More Intriguing Hopewell Train Station Art

As follow up to last week’s post on Hopewell Train Station Art, here are some more examples of art featuring Hopewell area train stations. However, we have less information about these – some even are note cards with no additional identifying information. Also see the following post on additional artists in the new Hopewell Train Station Art Gallery.

So we would welcome help in identifying these artists, finding more information about them, and discovering other artwork of local scenes that they may have done. And, of course, we would welcome other examples of local artwork.

Train Station, Pennington, N. J. – William Hankinson (1983)

• Fun image, labeled Print #33, 1983, and signed Wm Hankinson.
• Apparently by William Joseph “Hank” Hankinson (c1922 – 1996).
• Prominent professional artist who lived in Pennington for a time.
• Versatile in oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, and pen and ink.
• Well known as a muralist, especially his Venetian murals for a N. Y. City ballroom.

Frog War – Benjamin Eisenstat (mailer)

• Action illustration of an article on the Hopewell “Frog War,” from a N. J. Bell Tel-news mailer, 10/1974. Annotated as by Benjamin Eisenstat of Moorestown.
• Benjamin Eisenstat  (1915 – 2001) had a fifty-five year career in art, and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (now University of the Arts) for forty years.
• Known for expressionistic landscapes, illustrations, cartoons, and graphics.
• Lived in Pennsylvania and also in Moorestown, N. J.
• See https://www.societyillustrators.org/ben-eisenstat

Christmas Special – Warren M. Creely (note card)

• Charming image of Reading Pacific (steam) train number 120 passing through the Hopewell station.
• Signed Warren M. Creely.
• The Hopewell Frame Shop and Art Gallery had an exhibition of his work in 1985, describing him as “known for his railroad art and for his paintings of area buildings.”
• Inside: “A Merry Christmas to all” is proclaimed as Reading Pacific number 120 heads the special through Hopewell, filled to capacity with just plain folks anxious to be home for Christmas. Hopewell is a quaint little country town nestled among the snowy white hills of north central New Jersey. Even the station agent who after dragging his newly acquired tree through heavy snow drifts, is carefully checking it over in anticipation of that joyous day of Christmas.

Hopewell train station in the snow with Christmas star (note card)

Peaceful image on a note card with no other identifying information.

Unknown artist and signature?

Card dates from the 1990’s?

Thanks

Thanks to Bill Metcalf for the Hankinson image.

---

More on Hopewell Railroads

Two railroads were built in the 1870s to connect Philadelphia and New York by travelling up from the Delaware River, through Pennington and Hopewell, and then north towards New York. The Mercer and Somerset opened in 1874, but was shut down in 1880. The Delaware and Bound Brook opened in 1876, and is the predecessor of the line that still runs through the area.

Hopewell Valley Railroad Lines (1870s)

• Post – The Railroads of the Frog War – Hopewell Valley Railroads
• Post – Hopewell Railroad Research – Mercer & Somerset in Hopewell Boro
• Post – Railroad Trains and Flooded Bridges
• Post – Hopewell Valley Railroad Artifacts
• Post – The “Frog War” in Hopewell – with references
• History Brief – Hopewell Valley Railroad Lines (PDF)

Hopewell Valley Train Stations

• Post – The Hopewell and Pennington Train Stations (1876)
• Post – Railroad Stations in the National Register of Historic Places – Documents
• Post – Hopewell Railroad Sidings
• Post – Pennington Train Station Underpass
• History Brief – The Hopewell and Pennington Train Stations (PDF)

Hopewell Railroad Presentations

• Presentation / Video – Industrial Hopewell: Railroad Place – References
• Presentation / Video – Life in 1900s Hopewell With the Arrival of the Railroad – References
• Presentation / Video – Hopewell Train Stations: History and Art – References

Train Stations in Photos

• Post – Train Station Photos by Harry Abendroth
• Post – Ralph Curcio Hopewell Railroad Photos
• Post – Hopewell Train Station in 1881
• Post – Hopewell Train Station Photos – 1914 & c1940
• Post – Hopewell Trains and Stations – 1955
• Post – Images of the HOPE Switch Tower – 1950s
• Post – Hopewell & Pennington Train Stations and Buildings – 1973

Media – Image Gallery

• Artwork Gallery – Hopewell Train Station Art Gallery
• Gallery – All Hopewell Train Images and Hopewell Train Station Images (HwRR)
• Gallery – All Pennington Train Images and Pennington Train Station Images (PnRR)

Media – Artwork

• Post – Hopewell Train Station Art Gallery
• Post – More Intriguing Hopewell Train Station Art
• Post – Hopewell Train Station Art by Jerry Cable
• Post – Hopewell Train Station Painting with Steam Engine 602

Media – Video

• Video – 1940s videos of people boarding trains at the Hopewell Train station (YouTube)