NORTH WARD HISTORIC
RESOURCE SURVEY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
SURVEY AREAS/COMMUNITIES:
HISTORIC DISTRICTS & WATERFRONT
(click on this North Ward map for a larger image)
INTRODUCTION
Preservation,
the alternative to the destruction and disfiguration of our community’s older
structures, provides the key to our city’s successful revitalization. Looking
closely at the buildings that surround us, we see their irreplaceable richness
and variety. These qualities give older structures their value and significance.
Throughout history, the character of buildings has
changed, reflecting the taste, technology and culture of their times. As our
lifestyle changes, these physical mementos of bygone eras acquire added importance
making them worthy of preservation.
Preservation, therefore, does not only apply to a few
isolated monuments, but to an increasingly broad spectrum of buildings that
constitute our environment. We must value our more recent heritage and insure
its preservation for future generations.
Preservation addresses a variety of other factors.
Is the building representative of the period in which it was constructed?
Is it in some way especially unique or advanced? Does it contain any ornamentation
or detailed craftsmanship that would be irreplaceable today? Does the individual
building play a supportive role contributing to the streetscape? Preservation
used as a planning strategy can help define groups of significant buildings
or districts, such as Mill Hill and the State House Historic Districts; the
identified areas can form the basis of a neighborhood revitalization effort.
The survey is the foundation of ongoing preservation
activity. It identifies and examines buildings of architectural merit worthy
of preservation. This booklet is the result of the city’s survey of the North
Ward. Combining traditional history with the physical artifacts of that history,
the booklet studies each of the North Ward’s historical communities providing
a background narrative accompanied by a listing of significant buildings.
A more detailed description and statement of significance for these structures
is in the companion handbooks.
HISTORIC DISTRICTS AND RIVERFRONT
The
existing Academy-Hanover Historic District, and the parts of the State House
and Mill Hill Historic Districts which lie in the North Ward have already
been surveyed and have received only cursory consideration in this survey.
Land along the Delaware River south of the State House Historic District has
been considered independently of any other area.
The Academy-Hanover Historic District consists of one
of Trenton’s oldest residential neighborhoods. It includes the east-west streets
of East Hanover, laid out about 1735, Academy, laid out about 1774, and Perry,
laid out in 1814. Although development began as early as the mid-eighteenth
century, growth was slow until the opening of Perry Street - which quickly
became more populous than the older streets. Perry Street served as the important
link between Warren Street and the Millham Road
and acquired a partial commercial character. East Hanover Street, adjacent
to the downtown, became popular for professional offices. An industrial zone
developed at the eastern edge of the neighborhood along the canal. For the
most part, however, the area has always been residential. Great growth in
population and housing occurred between 1850 and 1880 when nearly all lots
were developed.
Notable institutions have been founded and have flourished
within the district boundaries. The Trenton Academy preparatory school (1782-1884)
and the Joseph Wood Public School (1857-1932) were two of Trenton’s premier
educational institutions. They have been replaced by the building of the Trenton
Free Public Library. Trenton’s earliest “church,” the Friend’s Meeting House
on East Hanover Street still stands (1739 with alterations). The First Methodist,
Central Baptist and Trinity Episcopal Churches were at one time located in
the neighborhood.
Mid-nineteenth century Perry Street was a focus of
Trenton’s small black community. Mount Zion A.M.E. Church, founded in 1816
on the present site, is Trenton’s oldest black organization. A sizeable Jewish
community was active in the area.
The neighborhood retains its original character with
residential streets lined largely with brick row houses - interrupted by a
few more high-style homes, small office and commercial buildings, and institutional
structures. Few of the buildings are notable solely on their own merits. But
the totality constitutes a representative mixed-class neighborhood of the
nineteenth century. Although in need of revitalization, the Academy-Hanover
Historic District remains one of Trenton’s oldest and most ethnically and
physically diverse neighborhoods.
The State House Historic District includes structures
on Willow Street and on West State Street, from Willow Street extending a
short distance into the West Ward beyond Calhoun Street. The first ironworks
in New Jersey (established by Benjamin Yard), and the Old Barracks and Old
Masonic Hall were located in the area before the end of the eighteenth century.
The construction of the New Jersey State House on an extension of Second Street
(State) in 1791 ensured further development. South Willow Street acquired
a cluster of institutional buildings, while West State Street developed toward
the west throughout the nineteenth century as Trenton’s most fashionable residential
street.
Early homes were modest; but this district is a rare
instance of residential redevelopment in Trenton as the original houses were
often replaced by more pretentious structures. In its present manifestation,
West State Street contains worthy buildings representing nearly every significant
nineteenth century architectural style. The more outstanding houses are the
Greek Revival Joseph Wood House, the Italianate Contemporary Club, and the
Romanesque Roebling Row. These are all closely set townhouse-type structures.
(A series of freestanding deeply set back mansions formerly stood on the south
side of the street. These have all been demolished.)
The State House, though repeatedly altered and expanded,
is the country’s second oldest state capital still in use, dominating the
street with its curious nearly freestanding golden dome.
At the corner of West State Street and South Willow
Street is the Kelsey Building, an individualistic Italianate essay originally
designed for the School of Industrial Arts by Cass Gilbert. It features excellent
terra cotta tile and metal work and a tile roof. The monumental Beaux Arts
1929 Masonic Temple and War Memorial Building face South Willow Street in
counterpoint to the eighteenth century Old Barracks and Old Masonic Hall.
Land between the State House Historic District and
the Delaware River lies apart from North Ward neighborhoods and historic districts.
In the eighteenth century, this land was traversed by the stream known as
Petit’s Run, becoming Trenton’s first industrial
district with establishments such as Stacy Pott’s
steelworks. The opening of the “Sanhican Creek”
water power raceway parallel to the river spawned further industrial growth.
Industry remained in the area well into the twentieth century, as did the
swampy riverfront lowlands which comprised much of the remaining acreage.
In 1911, efforts to develop the area as a riverfront
park began with the construction of a retaining wall and landscaping. The
eventual result was Mahlon Stacy Park. The park,
with its trees, paths, and concert bandshell became
popular with Trentonians as a pleasure ground for
strolling and entertainment. In recent years, the row of mansions which faced
West State Street has been replaced by the New Jersey State Cultural Center.
At the very southwestern edge of the North Ward, the
Calhoun Street Bridge crosses the Delaware River. Erected in 1885 by the Trenton
City Bridge Company, the Calhoun Street bridge is a rare surviving example
of a long Pratt truss bridge. It is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. With the exception of Roebling’s Lackawaxen Aqueduct, it is the oldest bridge spanning the
Delaware River.
A small portion of the Mill Hill Historic District
lies in the North Ward, while the remainder is in the South Ward. The area
in question lies just north of the Assunpink Creek between South Broad and
South Stockton Streets. Mahlon Stacy’s original
mill was in the vicinity, and the Second Battle of Trenton was fought over
the Broad Street bridge over the Assunpink. A narrow seam between the Downtown
and the Mill Hill Mercer-Jackson Streets neighborhood, the area has no particularly
significant community identity of its own.
This small strip along Front Street is now divided
from the Downtown by parking lots and linked to Mill Hill by the park along
the creek. It includes noteworthy structures such as the oft-moved eighteenth
century Douglas House, the former Lutheran Church of Our Saviour,
presently adaptively reused as the Mill Hill Community Playhouse, distinctive
townhouses of a number of eclectic stylistic variations, contemporary housing
for the elderly, and a monumental statue of George Washington.
