Hopewell Train Stations: History and Art

Wed., Dec. 1, 2021 – 6:30 pm Meet the Artists – 7 pm Presentation
– In person at The Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood Avenue, Hopewell, NJ
– Or online over Zoom – Register here (HVHS)

Hopewell Public Library “Wednesday Night Out” Lecture Series
Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and The Hopewell Museum
Free and open to the public

• See the References post for additional material on the train stations, including the online video, presentation slides, slide shows, associated briefs for the train stations and railroad lines, and information on the art and artists.

The Hopewell and Pennington train stations not only are historic National Register-listed properties, but they also are iconic symbols of our communities.

Built in 1876, these stations served over 20 trains a day between Philadelphia and New York in the heyday of the railroads, before sinking into disrepair with the decline of railroad traffic into the 1980s.

But the stations have since been reborn, as a private residence in Pennington and as a community park and gathering place in Hopewell Borough.

In this presentation, Doug Dixon will present a visual history of these train stations, illustrating their story with photographs and artwork. This talk will celebrate both the history of the railroads in the Hopewell area, and the photographers and artists who captured these past moments for us.

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Meet the artists and families: Come at 6:30 pm to chat with local artists Ken McIndoe and Jerry Cable, and the families of Sal Asaro and E. B. Walden (Gray’s Watercolors).

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About the speaker:  Doug Dixon is an independent technology consultant and writer, now morphed into a history enthusiast. He is a board member of the Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. Over the past few years, Doug has developed the Hopewell Valley History Project (HopewellHistoryProject.org), which is working with many local contributors to collect and freely share digital copies of local historical materials to aid research into Hopewell area people and places.

As a software technologist, Doug specializes in Web technology, databases, and digital media. He has consulted to the Aberdeen Test Center doing large data testing and visualization, and previously was a product manager and software developer at Intel and Sarnoff. He has authored four books on digital media, published hundreds of feature articles, and presented over a hundred seminars and talks.

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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

• Post – The Railroads of the Frog War – Hopewell Valley Railroads
• Post – Hopewell Reading Line Railroad Timetable Collection – Local train service
• 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

Railroad Collections

• Pamphlets – Railroad Timetable Collection

Media – Railroads in 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 – Railroad 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 – Railroad Video

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