Are these photos of Hopewell Valley – or not? This is a challenge that the History Project team faces when trying to identify newly contributed historic images. So now it’s your turn to decide which of these scenes are from the Hopewell Valley area, and identify the locations.
In this case, the images are a combination of street scenes and factory buildings which may or may not be from our area. The original images are from postcards that conveniently identity the scenes, but for this challenge they have been cropped to hide the details.
Click the links to jump down and reveal the answers and to view other look-alike scenes. Or just scroll through the whole post (with spacing so you don’t accidentally peek ahead).
Then have fun browsing the History Project Image Gallery, where all these images, and several thousand more, are freely available.
We welcome contributions of other new challenging images!
#1 – Hopewell Valley or Not? – Street with Church
#2 – Hopewell Valley or Not? – Factory
#3 – Hopewell Valley or Not? – Street with Kids
#4 – Hopewell Valley or Not? – Factory
Answers
Click the links to jump between the images – or keep scrolling for the answers.
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#1 – Not Hopewell Valley – Elmer, N. J.
This is an undated (early 1900s) postcard of Broad Street in Elmer, N. J., with the Baptist Church visible on the right.
It is reminiscent of scenes like this 1912 postcard, showing St. James Church on Eglentine Avenue off East Delaware Avenue in Pennington.
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#2 – Yes it’s Hopewell Valley – Titusville
This is a 1907 postcard of the Raymond Rubber Company in Titusville, with the canal and train tracks. It was described in the 1901 through 1918 editions of the Industrial Directory of New Jersey as in the rubber reclaiming business, and employing 20 to 25 people (see earlier post).
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#3 – Yes it’s Hopewell Valley – Harbourton
This is an undated postcard showing the “school at Harbourton, NJ” in the early 1900s, with kids on the street.
The crossroads sign on the left reads:
- 2 Hopewell / Moores Station 3
- 6 Ringoes / Trenton 11
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#4 – Not Hopewell Valley – Bordentown, N. J.
This is an undated postcard of the Eagle Shirt Factory in Bordentown, N. J.
It is reminiscent of the Chocolate Factory building on Railroad Place in Hopewell, which was originally a shirt factory, and then the home of Belle Mead Sweets, as shown in this 1915 postcard.