DOWNTOWN
History &
Development
All
of Trenton was contained in the
downtown area during the eighteenth century. Open land, farms, and woodland
surrounded this compact village. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the history
and development of Downtown was nearly synonymous with the history and development
of Trenton itself.
In
1748, Peter Kalm, a visitor from Sweden, described
the town as follows:
“October the 28th. Trenton is a long narrow town
. . . It has small churches. The houses are partly built of stone, though
most of them are made of wood planks, commonly two stories high, together
with a cellar below the building, and a kitchen under ground, close to the
cellar. These houses stand at a moderate distance from one another. They are
commonly built so that the street passes along one side of the houses, while
gardens with different dimensions bound the other side . . . Our landlord
told us that twenty-two years ago, when he settled here, there was hardly
more than one house; but from that time Trenton has increased so much that
there are at present near a hundred houses.” 1
As Kalm’s diary indicates,
houses comprised the largest share of the building stock. A small enclave
of simplified Federal and Italianate row houses along Peace Street and Lafayette
Street (#39, #40) still retains a residential character. In most of the downtown
area, however, houses were gradually replaced or converted to non-residential
uses, especially as the ground floors gave way to storefronts. The Federal
and Italianate structures lining Warren Street between Front and Lafayette
Streets (#52, #54) are perhaps most representative of this phenomenon. A few
blocks north, the imposing Centennial Row (#48) on North Broad Street is a
prominent late nineteenth century example of more elaborate Italianate residences.
2
Change has steadily continued, and downtown is the
only section of Trenton where it is not uncommon for a given parcel of land
to have supported more than one generation of structures. Until the mid-nineteenth
century, the downtown remained a mix of residential, commercial, institutional
and some industrial uses. Trenton’s buildings have evolved through the years
reflecting the dynamic nature of the downtown’s social, institutional and
commercial life.
Transportation
Transportation
was one of the single most powerful factors giving direction to the City’s
growth. In the early eighteenth century, Trenton served as an important transportation
center with stage service between Trenton and Philadelphia; service to New
Brunswick and New York followed shortly thereafter. Initially, the stage route
ran directly through town on Queen Street, which later became known as Greene
Street and finally Broad Street. By the late eighteenth century, however,
the route had been altered; drivers turned west at Second Street (State Street)
and then north on King Street (Warren Street) 3
This new route established a new axis of urban development marked by taverns
and inns, churches, the county courthouse, leading businesses, and the town
street market. 4 However, by the mid-nineteenth
century, Queen Street (Broad Street) had begun to surpass King Street (Warren
Street) in importance, becoming the City’s principal street. At the turn of
the century, State Street became the City’s main business street. As transportation
developed technologically, it had a dramatic influence on the City’s growth.
The development of canals, railroads and street-cars, and the dispersal of
industry and population that resulted, transformed downtown almost entirely
into a commercial and institutional center.
Social Life
Prior
to this more sophisticated, urban life-style, the village was a major crossroads
with many taverns and inns catering to travelers and residents. Village life
revolved around taverns as well as the market place, churches, fraternal organizations,
and theater.
The taverns and inns offered food, drink, and fellowship,
providing ideal meeting places. In 1784, at the French Arms Tavern at King
and Second Streets, Congress met to deliberate naming Trenton the capital
city of the nation. Trenton served only briefly as the presidential and cabinet
seat for John Adams. The French Arms and later the Sign of the Golden Swan
were each, for a time, Trenton’s most suitable place for large gatherings.
Other popularly frequented institutions included the Rising Sun, the Indian
King, the Phoenix Hotel, and the City Hotel, all on King Street (Warren Street).
Today, the Trenton House (#59), the American Hotel (#60), and the Sign of
the Golden Swan (#55) remain standing. A Federal style building originally
built probably as a residence in 1815 served as the Golden Swan Tavern between
1826 and 1855. It then served as newspaper offices of the True American, predecessor to the Trenton Times, and is presently a custom tailor shop. At the corner
of North Warren and Hanover Streets, the American Hotel, dating from 1847,
has accommodated such luminaries as President James K. Polk and Daniel Webster.
One of the country’s most historic hotels, the Trenton House stands across
the street. The Tremont House (#7), built in 1847 at the corner of East State
and Canal Streets, served travelers on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
For
Trentonians, day to day activity revolved around
the street market place. Complete with whipping post, stocks and town pump,
it was a favorite place for meeting friends and hearing the latest gossip.
An early nineteenth century observer wrote in the State
Gazette:
“A Saturday night in Trenton seems to be particularly appropriate to promenading
. . . seven hundred and fourteen persons passed the corner of Warren and Second
(State) from 8 o’clock to 10 last Saturday night. Some with a lady on each
arm; others admirably paired off, and hundreds were promenading single handed
and alone. The industrious mechanic, with his neatly dressed wife - on one
arm, and a capacious market basket on the other - making his purchases . .
. .” 5
Besides good conversation and comraderie,
the market stalls offered a wide choice of provisions. Commercial activity
began in shops like that of gunsmith John Fitch,
who later was to launch the first successful steamboat. His shop was located
on King Street (Warren Street), as was the general provisions store of the
leading merchant, Abraham Hunt. 6
The churches, likewise, provided fellowship and served
as meeting places. Prominent churches included St. Michael’s Episcopal (#65)
“The English Church” 1784, the First Presbyterian Church (#23) 1728, the First
Methodist (#41), St. Mary’s Cathedral (#69), and St. Francis Roman Catholic
Church (#36). While these congregations still have prominent buildings in
the downtown, only St. Michael’s remains in its original building, although
in a much altered form. St. Michael’s Church on North Warren Street was originally
constructed in 1748, and subsequently rebuilt a number of times. 7
The present facade, dating from 1851, is a fine and rare example of a castellated Gothic Revival design. The Classical Revival First
Presbyterian Church on East State Street (#23) dates from 1841. Both churches
have flanking churchyards with gravestones dating from the eighteenth century.
The daughter of Joseph Bonaparte is buried at St.
Michael’s; Colonel Rall and a handful of Hessians, and the first three mayors of Trenton are buried
at the First Presbyterian. The brownstone former Third Presbyterian Church
on North Warren Street was built in 1850 (#67); the St. Francis Roman Catholic
Church building now sheathed with permastone, dates
from 1841 (#30); the Romanesque First Methodist Church, a tall tile-faced
building with Gothic detailing, dates from 1894 (#41).
Fraternal organizations also built prominent structures and contributed much to community life. The Masons, in particular, played a distinguished role in Trenton social and political life. Organizations such as the Elks (#62) and the Eagles (#65) established downtown lodges. The Elks Lodge is a romantic extravaganza of brick and stone with geometric tile inlays.
Theaters also emerged as a new focus of social life
and entertainment during this period. The first large theatrical hall, the
Taylor Opera House, opened in 1867; it became known for its vaudeville performances.
Other halls followed, leading to extravagant movie “palaces” such as “The
Trent” and “The Lincoln.”
Along
with social activities, a number of both private and public institutions emerged
as an integral part of downtown Trenton.
In 1719, Trenton became the county seat of Hunterdon County. Mercer County was created out of Hunterdon and a portion of Burlington Counties. The town’s
primary institutional building was the Hunterdon
County Courthouse and Jail on King Street (Warren Street), built in 1730 (#56).
In 1753 the townspeople saw construction completed on the first post office,
also on King Street (Warren Street), and a school on Second Street (State
Street).
