A volunteer effort to collect, digitize, organize, and share the history of the Hopewell Valley in Mercer County, New Jersey.
– Book Archives – Map Archives – >Image Archives – >Hopewell History Map –
The Hopewell Valley History Project is a new 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.
Explore the site (or scroll down for an overview of each section):
- See the Reference Guides for printable overviews of the available materials and references for future research.
- See the Book Archives and Map Archives for primary reference materials of our local history, the associated Reference Guides, and interactive tables to explore the collection and view the files.
- See the Image Archives (separate site) for images of buildings from historic books and postcards, organized by street address and date within each town.
- See the Hopewell History Map (separate site) to browse properties in Hopewell Borough to view historical information and images
- See the Blog Posts for updates on changes and additions to the site, and for more information on specific topics.
Recent Updates
Also follow new developments on Facebook.
- Added Annotated Fowler Hopewell Borough 1887 Map (bird-eye panorama), and Hopewell Boro Buildings in 1891 / Fowler Map Annotations document (keyed to the Fowler map)
- Added 60 more historic postcards, mostly Hopewell Boro, from Sam Castoro
- The Hopewell History Map includes links to a full-screen slideshow of historical property images and links to display the associated Cultural Resource Survey report
- Added two Hopewell Boro Aerials from 1932 (shot after the Lindbergh kidnapping)
- Added five Hopewell Valley Cultural Resource surveys (aka Historic Sites surveys), with documentation on individual historic buildings and streets in Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough, and Pennington Borough – over 2700 pages on over 1000 local sites
- Added over 215 current-day images in the historic core of Hopewell Boro
- Added 70+ historic Hopewell Boro postcards from the collection of Bill Frenchu
- Previously-unknown manuscript, Hopewell Academy by Dean Ashton (1960)
- New Jersey Suffrage – 1994 book and 1915 constitutional amendment
Join Us
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.
Reference Guides – Printable Listings
The Books and Maps Reference Guides include several types of printable guides (PDF), including Galleries with images and catalogs of available sources and materials, Chronologies with listings of all the materials in the archives (plus other interesting related material) with additional information, and Sources Guides with references for further investigation (especially digital).
Digital Archives – Tables of Resources
The Digital Archives contain copies of resource files for convenient browsing, plus printable Reference Guides with links to additional external resources. Browse all materials, or specific types:
- Digital Archives – All materials in all formats
- Book Archives – Historic 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.
Quick search of all Archives, with listings of available materials. Search, sort, and filter as desired.
Image Archives
The Image Archives (About/Help) include photos and postcards of buildings and streets in the Hopewell Valley region, starting with Hopewell Borough, Pennington, and Titusville / Washington Crossing.
Some images are scanned / photographed from historic books (around 1900), and others were kindly contributed by local authors, photographers, local history enthusiasts, and postcard collectors.
The Image Reference Guide summarizes and describes the available sets of images, including the sources / contributors and the naming conventions used for the files.
The files are named by street address and year for convenient searching and sorting. This makes it easy to compare images along the same street, at the same address in different years, or from different sources.
The Image Archives are hosted on a separate site. You can browse by town, view individual images and slideshows, and search by name (including street, address, year, and description).
- Browse the Image Archives (separate site)
Hopewell History Map
The interactive Hopewell History Map (About / Help) uses a map interface to explore information and images on historical properties in Hopewell Borough.
It is built on the familiar Google Maps platform, and so has the usual map controls (map type, zoom, pan), plus additional historical property annotations displayed as street numbers.
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 site survey documentation on selected properties.
