyterian faith as this was the first Presbyterian house of worship erected in Trenton. SECOND HOUSE OF WORSHIP The first stone house of worship was razed in 1804 to make room for a new brick edifice which was dedicated August 17, 1806. The following description of this church, by Dr. Francis A. Ewing, quoted from Dr. Hall’s History of the [First] Presbyterian Church: "Elevation seemed to be the great object to be attained, and so the walls were carried to a height which would now be thought excessive. Its galleries were supported by lofty columns and in consequence, its pulpit was so high as sometimes to threaten dizziness to the preacher’s head. Above the gallery the vaulted ceiling afforded almost enough room for another church. It had its tower, its belfry and bell still sweet and melodious, its spire which had it been proportioned us height to the tower supporting it, would have ascended needle-like almost to the clouds. With all its architectural defects, however, it was a fine old building well adapted to the purpose of speaking and hearing; filled an important office, both to the congregation and oh public occasions; stood for years the chief landmark to miles of surrounding country and at last resisted sternly the efforts of its destroyers. Its site, on the southwest corner of the graveyard, is well defined by the old graves and tombs clustered close to its northern and eastern sides, and is only part of the ground divided into burial lots." General Lafayette attended services in the church when he visited Trenton in 1824 and James Monroe, who fought in the Battle of Trenton, and served as a Representative from Virginia to the Continental Congress when it met in Trenton in 1784, worshipped there on June 8, 1817, while President of the United States. Other person of note whose names are identified with the early history of the church are: Samuel Henry, owner of the ironworks in Trenton Andrew Reed, the first treasurer of the Borough of Trenton; Colonel Joseph Reed, of Revolutionary fame; Samuel Tucker, president of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey and treasurer of the State; Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy under James Monnroe; Charles Ewing, Chief Justice of New Jersey; and the Rev. John Hall, the tenth pastor of the church, whose History of th [First] Presbyterian Church "is highly regarded for its illuminating presentation of early church progress as well as for its accurate reference to many secular incidents in Trenton’s early history." PRESENT CHURCH ERECTED
In 1839, the brick building was demolished and the present church built. The cornerstone of the new house of worship was laid with appropriate exercises on May 5, 1839, and on January 18, 1840 the first service was held in it. In 1870, the interior was entirely renovated and other improvements made. In 1949, the church was designated as the Capital Church of the Synod of New Jersey and special services are held on the inauguration of New Jersey governors. The old steeple was taken down in 1956, after it had been weakened by the 1955 hurricane. A new steeple was placed on the church, April 15, 1964. During 1962, the First Church celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Presbyterian church in this vicinity, dating back to the original church in Ewing, built 1712. The opening of the anniversary observance took place on Historical Sunday, September 23, 1962, when the congregation followed the same order of service as was followed in the early days of the church. Other special Sunday observances and a display of historical relics and documents were a part of the historical celebration. Included in the display was the original sacramental flagon use in communion services in the early days of the church. |
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IX. THE OLD BARRACKS
Of all the historic landmarks in Trenton, the "Old Barracks," as it is now affectionately called, is the most widely-known and visited by those interested in the late Colonial and Revolutionary history of America. The building, which stands on South Willow Street at the entrance to Mahlon Stacy Park, is today regarded as finest specimen of Colonial barracks in the United States and the only one remaining in New Jersey of the five barracks erected at Burlington, Trenton, Perth Amboy, New Brunswick and Elizabeth-town during the French and Indian War to house British troops which formerly were quartered in the homes of the citizens. The building is so historic and so representative of the earlier days in the State that reproductions of it were erected at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, at the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1926 and at the New York World’s Fair in 1939-1940. The law which provided for the erection of the barracks, was passed by the Council and General Assembly of the Colony, April 15, 1758. The purposes of the act, as set forth in the preamble an as follows: "WHEREAS, it is found by experience that in admitting Soldiers within private Houses in this Colony during their Winter Quarters is not only attended with very heavy puiblick expense but many other pernicious consequences to private Families, for prevention whereof for the future:" Following the passage of the law, a lot of almost one acre at the western end of Front Street was purchased for forty pounds from Mrs. Sarah Chubb, daughter of Joseph Peace, one of the early settlers of the town, for whom Peace Street is named. Mr. Peace had bought the lot as part of a tract of thirty acres, called "Peace's Meadows," from James Trent, son of William Trent, in March 1732, for one-hundred-and-seventy pounds, silver money. Work on the building was begun on May 31, 1758 and proceeded so rapidly that more than one-half of the building was filled with soldiers by the sixth of the following November. It was, however, not fully completed until March, 1759. According to William S. Stryker’s paper on the Old Barracks, at Trenton, New Jersey: "On the second day of October, 1759. we find the barracks was occupied by a Regiment of Highlanders. whose peculiar dress created much interest among the people of the town. In December 1759, a small addition was built to the barracks for the use exclusively of the officers in charge of the English troops. The building was originally designed to hold about three hundred men but we find at one time four hundred and fifty men quartered therein.’’ The barracks was built entirely of stone, undressed, two stories in height, the main building one-hundred-and-thirty feet in length and eighteen-and-one-half feet in width, with two wings, each fifty-eight feet in length at either end thereof and projecting right angles from the front of the barracks. For several years after the barracks was finished, it was constantly filled with troops. On January 5, 1764, a band of persecuted Indians on their way from Philadelphia to New York under guidance of Moravian missionaries were lodged in the building overnight. In 1765, no use for the barracks then being apparent, the Legislature passed an act directing the Barrackmasters, William Clay and Abraham Hunt, to sell the furnishings at public sale and rent the buildings. The venture was not too successful, as more money was spent in repairs than was received in rental. During the Revolution, the barracks was used for many purposes. For two weeks before the Battle of Trenton, a party of English Dragoons and some fifty Hessians occupied the building, with large number of Tory refugees from Burlington and Monmouth Counties. After the Battle of Trenton, the barracks was occupied by the American militia, and until 1781 various detachments of American troops passing through Trenton were sheltered there. In 1782, the barracks was used as a hospital for about six hundred invalid and sick soldiers from Yorktown, Virginia. For several years after the close of the Revolution, the building was again unused. On January 1, 1786, it was sold by Moore Furman, Commissioner for the State to William Ogden and William Patterson, for three thousand two hundred and sixty pounds. In 1792, it was again sold, and plans were made by a group of associated citizens to convert the building into dwellings. When Front Street was extended from Willow Street to the State House, a portion of the structure was demolished to accommodate the lengthening of that thoroughfare. This left the north wing standing on one side of the street and the south wing and a part of the main structure on the other. The north wing was converted into three residences. The porches were removed from the other section, and subsequently it was purchased and occupied by the "Trenton Society for the Relief of Respectable Aged and Indigent Widows and Single Women" for nearly half a century. When the Society moved to its new home on Spring Street in 1902, this part of the Old Barracks, often called "White Hall," was put up for sale. To keep it from passing into the hands of speculators or contractors, and save it from destruction, some of the patriotic ladies of Trenton formed a committee headed by Mrs. Beulah A. Oliphant, assisted by Mrs. Cornelius Hook, Mrs. James B. Breese, Mrs. Washington A. Roebling and Mrs. William S. Stryker, who by great effort, raised a fund and purchased the property which they maintained as the Old Barracks. On June 13, 1902, the Old Barracks Association was formed, and this organization has been graciously continued by the State as managers and custodians of the Barracks as an historical landmark and repository forever. Later the north wing was purchased and the work of restoration begun. Wilbur F. Sadler, Jr., Adjutant General of New Jersey and Chancellor Edwin Robert Walker, were both prominently identified with this work.
In 1914, the restoration was completed and the Old Barracks Association deeded its property to the State of New Jersey in order to insure its perpetual care and preservation, with the proviso that the control and management of the property would remain with the Association. In addition to its memories of Colonial and Revolutionary clays, the Barracks has other associations worthy of mention. Among the occupants who lived in the officers’ quarters, after it was made into a residence, were Mr. and Mrs. David Johnston, whose daughters, Emmeline and Mary, conducted a private school there for a number of years. The following extract from an unsigned article published some years ago in the Sunday Times-Advertiser gives a picture oh this place of learning: "In a corner there was a dunce stool, and downstairs in the kitchen, near the pump hung a rag with which Katie, the housemaid, swabbed the mouths of boys the Misses Johnston had overheard uttering ‘darn it’ and ‘gosh’ and ‘gee’ and other such horrible words. Dear Katie, she was a sympathetic soul and when a bad boy cried as he saw her soaping the swab, she, too, generally dropped a tear, at the same time declaring she didn't like the job she bad on hand but must obey orders. When the switch was used it was Miss Mary who was on its stouter end, and as a rule the boy upon whom it was used had done something awful-like holding one of Beade’s terrible dime novels, with a yellow cover, inside his geography, and in the deeds of Rattlesnake Bill, or some other hero of the plains, becoming so interested that he failed to observe the teacher leave her little platform after which she would tip-toe along the wall execute a flank movement grab the novel and throw it into the stove, march the culprit forward, give him a trouncing, then sentence him to the dunce stool for the remainder of the day." THE OLD BARRACKS TODAY
The Old Barracks, with the exception of a part of the main section, stands today practically the same as when it was originally erected in 1758. Together with the Old Masonic Lodge, erected 1793, at the foot of Willow Street, and the Douglass House, in which Washington held his famous Council of War the night before the Second Battle of Trenton, January 2, 1777, in Mahlon Stacy Park. the Barracks forms Trenton’s famous historic triangle. The Barracks is furnished throughout in the style of the period and the collection includes many rare pieces of furniture. Old prints representing phases of Trenton’s Revolutionary history adorn the walls. It is a refreshing place of seclusion where the quaint charm of Colonial days awaits the visitor. The upper floor of the officers’ quarters, known as the "Armory," is devoted to a museum. Here on display is the Ernest R. Ackerman collection of Continental currency and many other objects of Colonial and Revolutionary days. One of the outstanding pieces in this room is a segment of the original arch under which General Washington passed at Trenton in 1789, while enroute to New York City to be inaugurated the first President of the United States. General Lafayette, on his farewell visit to the United States in 1824, passed under the same arch which was re-erected in his honor at the gate of the State House. Under the eaves of the officers’ quarters on the wall facing Willow Street is a porcelain reproduction of the Great Seal of the Colony of New Jersey. This seal occupies a niche or circular opening, |
In
1865, Dr. Quick’s home was purchased by the Roman Catholics
as the site of a new church and in 1866, Father Anthony Smith,
of St. John’s Church at Market and Lamberton Streets, began
the building of St. Marys Church, of which he became the first
pastor. The site was marked by a brass tablet reciting the fact
that Colonel Rall died in his headquarters in the Potts House,
December 27, 1776. Exhaustive research by Dr. Carlos Godfrey, well-known
Trenton historian, led the New Jersey Society, Sons of the Revolution,
to recommend an amendment to the original inscription, stating
that the dwelling was from November 30, 1784 to January 5. 1785,
the official residence of Richard Henry Lee, President of the Continental
Congress, then in session in Trenton. A handsome bronze tablet,
three feet in width by four feet in depth, was accordingly unveiled
on February 22, 1919, during the annual meeting of the Society,
held in Trenton.