Trenton’s first City Hall (#42) built in 1836, holds
a particular interest because of its metamorphosis. 8
Originally designed in the Federal Style, a French Second Empire mansard
roof and clock tower as well as new fenestration and brick cladding were the
results of a late nineteenth century remodeling. In its present form, the
building stands without its tower while the upper floors’ fenestration has
given way to tall glass block panels. The first floor has been totally rebuilt.
During the late nineteenth century downtown Trenton also became a banking center. In fact, banks now assert the most commanding physical presence in the area, characterized by the dignified, stolid presence of a series of Classical/Beaux Arts structures. This academic style provided an appropriate iconography for banks, the financial pillars of the community. The greatest flourish of this style appears in the Trenton Savings Fund Society (#19) at 123 East State Street.
The monumental New Jersey National Bank building (#30),
originally the First Mechanics National Bank, is located at the corner of
West State and South Warren Streets. A prime example of downtown’s continuous
evolution, this structure is on the site of three generations of bank buildings.
9 Originally this corner was the site of
the French Arms Tavern.
Neo-Classically detailed office towers above the
main banking halls represent another type of bank structure. These office
towers, downtown’s tallest and most ambitious buildings, are often topped
by massive advertising signs (#15, #35).
Downtown Today
Today,
the physical character of eighteenth and nineteenth century downtown is most
evident and best preserved on Warren Street. South Warren Street (#30, #52,
#54, #55, #56) and North Warren Street between State and Bank-Perry Streets
(#29, #57 through #69) boast architecturally varied streetscapes including
churches (#65, #67, #69), former inns and hotels (#55, #59, #60), noteworthy
Italianate commercial buildings (#30, #52, #54, #57, #63,
#64, #66) and Trenton’s most significant pressed metal facade at the True
American Building (#58).
The mid-nineteenth century shift of preeminence from
Warren Street to Broad Street is marked by buildings such as the large four
story Italianate commercial structure bearing an
1856 datestone (#43).
Today, downtown commercial activity focuses around
a two block pedestrian mall located on East State Street flanking Broad Street.
The Commons contains a number of notable architectural compositions. At 9
East State Street (#25) a Victorian pressed metal ornamental facade dated
1896 is dominated by a more recent, yet significant porcelain enamel and neon
Flagg Brothers Sign.
Across
the street the McDonald’s facade at 12-14 (#28), combines Art Deco and Classical
motifs forming a uniquely modern composition. Once a Horn and Hardart this building has housed two generations of fast food
establishments. The Commons also includes a simple Art Deco Woolworth’s (#20)
as well as the quietly modernistic Kresge Store
(#21).
Although the street markets, the town pump, and the
whipping posts have disappeared, the Commons possesses a special character
all its own and provides the public with numerous shops.
1 Turk, “Trenton, New Jersey in the Nineteenth Century;”
p. 60.
2 Centennial Row was erected by the Rev. Anthony Smith,
a priest at St. Mary’s Cathedral. See Walker, et. al., A History
of Trenton, pp. 324-325.
3 Turk, “Trenton, New Jersey in the Nineteenth Century;”
p. 44.
4 Harry J. Podmore “The Historic
Five Points in Trenton;” The Silent
Worker, Vol. 33, no. 2, November, 1924, p. 55.
5 Harry J. Podmore, Trenton Old and New (Trenton: Trenton Tercentenary
Commission, 1964), p. 84.
6 Walker, et. al., A History of Trenton, pp. 107-108.
7 Hamilton A. Schuyler, A History of St. Michael’s Church, (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1926).
8 Podmore, Trenton Old and New, pp. 94-101.
9 Podmore, Trenton Old and New, pp. 59-64.
FIVE POINTS
The
Five Points area focuses on the star-shaped configuration created by the convergence
of five streets: Princeton, Pennington, and Brunswick
Avenues and North Warren and North Broad Streets.
An
entrance point to the City for most of Trenton’s early history, it functioned
as both gateway and community, dating back to the eighteenth century when
King (North Warren) and Queen (North Broad) Streets were first laid out to
converge north of the town leading to New Brunswick, Pennington,
and Princeton. Historian Harry J. Podmore relates
that, “Under the influence of traffic there came into existence at this gateway
a little community with its quaint dwellings, taverns and shops. It became
a little mart in itself:” 1 Furthermore:
“Through these highways came the early Dutch trader with his heavy pack,
the stagecoach and lumbering freight wagon, the travelling showman and magician,
the road circus and the postrider with the momentus news that patriot blood had been shed on the village
green at Lexington and that Cornwallis had surrendered
of Yorktown.” 2
The American Revolution
Five
Points saw more of the Revolution than just a postrider
proclaiming news of the most recent battle. When the Continental forces made
their surprise river crossing and early morning attack on the complacent Hessions at Trenton, General Washington and Major General
Greene and his troops marched down Pennington Road
and hurriedly set up six cannons at Five Points. From this vantage point,
artillerymen directed fire down both King and Queen Streets
toward the Hessians stationed in the center of town.
Meanwhile, General Washington surveyed the scene from an elevated field beside
Beake’s Lane (Princeton Avenue at Fountain Avenue). The Hessians, unable to offer much organized resistance, withdrew
to “The Swamp;” an area east of Montgomery Street; here they surrendered.
3 To commemorate the First Battle of Trenton
on the strategic site where Continental cannons were stationed, a monument
was constructed and dedicated with much fanfare in 1893. The Battle Monument,
(#108) designed by John H. Duncan, F.A.I.A., the architect of Grant’s Tomb,
is a one hundred fifty foot high Roman Doric column set on a large pedestal
with bronze reliefs surmounted by an observation
platform capped by a statue of Washington. The Battle Monument remains one
of the City’s most imposing landmarks, anchoring the Five Points intersection
and providing a focus for the North 25 Park.
At the same time of the Revolution, Five Points was
already considered a small community. The house of Continental soldier Thomas
Case, the Lamb Tavern, and the Sign of the Fox tavern, as well as other structures
were located in the immediate vicinity. 4
Other shops and dwellings quickly appeared, erected on North Warren and North
Broad Streets above Perry Street, connecting central Trenton with the Five
Points community.
Manufacturing: Artisans to
Industry
In
the nineteenth century, the immediate Five Points vicinity evolved as a center
for artisans. The Thomas Case house, at the fork of North Warren and North
Broad Streets, became a blacksmith shop, and was later replaced by the Valentine
Carriage and Wagon Works. A coffin maker and tin shop were located on North
Warren Street and a wheelwright and blacksmith shop on Pennington Avenue specialized in wagon bodies for nearby brickyards.
5
Early small scale industries concentrated south of
Five Points including a pottery to the rear of Lamb’s Tavern, a tannery above
Bank Street and a stone mill in “Honey Hollow” (east of North Willow Street
by the Belvidere Division railroad). This mill was
known as the “Coffee House” and was utilized for grinding spice and roasting
coffee. A millpond on Petit’s Run supplied a conduit
which turned a paddle wheel which, in turn, powered the mill. Later, however,
horse power was utilized with a “sweep,” which proved an irresistible temptation
to neighborhood boys for taking a ride. 6
However, as late as 1850, the Five Points area was surrounded to the north
and to the west by open farm country and meandering livestock.
