The September updates to the History Project included the Quarry Swim Club presentation and related references including information on stone crusher machines, plus photos of the Hopewell Harvest Fair and updates on the Runyon Farmstead construction. (See Site Updates for more.)
By the numbers, we finished the month with 308 files in the Archives, including 153 documents and 155 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has 3633 files, and the Panoramas Collection has 50 images. The Pamphlet Collection has 222 documents, and the Property Reports Collection has 87 documents, with 58 Site Survey reports and 29 Property Briefs. The interactive History Map includes 775 addresses with 102 historic places in Hopewell Borough. The History Project YouTube Channel is hosting 28 videos, plus 16 external local history videos, including 6 videos of History Project presentations. Please keep the materials coming!
Memories of the Hopewell Quarry – Video and References
The video of the Memories of the Hopewell Quarry: Stones to Swimming presentation by Douglas Dixon is now available, along with the presentation slides, full history brief research reports, and references.
Thanks our kind contributors, the Hopewell Quarry Swim Club photo gallery now has over 150 Hopewell Quarry photos, showing the development of the site from the 1920s to the current day. The image files also are tagged with dates and descriptive terms for searching.
Stone Crushing Machines
The late 1800s / early 1900s saw the invention of a variety of stone breaker / rock crusher machines that allowed the Hopewell Quarry and other similar operations to turn walls of rock into crushed stone. These used moving metal plates to crush chunks of rocks into the desired size.
Hopewell Harvest Fair – Photos
The Hopewell Harvest Fair was started in 1987, and was held in the area around Princeton Bank (now PNC Bank) at 62 East Broad Street. In 1989 it moved to its current location at the Hopewell Elementary School (except for 1996, when it was held along West Broad Street).
We have a growing collection of Harvest Fair images, including the Wooden Car Derby event.
== View the full Harvest Fair album in the Image Gallery ==
Runyon Farmstead Construction Updates
The Runyon Farmstead property – at 19 West Broad Street, just west of South Greenwood Avenue – is one of the oldest houses in the borough. It fronts Broad Street, and extends back behind the Post Office to Gazebo Park.
Follow the Runyon Farmstead Construction Updates page to visually track the progress on the site. The original house will be converted into two separate units, two existing barns will be moved and each converted into a duplex units, and a third new barn will be constructed to provide two more units.
Please contact us if you have – or know of – other images and materials that we can share to help illuminate the history of our Hopewell Valley.
