Hopewell Borough 1974 Aerials

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What do you notice in these two 1974 aerial views around the Hopewell Elementary School? One shows the view from the school north to Broad Street, and the other shows the view west from the intersection of Broad and Princeton Avenue.

These wonderfully clear photos show features including St. Alphonsus Church, the businesses then at Princeton Avenue and East Broad Street, and the blocks along East Prospect Street, Columbia Avenue, and Seminary Avenue.

The six aerials in this new set, kindly contributed by Roger Labaw, also include an unusual view looking down towards Hopewell from the north, over Grand View Avenue and Highland Cemetery.

== See the six 1974 Hopewell Boro Aerials in the Panorama Collection ==

== See all the aerials and panoramas in the Panorama Collection ==

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North from the Elementary School

This view looking north from the Hopewell Elementary School shows the school building after the annex was added along East Prospect Avenue, but before the second extension along the south side. The playground has not been constructed yet, and there’s also a small vestigial baseball diamond near the school, in addition to the long-standing full-size field on the left  

The aerial also shows the residential blocks from East Prospect Street running horizontally by the school, to Columbia Avenue, and up to East Broad Street running along the top of the photo. These are framed by clear views down along Princeton Avenue on the right side and Seminary Avenue on the left side. Diagonally across Princeton Avenue from the school is St. Alphonsus Church and the graveyard behind.

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West from Broad & Princeton

This view is looking west up East Broad Street from the intersection at Princeton Avenue at the bottom right of the image. At the end of Princeton Avenue is the Blackwell Chrysler-Plymouth car dealer, with the service bays that still run along Princeton Avenue – and are clearly constructed from at least seven different structures. Diagonally across the intersection is Larry Benson’s Hopewell Sunoco, with Corcoran’s Liquor store (now replaced) and Sparky Lanning’s Hillside Dairy operation set back from the street.

Further up East Broad, on the south side just before Seminary Avenue, is the distinctive yellow and red Hopewell Seminary building. The “T” shape of the original two buildings is clearly visible, which were built in the 1860s and 1870s by Miss Boggs for her Hopewell Female Seminary. Across Seminary Avenue is the Hopewell Inn, showing the original square building and the back addition. Behind are the Hopewell Public Library and Calvary Baptist Church. There are also clear views of the buildings along Seminary Avenue, and across to what was then Borough Hall and Firehouse at the top.

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2020 Panoramas

For an update to the 1974 aerials, compare the views in the set of six wide-angle aerial panoramas around Hopewell Borough from 2020. For example, this view west shows the same several blocks, from the Elementary School down past Broad Street, and from Princeton Avenue to South Greenwood Avenue and beyond.

These panoramic aerials were shot from a drone, so they are closer to the ground and have a much wider and deeper field of view – providing better perspective views of the buildings. They also were filmed in the spring, so the trees had not yet filled in with leaves.

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Exploring Panoramas

The full Panorama Collection, currently contains thirteen such different sets of aerials and panoramas, dating back to 1932 Lindbergh era aerials, and also including views of Pennington and around Hopewell Township, with 1964 aerials from the Mercer County Tercentenary booklet.

Click on an image to freely pan/zoom in the scene, zooming in to see more detail and panning around along the roads and houses.

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== See the six 1974 Hopewell Boro Aerials in the Panorama Collection ==

== See all the aerials and panoramas in the Panorama Collection ==

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We welcome additional aerial and panoramic views of the Hopewell Valley to share.