Among the later industries was The Fitzgibbons and Crisp Union Carriage Works (#77) established
on Bank Street in 1868. The firm, housed in three and four story brick structures,
was for many years a large producer of carriages, horse drawn trolley cars,
and finally truck and automobiles bodies. The company, which exhibited at
the Centennial Exhibition, was described as “one of the most complete” manufacturers
of its kind in the country, ranking with the “great wagon manufacturers of
the Northwest.” 7
Because Five Points functioned as a commercial and
popular gateway to Trenton from the start, it was only natural that construction
of railroads with their freight and passenger depots near North Warren Street
ensued. The Belvidere-Del aware Railroad (later
the Pennsylvania Railroad line) was constructed in 1852; the Delaware and
Bound Brook Railroad branch (later a Reading Company line) followed in 1876.
Twelve years later the Philadelphia and Reading Freight Terminal (#143) was
constructed serving the industry established in this area. The Terminal, a
long elegant brick structure with a distinctive two story gable and office
wing is the sole surviving nineteenth century railroad terminal in Trenton.
As part of the North 25 Redevelopment area, it is being adaptively reused
as a senior citizen center.
Residential Development
Land
association and private developers subdivided land in the area in the second
half of the nineteenth century. Harriet Wilkinson, for instance, whose son
Ogden later became active in real estate development throughout Trenton, subdivided
land along Rose Street and Fountain Avenue. Actual development usually involved
individual lots and small tracts.
Generally, side streets feature densely-sited small,
attached vernacular houses, while main streets such as North Warren Street,
and Brunswick, Princeton and Pennington Avenues
contain clusters of more sophisticated freestanding twin and row houses.
The most notable house on Princeton Avenue is the Fell
homestead (#136) a showcase of brickwork created for Trenton’s leading brickmaking family. Both the Queen Anne main house with its
cross gables and two-tier corner porch, and the extraordinary outbuilding
behind (#137), display elaborate brick and terra cotta ornamentation. The
Fells built the sprawling Queen Anne twins at 144-154 Pennington
Avenue (#152, #154, #155) in a variation of the style of their own home. 8
The richest collection of residential structures in
the Five Points area is on North Warren Street above Perry Street (#81‑#90).
These homes lined the important approach from Five Points along Warren Street
into the downtown. Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen
Anne, Neo-Renaissance, and other vernacular variations are represented. The
large freestanding house at 221 North Warren Street (#80) was built in 1813
by Robert McNeely, mayor of Trenton from 1814 to
1832. A quite substantial house for the period, its simple Federal lines were
“embellished” with Colonial Revival and Italianate
details when remodeled in 1915. 9 The east-west connecting streets
between Calhoun Street and Princeton Avenue, including
Fountain (#170-#171) and Sweets Avenues (#166-#169) feature randomly intermixed,
simple vernacular Greek Revival/Italianate, and
Italianate/Gothic houses. These streets are so long
and narrow that even the small two and three story houses create a modest
“canyon effect.”
The foremost rowhouse groups
are 612-626 (#141) Princeton Avenue, with dormers and unusual cutout detailing
and a quite different group at 116-124 Brunswick Avenue (#110) with orange
brickwork and contrasting brownstone trim.
On Brunswick Avenue opposite Cavell
Street a residential cluster of more high style character and variety includes
a freestanding Second Empire structure at 194, (#120) a pre-1850 Greek Revival
twin at 184-186 (#117) (an Italianate third floor
has been added at 186), an Italianate townhouse
at 182, (#117) and a large eclectic rusticated-brick house at 178 (#118) featuring
stepped gables and rounded bays, and brownstone, pressed metal, wood and wrought
iron detailing.
Community Institutions
During
its history, many different ethnic groups have inhabited the Five Points area
and maintained community institutions. During the eighteenth century the English
settled the area. As the area developed, Five Points was settled by Blacks
in the area east of Montgomery Street, (known as “the Swamp”) and by Irish
in the vicinity of Bond Street.
The communities maintained a vital volunteer fire department,
the Harmony Volunteer Fire Department Company located on Tucker Street. Five
Points also supported an Orthopaedic Hospital housed
in several locations before construction of a building on Brunswick Avenue
in the early twentieth century. This simple yet formal Art Deco building on
Brunswick Avenue (#121) was erected on the site of the Charles May Mansion
which had been adapted to serve as a hospital.
The
Orthopaedic Hospital’s services were later merged
with Mercer Hospital. The Lincoln Public School (#107), a handsome Mediterranean
adaptation of the Romanesque style was built expressly for black children
in 1924.
The community also built several churches. The Fifth
Presbyterian Church (#131) on Princeton Avenue, a picturesque Victorian Gothic
complex, has become the Galilee Baptist Church. Our Lady of Divine Shepherd
(#149), a granite Neo-Classical structure on Pennington
Avenue, was originally constructed as a lodge.
Notes
1 Podmore,
“The Historic Five Points in Trenton.”
2 Podmore,
Trenton Old and New, p. 11.
3 Walker, et. al., A History of Trenton, pp. 149-166.
4 Podmore,
Trenton Old and New, pp. 9-15.
5 Harry
J. Podmore, “Head of Town,” State Gazette, January 26, 1910.
6 Harry
J. Podmore, “Head of Town,” State Gazette, March 29, 1920.
7 Department
of Planning and Development, City of Trenton, An
Inventory of Historic
8 Land
Development Map; “Trenton in Bygone Days;” Trenton
Sunday Times-Advertiser,
9 Vertical
File: Fraternal Organizations - Knights of Columbus, (Trentoniana
Collection,
SPRING AND WILLOW
The
Spring-Willow Street area was quite rural during the Revolutionary War period.
Its leading street, River Road, now supplanted by Hanover Street, was a mere
country lane through the woods. However, the area did play an important role
in the Battle of Trenton when General Sullivan of the Continental Army marched
through it on Pennington Road and Willow Street,
forcing the Hessians into crossfire from the Continental
Army’s positions in the adjacent Five Points area. 1
After the Revolution, in 1790, Trenton was named the
state capital, and during this period, several streets, including West State
Street, were laid out. Calhoun Lane was also created
on a north-south line from Pennington Road to Beatty’s Ferry on the Delaware River, providing a link to
Pennsylvania.
With
the establishment of State Street, River Road became a primary route for the
local construction industry which transported the stone quarried amid farms
and open land west of Willow Street. Because of its direct route and proximity
to the quarries, by the mid nineteenth century, River Road became known as
Quarry Street (later West Hanover). The “flinty grey
stone” quarried was used originally for such structures as the Old Barracks
and the building at 48-50 Passaic Street (#191), the oldest building in the
Spring-Willow area. 2 Now divided as three
dwelling units, it was originally a barn, and probably dates from the days
of land ownership of the Higbee family. Built of stone, and sited on a hillside, the
structure had a stable entrance on the downhill side, as well as a carriage
entrance at the second floor. Defined by Calhoun
and North Willow Streets, the open fields in which the barn stood were divided
from east to west by the canal feeders, railroads and streets.
During the early nineteenth century, commercial activity
shifted from actual quarrying to stone cutting and dressing. By 1834, construction
of the navigable Delaware and Raritan Canal Feeder
facilitated shipments from the outlying quarries to the Quarry Street stone
yards. John Grant operated the foremost yard on a large tract north of Quarry
Street (West Hanover), adjacent to the canal feeder. Brownstone was quarried
near Wilburtha and transported by canal to the Grant
stone yard, where it was cut, dressed and sold for construction throughout
Trenton and elsewhere. At the peak of operations, the Grant yard handled.
thousands of tons of stone at a time, utilizing its own fleet of canal and
river barges. 3 The feeder also served as
a location for other industries including the Star Chain Works and the Blackfan
and Wilkinson coal and lumber yards.
