Hopewell Valley History Project

A volunteer effort to collect, digitize, organize, and freely share the history of the Hopewell Valley in Mercer County, New Jersey.

== Latest Update: The Harvest Fair Wooden Car Derby – 1983 – 2006 ==

Recent News: Digital Edition of Pennington Profile Book Released
– Hopewell Inn Demolition Updates – History & Memorabilia
History Project book: Hopewell Borough History Briefs, 2020 – 2021 Edition

Recent Presentation Videos and References: Hoproco – Hopewell’s 1920s Toy Company
Life in 1900s Hopewell With the Arrival of the Railroad  
Discovering Local History Online – Seminary Avenue Historic Tour
– Hopewell Train Stations – Industrial Hopewell: Railroad Place

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Site Tour

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The Hopewell Valley History Project is a volunteer effort to collect and organize the important sources of our local heritage in digital form, and share them online for open and convenient access.

We are posting curated copies of materials already in digital format, including historic ebooks and scanned maps, and also seeking out paper documents and images to manually photograph and scan for the site.

Visit the Site Index to explore the organization of the site by different types of materials. Scroll down for previews of the major sections of the site.

Site Organization (scroll down for an overview of each section):

• Visit Hopewell Valley Places – Town Indexes for quick links for information on specific local towns, including History Project reports, images, maps, and property documents.
• See Hopewell Valley Town References for an archive of the key reference books to consult for historical information on Hopewell Valley places, buildings, and people.
• See Hopewell Borough History Briefs for historical information and chronologies on Hopewell Borough organizations, businesses, and properties, and the people that made them.
• Explore the Hopewell History Map to browse properties in Hopewell Borough and view historical images and information.
• The Image Gallery contains property and town images from historic books and postcards.
• Use the Panoramic Aerials Gallery to explore 180 degree panoramic drone views.
• The Map Archives and Document Archives contain the primary reference materials of our local history, organized in interactive tables to browse and search.
• The Pamphlet Collections contain more recent leaflets and pamphlets from local towns and organizations.
• The Reference Guides are printable overviews of key materials and research references.
• The History Project YouTube Channel has both contributed videos and links to external videos.
• The Video Gallery highlights videos on Hopewell history from around the web.
• Follow the Blog and Facebook for updates on changes and additions to the site.

