The Hopewell History Map now animates the growth of Hopewell Borough by stepping through time from circa 1850 to 1910 — showing new properties appearing with each time period.
- For 1850, there are only a handful of early settlements around the Old School Baptist Meeting House on the north side of West Broad Street.
- By 1860 additional houses appear along the south side of West Broad.
- By 1875 the arrival of the railroads shows growth extending along East Broad and Model Avenue (near the first railroad depot).
- For 1890 and 1900 the growth continues, especially up North Greenwood, along Columbia, and down Railroad Avenue.
- Finally, 1910 shows all known historic properties on this map.
You can select which historic Places to view in two ways:
- By Date – Show only those properties known to exist by that time
- By Source – Show only those properties listed in one specific source document, or shown on the selected historic map
Sources – The four current historical sources provide documentation that specific buildings existed at specific times (and may omit others). The sources currently used are:
- The Hopewell Boro Site Survey (1985), the definitive listing of properties up to 1875.
- “Buildings Existing when Boro Incorporated March 1891“ from Hopewell’s Past by Betty Gantz (1987), extending the Fowler 1887 map to list known properties up to 1891.
- The Healthful Historic Hopewell booklet (1897) by Normer Gray, with images and information on important properties just before the new century.
- The 1909 Hopewell N.J. booklet by Fry & Whitehead, with images and information on important properties a decade later.
Maps – The Site Survey also cross-references the listed pre-1875 properties to six key historic maps. Also see the new Historic Town Maps of Hopewell Boro page to view each of these maps:
- Otley & Keily, 1849 – Map of Mercer County, N. J.
- Lake & Beers, 1860 – Map of the Vicinity of Phila. and Trenton
- Everts & Stewart, 1875 – Combination Atlas Map of Mercer County, N. J.
- Fowler, 1887 – Hopewell N. J. (Panoramic aerial view)
- Scarlett & Scarlett, 1890 – Fire Map of Mercer County, N. J.
- Sanborn Map Co., 1902 – Fire Insurance Maps of Hopewell, Mercer Co., N. J.
Selecting one of these options shows only the properties listed in that specific document or map, so only the associated addresses are shown as markers on the Map, and only the associated properties are shown in the Property Table. The count of matching places also is displayed. (Note that selecting a map does not show all properties on the map; it shows only those properties that are listed in the Site Survey as appearing on that map.)
To explore these options, click the Help/Options (“hamburger”) button on the right side of the top banner to display the Map Options dialog.
For more information on Hopewell Valley related maps, see the Map Digital Archives and associated Map Reference Guides.
And please note that the collection and organization of this data is an ongoing process, with known discrepancies and omissions. Comments and corrections are welcome, as is assistance in pushing this further.