The advent of the railroads in 1852 and 1876 resulted
in two east-west right-of-ways and additional industrial development north
of Quarry Street. Both railroads have been largely removed leaving a narrow
grassy depression between Belvidere and Summer Streets
and open land which has been redeveloped as the North 25 housing project (#227).
A remnant of the days of railroad and industry is the former Wilson &
Co. meat distribution building at 283 North Willow Street (#229), which sports
a carved bull’s head projecting from the facade.
Residential Development
In
the middle and late nineteenth century, residential development occurred in
the area. Prior to such development, many canal boats wintered in the basin
at the Blackfan and Wilkinson yard, and the captains and their families
often lived aboard the ships through the winter. By the mid 1800’s, east-west
residential streets were created. Many land subdivisions also were registered
in the 1850’s by S.M. and Charles Higbee. The street
which bore the name of these developers was later changed to Bellevue Avenue.
The Wilkinson family also made reinvestments in the
area’s residential development. They developed part of the modest eastern
end of Spring Street in the 1860’s, while the western end experienced more
high style development. John Cleary’s essay “Trenton
Caught Building Lot Fever in Early ‘70’s . . .” quotes from an 1871 State
Gazette: “Although the growth of the
city appears to be eastward and
southeast, yet there are few handsomer
locations than are to be found in
all this section (Spring Street) of the city.” 4
Many houses were reported “going up” on Spring Street, and the presence of
a sidewalk on the northern side between Fowler and Calhoun
Streets received special comment. Fundamentally simple buildings given a unique
elegance by their groupings and fine detailing lined this area’s streets,
with more extravagant homes an exception.
Residential development was further stimulated by the
appearance of trolley lines on West Hanover and North Willow Streets, and
finally on Spring Street in 1885.
Spring and West Hanover Streets are still among two
of the most distinctive residential streets in the North Ward. The eastern
end of Spring Street is lined with simple vernacular, freestanding and attached
frame houses (#195-#199). A slight cant in the street marks a change in character
as large Second Empire and Neo‑Renaissance structures face each other
(#200-#210). Further west, a collection of nine elegant Second Empire twins
represents variations on a theme (#211); their bracketed entry ways topped
by gracefully curving, projecting roofs, and the corresponding mansard roofs
supported by paired brackets unify the composition. The usually simple Trenton
Italianate/Gothic twins at 96-98 (#207) share a
similar quality of the more elaborate Second Empire Twins by having wood ornamentation
in the form of pedimented window and doorway hoods,
an entryway with doubly recessed reveals and vine-like bargeboards. An imposing Queen Anne structure with a projecting
turret elegantly punctuates the corner of Spring and Calhoun Streets (#212).
West Hanover Street features handsome but very plain
Italianate/Gothic twins and has numerous clusters
of rowhouses. Adjacent to the former site of the Grant stone
yard, houses at 193-211, 204-208 (#177) and 304-316 (#186) appropriately feature
a generous amount of brownstone which lends an air of solidity and permanence.
The picturesque rowhouses built by Ogden Wilkinson
on the north side at 138-160 West Hanover Street (#183) have been described
as “patterned after Elizabethan townhouses of the nineteenth century;” 5
the Germanic influence in the roof ornament also reflects the early twentieth
century trend of European styles popularization in the United States by returning
American tourists. Whatever their precise stylistic origin, the composition,
characterized by multi-colored patterned brick and flamboyant pressed-metal
cornices makes for a unique grouping.
In contrast to the relative high style of Spring Street
and the solidity and flamboyance of West Hanover Street, a few frame cottages
exhibit simpler techniques. The structure at 82-84 Bellevue Avenue (#224),
originally built as an ice skating clubhouse, 6
is a variation on the Victorian Cottage theme and is likely to have been pattern-book
derived. Its gently gabled roofline features gracefully curvelinear trim. The otherwise austere building is enlivened
by a wrap-around porch defined by unique three-stage square wooden posts.
Jigsawn vine-like bargeboards
edge the widely overhanging eaves on four sides. This is the oldest of four
structures in the immediate vicinity bearing this vine-like detailing, found
nowhere else in the North Ward. A worker’s cottage at 120 Calhoun
Street (#192) is representative of its type with jigsawn
balustrade and bargeboards.
By the turn of the twentieth century, business had
relocated and West Hanover Street reemerged as a residential street. Around
the corner at the site of the former Blackfin and
Wilkinson coal and lumber yard, Wilkinson later laid out Wilkinson Place (#188),
constructing forty-one row houses with apartment buildings (#187) flanking
the North Willow Street entrance. 7 Wilkinson
retained total control of the enclave. Instead of selling the houses, he rented
them; instead of dedicating the new street to the city, he maintained it as
a private court. A city ordinance providing that any private street open to
the public for twenty years become public property prompted Wilkinson to periodically
close the street. Eventually, problems with municipal services dictated his
deeding the street to the city.
Community Institutions
Although the Spring-Willow area was predominantly a white working class neighborhood until the twentieth century, the area’s significance to Trenton Blacks dates back to a much earlier period. In 1857, the Higbee Street (Bellevue Avenue) school (later known as the Nixon School) was constructed; it served as Trenton’s first school specifically intended for black children. This school building at 20 Bellevue Avenue (#223) is the North Ward’s finest example of a simple Greek Revival temple form structure. In addition, Shiloh Baptist Church, presently in a contemporary building on Calhoun Street (#216), organized prior to 1888, was housed in a building on Belvidere Street as early as 1897.
During the early twentieth century Black immigrants
began to settle in Trenton, and Black professionals located homes and doctor
offices on the western end of Spring Street. A 1929 article in the Sunday Times Advertiser noted that the
area was inhabited by Trenton’s middle and upper class Blacks. 8
During this period Blacks organized several additional
institutions to serve their newly increased community. St. Monica’s Mission for Colored People (Episcopal) was founded
in 1919 and subsequently established on Spring Street. The congregation later
merged with St. Michael’s.
In 1927 the Sunlight Elks Lodge I.B.P.O.E. erected
a large meeting hall at 40 Fowler Street (#217). Hosting such performers as
Cabs Calloway and Fats Waller, it doubled
as an entertainment center. A YMCA for Black youths was organized in 1927
and operated in various neighborhood buildings until it moved in 1944 into
the former Elks Lodge, rechristening it the “Carver
Center.” 9 The Center is presently operated
by the New Jersey State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs.
1 John J. Cleary,
“Trenton in Bygone Days: West Hanover Street Has Seen Many Changes. . . ,”
Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, July 17, 1960, (Trenton in Bygone Days, vol.
12, p. 122).
2 John J. Cleary,
“Passaic Street’s Revolutionary Landmark . . . ;’ Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, March 30, 1924, (Scrapbook of Trenton History, vol. 1, p. 47).
3 Cleary,
“Trenton in Bygone Days: West Hanover Street . . . .”
4 John J. Cleary,
“Trenton Caught Building Lot Fever in Early ‘70’s; Buyers Rallied for $4,000
Prize;’ Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser,
April 10, 1921, (Memorable Yesteryears
for Trenton, vol. 2, p. 88).
5 “Unusual Buildings Mirror
City’s Past;’ Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser,
November 8, 1964.
6 Harry J. Podmore, “Trenton in Bygone Days: Ice Skating Was Popular
Winter Sport Here At Close of Civil War. . . ;” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, January 2, 1955, (Trenton in Bygone Days, vol. 10, p. 95).
7 “Wilkinson Place Has Unique
Distinction - It’s the Only Private Street in City of Trenton;’ Trenton Times, July 7, 1952.