Recent Updates

• Posted Pennington Profile – Digital Edition

• Add post on The Harvest Fair Wooden Car Derby – 1983 – 2006
• Add post on Hopewell Inn Tours: Pans, Videos, Photos
• Add post on Hopewell Stereo Image – 1870s
• Add Pennington Sesquibicentennial (250th) Booklet 1708 – 1958
• Add video and references for Hoproco Talk
• Add video and references for Hopewell with the Arrival of the Railroad Talk
• Add post and brief on Model Ave. Lumber Yard – Golden & Van Doren
• Add post on “Pole Farm” History – 1929 – 1975
• Add post on The Founding of the Hopewell Quarry and 1950s-60s Quarry Photos
• Add post and images on Van Doren Lumberyard Fires (Model Ave.)
• Add post and brief on the Finney & Fetter Saw & Feed Mill (Model Ave.)
• Add post on Jack Koeppel Videos – Images of Old Hopewell & St. Michael’s Orphanage
• Add post on Images of the HOPE Switch Tower
• Add post on Historic Maps – Topographical and Geological
• Add video, slides, and references for Discovering Local History Online: Seminary Ave.
• Add Hopewell Valley Bistro & Inn Memorabilia post
• Add Twin Pine Airport – 1960s Fly-In Photos
• Add Memorial Day – Hopewell’s First Fatality in WW II
• Add Seminary Avenue Historic Walking Tour – see References
• Add Anderson Hopewell Parade Videos 1946-78
• Add Hopewell Reference Books – HHH 1897 & 1909 Hopewell,
• Add 1900 & 1914 Hopewell Herald Progress Editions newspapers and post
• Add Rockwell Artifacts and Photos post
• Add Hopewell Valley Trolley Routes – 1902 – 1931 post with paper by Jim Klaiber
• Add History Project book – “Hopewell Borough History Briefs, 2020 – 2021 Edition” post – Full version (315 pp) and Digest version (36 pages)
• Add The Villages of Hopewell Township in 1883 post and Lost Somerset Street
• Add Railroads of the Frog War post
• Add Hopewell Train Stations: History and Art presentation references
• Add Hopewell Photos by Ken Kaplowitz and Hopewell Photos by Gary Saretzky
• Add Hopewell Valley Towns in the Early 1900s post
• Add Hopewell National Bank Dollars post
• Add Investigating History in Hopewell Maps – St. Michael’s post
• Add Hopewell Inn / Central Hotel post and associated property brief
• Add 9 Mercer Street – Legion Hall and Stonecutting brief and Hopewell Valley Brickyards brief
• Add Soupe de Jour brief
• Add Industrial Hopewell: Railroad Place – Video, presentation slides, and references
• Add Rose & Chubby’s Luncheonette and Historic Chubby’s Lunch Menus
• Add The Second Calvary Baptist Church of Hopewell
• Add Our Fascination with Lindbergh and 1932 Hopewell Phone Directory
• Add Explore Historic Mount Rose with documents and images
• Add The Confusing Hopewell Firehouse (and Boro Hall and High School)
• Add Be It Ever So Humble and Hopewell News – 1943-1946 by Dean Ashton
• Add Hopewell & Pennington Histories by David Blackwell
• Add brief on the Hopewell Borough Fire Companies
• Add briefs on History of the Hopewell Public Library and Broad & Louellen Streets (Presbyterian Church)

Contribute

Help share our local history with the community – for more information, email info@hopewellhistoryproject.org.

• Collect and organize historical material on interesting topics
• Digitize and transcribe historical materials
• Write summaries on important people, places, houses, etc.

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Hopewell Valley Places – Indexes By Municipality

See Historic Town Maps for galleries of historic town maps and aerial imagery.

See the Historic Property Reports archive for two sets of documentation on historic properties: Hopewell area Cultural Resource Survey documentation, and Historic Property Briefs documented using research by the History Project.

See Hopewell Borough History Briefs for historical information and chronologies on Hopewell Borough organizations, businesses, and properties, and the people that made them.

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Hopewell History Map – Properties and Images

The interactive Hopewell History Map provides a map interface for exploring information and images on historical properties in Hopewell Borough.

Browse the street addresses in the Map or Table, and click a property to view the available information in the other panels, including photo and postcard views in the Info Panel, and documentation on selected properties.

See also the Aerial Panoramas archive to pan and zoom in large aerial and panoramic imagery.

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Image Gallery – Towns and Properties

The Image Gallery is focused on photos and postcards of buildings and streets for each of the towns in the Hopewell Valley region. It also includes albums on Artwork and Photography collections, and Mementos.

The town files are named by street address and year for convenient searching and sorting – and to compare images along the same street, at the same address in different years, or from different sources.

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Pamphlet Collection – Local Organizations

The Pamphlet Collection includes scans of leaflets and pamphlets distributed by local municipalities and organizations within the last 40-some years (e.g., “ephemera”). These are typically short informational handouts that capture interesting information on towns and businesses and people. See the Books Archive for longer-form historical material.

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Reference Guides

See Hopewell Valley Town References for an archive of the key reference books to consult for historical information on Hopewell Valley places, buildings, and people.

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Book and Map Archives – Tables of Resources

The Book and Map Archives contain copies of the available resource files for convenient browsing. Browse all materials, or specific types:

• Full Archives – All Document and Map materials
• Document Archives – Historic documents, including books and pamphlets, back to the early 1900’s (large PDFs)
• Map Archives – Maps of the Hopewell Valley region, including historic maps covering the region, municipal maps (e.g., tax and zoning), and other formats.

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Recent Blog Posts – Site Updates

Searchable listing of all Blog posts with updates on new additions.