- Explore the Hopewell History Map (separate site)
Recent Posts – Site Updates
Listing of recent blog posts with updates on new additions. Search, sort, and filter as desired.
| Image | Title | Summary | Categories | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Visualizing Hopewell Boro in 1891 | There are two new additions to the Map Archives to better visualize and understand the … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 22nd February 2020 |
 | "Women Win the Vote!" Book Released | Local author Nancy Kennedy’s new book, Women Win the Vote!: 19 for the 19th Amendment, … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 11th February 2020 |
 | Pennington Seminary Ladies' Room & More Postcards | In addition to the fascinating Hopewell Borough aerial photos from 1932, Sam Castoro also has … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 10th February 2020 |
 | January 2020 Update – Hopewell History Map | January was focused on the development and enhancement of the Hopewell History Map, an interactive … | Map, Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 1st February 2020 |
 | New Hopewell Boro Postcards | We have added over 70 historic postcards to the Image Archives, kindly contributed by Bill … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 30th January 2020 |
 | Hopewell Boro Aerials from 1932 | We have two wonderful new aerial views of Hopewell Borough, photographed in March 1932, immediately … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 26th January 2020 |
 | Hopewell Area Cultural Resource Surveys | Are you interested in historic sites, streets, and buildings in the Hopewell Valley? Maybe our … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 22nd January 2020 |
 | Introducing the Hopewell History Map | Introducing the Hopewell History Map, an interactive map for exploring historical properties in Hopewell Borough, … | Places, Properties, Updates | ddixon | 11th January 2020 |
 | December 2019 Update | Most of the December additions are already covered in blog posts, so here’s the summary. … | Updates | ddixon | 5th January 2020 |
 | Hopewell Academy by Dean Ashton | We are thrilled to add another neglected publication to the site — A completely unknown, … | Updates | ddixon | 2nd January 2020 |
| New Image Archives Design | The site has a new design for the Image Archives, with more flexibility in browsing, … | Places, Updates | ddixon | 27th December 2019 |
 | New Jersey Suffrage | With the help of Nancy Kennedy and the N.J. Council for the Social Studies we … | Places | ddixon | 18th December 2019 |
 | Hopewell Railroad Research | Rick Porter has kindly contributed a package of Hopewell railroad research material that clarifies the … | Places, Updates | ddixon | 12th December 2019 |
 | Hopewell Valley History Project – Talk Slides | Our public introduction of the Hopewell Valley History Project and this site was held on … | Updates | ddixon | 10th December 2019 |
 | November 2019 Update | It’s been a busy month, with several major additions already covered in blog posts, so … | Updates | ddixon | 1st December 2019 |
 | Hopewell Valley History Project – The Talk | Our public introduction of this site and the Hopewell Valley History Project will be the … | Updates | ddixon | 22nd November 2019 |
 | Railroad Stations in the National Register of Historic Places | The railroad stations in Hopewell and Pennington boroughs are both listed on the National Register … | Places, Properties | ddixon | 22nd November 2019 |
 | House and Street Images | We have expand from collecting books and maps into assembling images of local buildings and … | Properties | ddixon | 16th November 2019 |
 | Hopewell’s Past by Betty Gantz | We are thrilled to announce that the site now includes the Hopewell’s Past book by … | Properties | ddixon | 10th November 2019 |
 | New Jersey Maps and Atlases | We’ve added some interesting historic maps of New Jersey, and some of the early Atlases … | Updates | ddixon | 5th November 2019 |
 | October 2019 Update | As of the end of October 2019, the site has 108 files posted, including 86 … | Updates | ddixon | 5th November 2019 |
| Hopewell Borough Cultural Resource Survey | If you’re interested in the history and architecture of our local communities, it might interest … | Places, Properties | ddixon | 10th October 2019 |
 | September 2019 Update | As of the end of September 2019, the site has 106 files posted, including 86 … | Updates | ddixon | 30th September 2019 |
 | August 2019 Update | As of the end of September 2019, the site has 95 files posted, including 82 … | Updates | ddixon | 31st August 2019 |
 | The Mystery of Honey Hollow / Richard Hunter | On Sunday, June 9, 2019, Richard Hunter of Hunter Research presented a talk on “The … | Properties | ddixon | 26th July 2019 |
 | The Hopewell “Castle” in the News | Diccon Hyatt recently wrote a feature article for the U.S. 1 Newspaper, “Uncovering the Dark … | Properties | ddixon | 26th July 2019 |
| Image | Title | Summary | Categories | Author | Date |