8 John J. Cleary,
“Trenton in Bygone Days;’ Trenton Sunday
Times-Advertiser, May 12, 1929, (Scrapbook
of Trenton History, vol. 3, p. 109).
9 Vertical File: YMCA-Carver
Branch, (Trentoniana Collection, Trenton Free Public
Library, Trenton, New Jersey).
COALPORT/NORTH CLINTON
The
Coalport/North Clinton Avenue neighborhood has been
an area of contrast throughout its history. Industry grew amidst verdant farmland,
while imposing mansions stood blocks away from brick rowhouses. The earliest eighteenth century development in
the open lands to the northeast of Trenton was an iron works established by
Samuel Henry along the Assunpink Creek near East
State Street. The area developed further when Charles Higbee
constructed a mansion surrounded by pastorale countryside,
shortly after the Revolution.
Throughout the nineteenth century, land subdivisions
were registered by land associations, such as the East Trenton Land Associations,
and by private individuals including Ion Perdicaris.
However, the canal and the railroads, rather than one person or group, helped
most to stimulate development. During the early 1830’s, the Delaware and Raritan Canal was constructed, separating this area of town
from downtown Trenton. In 1839, the Camden and Amboy
Railroad and Transportation Company laid tracks that followed the canal along
the east side tow path with a station at the crossing of East State Street
and the canal. 1 The railroad offered the
first through rail service linking Trenton with New York and Philadelphia.
Across from the Camden and Amboy
rail station on the south side of East State Street, on the site opposite
the present Federal Building (#234), many impressive homes, referred to as
“Cottages;” were built during the 1840’s for Trenton’s prominent families.
These similar but distinctive squarish homes with
Greek Revival detailing featured spacious lawns. Much later, in the early
years of this century, the homes were celebrated as “once Trenton’s swellest little colony of houses” 2
These buildings are no longer extant.
In 1849, land north of East State Street was subdivided
by J.M. Raymond, W.P Sherman and Thomas Cadwalder.
What could be Trenton’s first sale of building lots soon followed. Lots were
advertised as “Near the Canal and Railroad Depots.” The neighborhood which
took shape included Carroll, Ewing and Southard
Streets, south of Perry Street.
Carroll Street is lined with fifteen vernacular Second
Empire twins and structures of diverse Victorian derivation (#238-248). Six
irregular row houses at 20-30 Carroll Street (#242, #243, #244) are articulated
as twins, each twin featuring different window, porch and roof treatments.
Large inset marble blocks unite the composition. In the same vicinity, Southard
Street has Italianate twins (#257), an apartment
building with Romanesque arches (#256), and a small Greek Revival cottage
(#259).
In the 1850’s, residential development grew “into the
farm lands of Millham” when the Pennsylvania Railroad
built a second “depot” near the Assunpink Creek
at South Clinton Avenue (#265). Notable portions of the station, which was
rebuilt numerous times, include the cast iron columns and latticework hoods
of the train platforms, and the simple glazed white brick Art Deco towers.
3
The presence of the railroad station at the crossing
of South Clinton Avenue and the Assunpink Creek
also resulted in an area of specialized land use with a number of hotels in
the immediate vicinity. Hotel Penn (#263), the largest remaining is dominated
by an ornate broken pediment.
The dramatic role these railroad depots played in residential
development cannot be overstated. The growing cluster of neighborhoods including
properties on Carroll and Southard Streets in addition
to the more recently developed Yard Avenue, South Clinton Avenue, and East
State Street came to be referred to as the “Railroad Age” community. Houses
in this elite area were developed in groups so they possess similar architectural
qualities.
Yard Avenue has a split character with large Second
Empire twins on the north side (#272, #275, #277, #278), and three-story townhouses
on the south side (#272, #274). A number of individualistic dark stone and
brick Queen Anne and Romanesque inspired dwellings line South Clinton Avenue
(#266, #270). Stone of various hues and textures comprises the facade triptych
at 42-46 (#268). This stonework is a counterpoint to Trenton’s more typical
virtuoso brickwork. These homes, as well as the stone structures at 48-52
(#266, #267) were erected by Thomas H. Prior, a stone contractor. Remaining
residential structures on East State Street include massive Second Empire
(#281, #282, #284, #286), Colonial Revival (#285, #287), and Romanesque (#288)
derived houses. Comparison of Second Empire houses in the area such as 29-91
Carroll Streets (#238), 47-61 Southard Street (#258),
17-17 (#272), 18-29 (#275), 28-54 (#277-278) Yard Avenue, 55 North Clinton
Avenue (#301), and 506-508 and 528 East State Street (#281, #282), reveals
the flexibility of this stylistic theme, utilized extensively in this generally
elite “Railroad Age” neighborhood.
Another “first class residential district” developed
along East State Street and North Clinton Avenue. 4
North Clinton Avenue boasted many mansions, including those of diplomat-entrepreneur
Gregory Perdicaris, pottery executives James Moses, (#302) and Charles
Breadley (#303), businessmen D.P Forst and Samuel B. Packer (#304), and Mayor Welling G. Sickle.
Two-time Mayor and rubber baron
Frank Magowan built “Magowan’s
Folly (#308), an extraordinary mansion on North Clinton Avenue, but years
later, in financial ruin, he was forced to sell all of his properties and
watch his mansion dismembered.
Charles Chauncey Haven, a
visitor to Trenton in 1866, enthusiastically described the North Clinton Avenue/East
State Street vicinity in a booklet entitled “Annals of the City of Trenton
with Random Remarks and Historic Reminiscences:”
“East State Street, as it is now, extended into the country, in the vicinity
of the new depot, with the horse rail cars passing through it to the hotels
and the Delaware, running by the Cottages and the venerable row of trees planted
early in the century by Charles Higbee, Esq., and
the Fourth Presbyterian Church, a structure unsurpassed in this state as a
model of architectural beauty, present(s) a combination of advantages which
insure advanced improvements in that quart of the city. Travelers entering town often stop at the corner
of State and Clinton Streets, and are struck with admiration, bordering on
surprise, to see such charming residences and picturesque scenery in Trenton;
and if they extend their walk up Clinton Street and the elegant private mansions
and shady walks . . . their astonishment is unbounded. They go away charmed
with Trenton.” 5
At this time a passerby might have caught a croquet tournament in progress on the grounds of the Parker House or visited the favorite spot for winter sleighing on North Clinton Avenue.
Although virtually all surviving mansions serve institutional
purposes, North Clinton Avenue has retained much of its dignity. Architecturally,
it remains the area’s premier address. The former home of James Moses, now
the Scottish Rite Temple, stands at 65 North Clinton Avenue (#302). The building
is a fantasy of stone and slate with highly picturesque roofline. The home
at 73 North Clinton Avenue, now housing the Mount Carmel Guild, is one of
the city’s finest Italianate Villas (#303). To the
north, 79 (#304) is an earlier Italianate house
with squarish massing, knee windows, and a highly
detailed brownstone and iron fence. The primary nineteenth century owner was
Samuel B. Packer, a stone and slate dealer, who left his name neatly carved
on a large stone block, just inside the front gate. He developed “Packer Row”
in North Trenton. Across the street is a deeply set back seven unit row. The
central unit, with rounded front porch, is all that remains of “Magowan’s Folly.” With some imagination, one can picture the
mansion as it was with winding stair, gold paneled ceilings, silk wall coverings,
bronze chandeliers, a music room, library, and ballroom, lengthy verandas,
gardens and orchards . . . , 6 before the
financial and political ruin of its flamboyant occupant. Not far from the
social and architectural grandeur of this area stood Coalport,
a working class neighborhood north of Perry Street. For many years the “Swamp
Angel” sat on a pedestal at the intersection of Perry Street and North Clinton
Avenue dividing the two separate neighborhoods. This Civil War cannon, fired
from the “marsh battery” at the City of Charleston during the Battle of Fort
Sumter, marked the transition between Coalport
and the more prosperous part of the neighborhood. 7
In 1961, the relic was moved to Cadwalader Park.
The Washington Building Association had subdivided
Coalport into about 300 lots for residential development in
1851. 8 At the same time industry and coal
yards marked the western portion of the Coalport
area at the juncture of the main canal and the feeder. There were canal facilities,
a railroad roundhouse, and a few potteries. The
Thomas Maddock & Sons Pottery (#249, #250),
the first major manufacturer of sanitary porcelain in the United States, stood
at the fringe of Coalport and was the most important
local industry. 9
The circa 1885 buildings are rhythmically articulated
by windows with white Italianate window hoods; the
Ewing Street building features large segmented pediments
as parapets. This “industrial complex” represents one of a number of complexes
altering the area’s residential fabric. Some are well-designed assets, while
others are nondescript intrusions.
Once narrow streets and dense residential development
characterized most of the Coalport neighborhood
populated largely by Irish. The residents fondly gave Coalport another name, Goosetown,
because of the numerous geese inhabiting the marshes. Among organized community
activities was the Thomas D. Burns Fife and Drum Corps which practiced in
front of the Burns’ Grocery. Residents also visited a makeshift circus ground
in the Yard Avenue vicinity where both Dan Rice’s and Barnum’s
circuses played. 10 The two classes met in
rather bizarre fashion when Old World Color would assail “Goosetown”
on an occasional Sunday in the warm Spring or Summer, when Mayor Welling G.
Sickle in grey top hat and appropriate suit would
drive his six horse tally-ho through Southard Street
and up over the bridge on his way to Lawrenceville
or Princeton. With a large party of friends aboard and two liveried buglers
atop the rear to herald the tally-ho’s approach,
it was always something of an event. 11
Coalport, a solid community for some
time, was, however, by the mid-twentieth century slated for urban renewal
and industrial redevelopment. The execution of this plan by the Coalport
Redevelopment Authority resulted in a radical change in the area’s character.
12
With the demise of residential Coalport,
working class housing is restricted to a small quadrant to the northeast,
and Wall Street. Lined with brick attached houses on the north side, and twin
detached frame houses on the south side, including two Worker’s Cottages with
setbacks, Wall Street is a particularly good collection of typical Trenton
housing types (#290-#293).
The North Clinton/Coalport
area also had several institutions which deserve mention. Organizations such
as the Crescent (#306) and Scottish Rite (#302) Temples, The Knights of Columbus
and the YMCA (#271) located in the area. The Mercer Cemetery (#264) was established
in the mid-nineteenth century at Trenton’s first non-sectarian graveyard.
Three Gothic brownstone churches punctuate North Clinton
Avenue. Reflecting the social character of their immediate neighborhoods,
the churches increase in size, complexity, and stylistic purity, from north
to south between Sheridan Avenue and East State Street. Unfortunately both
of the more prominent structures, the former Fourth Presbyterian and Jerusalem
Baptist, have lost their lofty spires.
The Normal School, the forerunner of Trenton State
College, and the Middle School, both teacher training schools, were built
in the neighborhood as well.
The Grant School (#305), constructed in 1938 on the
site of the state schools, is an extremely fine example of Art Moderne design. Curvilinear surfaces and metal detailing articulate
orange brick facades.
Notes
1 Walker et. al., A History of Trenton, pp. 282-283,
287-288.
2 “The Cottages Which Were Once
Trenton’s Swellest Little Colony of Houses,” Trenton
Free Public Library, Trentoniana Collection, Vertical
File: Streets.
3 The platform and elevator
towers are actually in the East Ward, connected by overhead concourse to the
main station on the western side of the Assunpink
Creek.
4 Turk, “Trenton, New Jersey
in the Nineteenth Century,” p. 228.
5 William Dwyer, “Trenton in
Bygone Days: Clinton Avenue and State Street Drew Admiration of ‘66 Visitor,” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, March 1, 1964, (Trenton in Bygone
Days, vol. 13, p. 151).
6 “Former Mayor’s Famed Mansion
Recalled,” Trentonian,
July 7, 1961.
7 Lee, History of Trenton, New Jersey.
8 “Trenton’s First Sale of Building
Lots,” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser,
September 28, 1913; Land Development
Map.
9 Department of Planning and
Development, An Inventory of Historic
Engineering and Industrial Sites, p. 8.
10 A.J. Logue,
“Trenton in Bygone Days: Goosetown Was Childhood
Home of Many of Trenton’s Best Known Citizens . . . ,” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, November 17, 1957, (Trenton in Bygone Days, vol. 11. p. 115).
11 Logue, “Trenton in Bygone Days: Goosetown
. . .
12 See Judith F Kovisars, “Trenton Up Against It: The Prescription for Urban
Renewal in the 1950’s and 1960’s”
Joel Schwartz and Daniel Prosser eds., Cities
of the Garden State: Essays in the Urban and Suburban History of New Jersey
(Dubuque, Iowa: Dendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1977),
pp. 161-175.
NORTH TRENTON
History and Development
Most
of North Trenton has been part of the City of Trenton since incorporation
in 1792. Narrow strips of land to the north and west, originally part of Ewing Township, were annexed in 1900. Early landowners included
the Heath, Lambert, Cadwalader and Beakes families. 1
The Nathan Beakes estate
was the earliest and best known settlement in the area, dating from Revolutionary
days. Beakes Lane ran from Five Points to the Beakes
house, which was located near the present intersection of Princeton and Beakes
Avenues. After the formation of the Princeton and Kingston Branch Turnpike
Company in 1807, the Princeton Pike followed the line of Beakes
Lane. The Brunswick or Old Maidenhead Road traversed the area to the east.
2
Despite this early estate and the highways, North Trenton developed slowly. The area’s low and swampy terrain partly explains this phenomenon. A development pattern persisted, as large tracts of North Trenton land were utilized for special purposes, part cause and part effect of slow settlement.
In 1802 a tract of higher land on Brunswick Avenue
was purchased from Nathan Beakes to be used as a
Potter’s field for burial of the poor. The “Potter’s Field” cemetery later
became known as “Gallow’s Hill” after a number of
alleged hangings, including that of a confederate spy. It officially became
the City Cemetery in 1861, retaining a ghostly reputation.
Relatively solid land was used as pastureland. A number
of tracts served as military paradegrounds. Land
opposite the Beake’s homestead was utilized in 1847
as a camp and training ground for Mexican recruits. Because of its outlying
location and available unsettled land, charities such as the Almshouse, established
in 1869, were located in the neighborhood.
The Hotel de Kelly was “a disreputable structure (sic)
dedicated to the housing of tramps.” 3 Tickets
were distributed to transients at City Hall, redeemable for bed and breakfast
after the long trudge to Kelly’s on Brunswick Avenue (at Race Street). It
was not mere coincidence that Kelly’s stood adjacent to the “Potter’s Field.”
It is said that noise and fisticuffs were common in the area. With the Almshouse,
Gallow’s Hill and the Hotel de Kelly, “it was a somewhat eerie
neighborhood.” 4
Industry
After
the construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal,
the area attracted industries that required much space. This type of activity
included Weller’s boatyard and basin established
east of Brunswick Avenue.
The boatyard of Hiram Weller
& Sons handled jobs ranging from contracts for repair of most barges and
schooners on the Delaware and Raritan Canal, to
construction of “palatial yachts” for local gentlemen sailors. They concurrently
ran a sand and gravel business, and built dozens of flagpoles, especially
during wartime. The Weller’s basins were generally
well-stocked with barges and yachts, a few fish, and skinny-dipping neighborhood
boys. 5
H.C. Kafer
& Co., Brick Manufacturers, was also situated at Princeton Avenue and
Kirkbridge Street. They manufactured “all kinds of building
and paving brick making a specialty of pressed and fancy brick, grinding and
fitting arch brick.” 6 Founded in 1847, this
was the North Ward’s largest and most prominent brickyard, providing brick
for New York, Jersey City, and other growing municipalities, as well as the
“home market:” The office of the H.C. Kafer
& Co. brickyard still stands at 1001 Princeton Avenue (#347). A small
cubic one-story Italianate structure with bracketed
cornice on all sides, it has the appearance of a patternbook
design.
The former Jonathan Bartley
Crucible Co. complex (#317) on Oxford Street illustrates another example of
North Trenton industry. One of the structures is surmounted by three decorative
crucibles, a direct physical reminder of Trenton’s pottery prominence. Despite
the presence of industries, most nineteenth century Trentonians
perceived North Trenton as the large picnic grove of the Evans farm, or simply
as a sparsely settled outlying district along the Princeton and Brunswick
Roads, a territory to be passed through while traveling to points north. The
most commonly expressed concerns about the area included the lack of lamp
posts and the poor road conditions. 7
Rose Cottage Nurseries supplied Trentonians
with assorted flowers which complimented this country-like setting. Owned
by noted floraculturalist George Wainwright,
the nurseries occupied sizeable acreage west of Princeton Avenue and offered
a rare variety of imported Japanese tree, the Japanese Salisburia
Bibola, or the “Ginkgo.” 8
Residential Development
Eventually North Trenton residential development in the 1880’s proceeded in larger segments than elsewhere in the North Ward. Initially dwellings had been scattered about the area throughout the nineteenth century. More systematic development followed later, often taking the form of “rows” where an entrepreneur erected a series of dwellings of the same or interrelated design. Repetitive detached rows were built by Henry Phillips at 3-37 Chase Street, (#327) and Samuel B. Packer along Brunswick Avenue (#318) and Southard Street (#320).
“Packer Row” is a particularly notable late nineteenth
century example. The “Packer Row” structures provide a striking pattern along
the slight rise of Brunswick Avenue (#318). Each building, whether twin or
freestanding, two stories or three, is articulated by a continuous stone band
at sill-level, segmentally arched lintels with incised
floral motif, and a bracketed cornice.
Along Brunswick Avenue, Southard
and Oxford Street, fourteen three story twins, three simpler three story twins,
five three story row houses, a store, and a tavern were all built by Samuel
B. Packer. (#318, #319)
By the 1890’s residential development from downtown
along Princeton Avenue to the Almshouse in 1887 contributed to this development.
Henry P. Phillips purchased the cemetery site and carted away the remains,
to develop Chase Street. Subsequently, Joseph Paul opened Paul Avenue. After
1892, the trolley from downtown traversed this street, passing from Princeton
Avenue to Brunswick Avenue, then continuing northward. 9
A variety of architectural styles characterize this
residential area. Number 689 Princeton Avenue (#340) is possibly the oldest
residential structure in North Trenton; its austere form and sparse ornamentation
recalls Federal style architecture. Freestanding or twin residences exist
in a cluster at Brunswick and Paul Avenues. This grouping includes freestanding
and twin Italianate homes raised on a terrace (#358,
#359); a hip-roofed cubic house with Italianate detailing but a Greek Revival demeanor; a large
Queen Anne twin with wood shingles (#352), a Queen Anne house with sunburst
motifs and a uniquely detailed projecting side bay (#353); and a three unit
structure in bungalow style (#354). Around the corner on Sylvester Street,
a three unit Victorian Gothic structure features original weatherboards
and gingerbread detailing on one of its units (#350). This residential cluster
encompasses great stylistic variation and character on an elevated site at
the former bend of the Brunswick Avenue/Paul Avenue trolley line (#349).
Just south of this cluster, 561-573 Brunswick Avenue
is a row of seven Queen Anne/Basic Block houses with unusual truncated dormers
(#355). Other examples of North Trenton’s distinctive series of attached houses
are 666-684 Southard Street (#320) with a continuous
metal cornice, and 1249-1259 Princeton Avenue (#367), a composition of six
interdependent units united by paired gables and parapets.
Just as in other areas and neighborhoods, construction
of the trolley line and of new schools prompted a “strong tide of improvements”
with “building in leaps and bounds” in the hands of land associations and
individual developers. 10 Approximately 200
dwellings were constructed more or less simultaneously along Vine and Race
Streets and Evans Avenue. These streets reflect the common North Ward tradition
of connecting major north-south arteries (Princeton and Brunswick Avenues)
with long, continuous east-west streets. Vine Street (#326) has unusual rowhouses with bungalow detailing; Race Street (#325) is lined
with simple but dignified brick twins; Evans Avenue (#323) has Basic Block
twins; Princeton Avenue (#332-340) between Southard
Street and Wayne Avenue includes brick row houses in long series and alternating
variations on the Basic Block style. Large scale development reappeared in
the 1940’s and 1950’s public housing projects between Princeton Avenue and
Calhoun Street.
Institutions
Perhaps
because of its relatively late residential development, North Trenton does
not boast many long-standing community institutions. Dating from 1919, St.
James Catholic Church (#330) is the most prominent ecclesiastical establishment.
The Helene Fuld Hospital (#360) is a rambling complex,
originally built around one of the area’s stately mansions.
North Trenton’s Junior High School No. 1 (#322) is
a notable institution, with its elaborate Collegiate Gothic stone detailing
and its imposing structure. Following a comprehensive school system reorganization
in the early twentieth century, it was established as Trenton’s first Junior
High School. Junior High No. 1 and the Jefferson Elementary School (#321)
were constructed on the Almshouse site, maintaining much open acreage.
Today
the North Trenton area retains its characteristic blend of diverse styles
of residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
1 See Map of City of Trenton
Showing Territorial Growth, 1792-1928, Walker, et. al., A History of Trenton, p.
352. (Figure 7 of this study.)
2 Walker, et. al., A History of Trenton, p. 241.
3 Meredith Havens, “Trenton
in Bygone Days: North Trenton Area 80 Years Ago Was Bleak Section Noted For
Hotel For Tramps, City Poor Farm and Potter’s Field;” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, September 30, 1962, (Trenton in Bygone Days, vol. 13, p. 60).
4 Havens, “Trenton in Bygone
Days: North Trenton . . . :”
5 Harry J. Podmore, “Head of Town;” State Gazette, May 10, 1920.
6 ”H.C.
Kafer & Co. Brick Manufacturers,” State Gazette, July 31, 1897, (Scrapbook of Trenton Industry).
7 Harry J. Podmore, “Trenton in Bygone Days;” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, October 26, 1948.
8 Harry J. Podmore, “Head of Town;” State Gazette, February 13,
1922.
9 Trenton Free Public Library,
Trentoniana Collection, Vertical File: Street Railways.