Do you remember Franco’s / Vincenzo’s Pizza, and the earlier Eagle Bakery on Mercer Street in Hopewell? They occupied a rather interesting building that is built completely over a stream – which became a problem in 2021, when the flooding from hurricanes Henri and then Ida damaged the building so that it had to be vacated.
This nondescript building at 4 Mercer Street has a history back to 1900, also shared with a variety of businesses. The building has a two-story front section, with a full-width one-story section behind. It also is divided internally into three sections with multiple doors along the street, where the right section was the entrance for Franco’s / Vincenzo’s Pizza, and the left section was the main entrance for the Eagle Bakery. The upstairs is divided into two sections, a smaller studio on the left and a larger space that includes the middle and right sections.
== View the full History Brief on 4 Mercer St. – Piggott Agricultural / Eagle Bakery / Franco’s Pizza (PDF) ==
Please contact us if you have photos of or more information on this building and these businesses – especially interior shots of the pizza restaurant and the bakery.
Franco’s / Vincenzo’s Pizza – 1974-2020
Franco’s / Vincenzo’s Pizza was a Hopewell fixture from 1974 to 2020, operated by Francesco (Franco) Lettieri, who came to the United States from Italy in 1967 at age 14, and lived in Long Island where he worked in Italian pizzerias.
In 1974, at age 21, Lettieri opened Jack’s Pizza on Mercer Street in Hopewell with his brother in-law. In 1980, they opened a second location, Franco’s Pizza in Warminster, Pa. Lettieri then focused on the Hopewell store, which closed for a month to remodel and refresh the interior, and then reopened as Vincenzo’s Pizza. The restaurant name then evolved to Franco’s Pizza around 2004.
When it was first started in the 1970’s, the restaurant was only in the right section, with a dining area in the front, the counter and pizza ovens against the back wall of the two-story front section, and the kitchen behind.
Later, a doorway was added in the wall between the right and middle sections of the building, so the front of the middle section could be used as additional dining area, with a bathroom in the back.
Lettieri speaks warmly of Hopewell: “I fell in love when I first came down, It’s very historical, it’s very quiet. … It’s a pleasure to serve my customers all these years. To me it’s like family.” [Comm. News 2010] The restaurant hours were long: in 2010, it was open daily from 10:30 am to 11:30 pm, and Sunday from 11:30 am to 10:30 pm.
In Hopewell, Lettieri was a strong supporter of the Harvest Fair, particularly the Wooden Car Derby program – using the restaurant as a site for picking up the car kits, providing prizes for the winners including silver dollar sets, and providing free soda and pizza for all participants. He also supported the Off-Broadstreet Theater, especially by staying open late to provide pizza for closing nights to support the cast and crew.
Starting in the second half of the 2000’s, Lettieri was beset with a series of family and personal medical issues, and finally had to close down the business in 2020, after some 45 years in Hopewell. He reports that he is now living comfortably near family in upstate New York, and enjoys visits with his extended family in Italy.
Other Businesses
Before Franco’s / Vincenzo’s Pizza, in the early 1970s, the building was the home of the Middlebrook Bakery / Delicatessen, operated by Louis and Josephine Reciniello.
In the early years starting in 1974, the building was shared, with the pizza restaurant only in the right section of the building, Henderson Real Estate in the right section, and attorney Daniel Lyons in the middle section. Later, the restaurant expanded into the middle section as a dining area.
The left section on the ground floor and the upper floor then were used for a variety of businesses. Travel agencies included All Around Travel / Sue Grafton in 1990 and UNIGLOBE c. 2003. Lofberg Enterprises, General Contactor / Construction Manager, also was there in 1996.
Starting in 2010, Considine Communication Strategies occupied the upstairs of the building until the flooding in 2021. From 2017 to 2020, Subtle by Monika Photography occupied the upstairs left studio.
Eagle Bakery – 1930s-1970
The Eagle Bakery was a major part of Hopewell life at the building from the 1930s until 1970. The business included baked goods, a deli with seating, “essential” groceries, an ice cream parlor with counter seating, and the on-site bakery.
The business was run by Ludwig (“Louie”) Gerhard for more than 48 years, from c. 1922 to his retirement in 1970. After marrying Martha Dittman in 1932, the two of them worked together on the businesses for over 35 years.
Gerhard was not originally on Mercer Street. By 1930, he had a storefront at 35 [West] Broad Street, but also was doing the baking at Mercer Street. By 1932, the Eagle Bakery was operating its bakery store and ovens in the left section of the building.
In 1939, the Eagle Bakery announced the opening of the full realization of the store using the entire building: a “modern bakery and self-service grocery store,” featuring Arctic ice cream, magazines, candy, and a delicatessen. The deli also was expanded into a luncheonette, featuring sandwiches and tomato pie.
The left section of the building was the store. The front had glass display cases along the left wall, with baked goods in the front and the deli for sandwiches in the back. On the right were shelves for “essential” groceries (since there was limited space), especially canned goods.
On the right wall near the back was an interior doorway into the middle section of the building, which was the luncheonette and ice cream parlor. It had tables for use as a lunchroom, plus an ice cream counter with stools (perhaps on the right wall).
Another interior doorway then lead into the right section of the building, which was the working bakery. It had ovens and other equipment, including the bread slicer and pastry filler (to squeeze fillings into pastries).
For Thanksgiving, Gerhard also provided the service of cooking customer’s large turkeys in the bakery’s industrial-sized ovens. Gerhard was an important contributor to Hopewell community and economic life. He worked hard, and shared his success, particularly by providing jobs, housing, and support for fellow German immigrants. Martha Gerhard also was a trustee of and volunteer at the Hopewell Museum, and a member of the Hopewell Fire Department Woman’s Auxiliary for many years.
By 1942, in the midst of World War II, local Boy Scouts were collecting salvage materials including scrap metals, waste paper, rags, and rubber, and storing the newspapers and magazines in a small building adjacent to the Eagle Bakery. This Boy Scout building then was destroyed in 1945, causing extensive damage to the Eagle Bakery. A month later, the store (left side) and ice cream parlor-luncheonette (middle) were open, since they were in the north end of the building away from the fire, but the right section was more seriously damaged.
Having the bakery operational was important to the town because of war rationing, since “the shortage of sugar stopped home baking long ago, while the supply available in the stores – as far as cakes and pies are concerned – is sharply reduced.” [Humble, July 1945]
Early 1900s Businesses
The building was occupied by a variety of businesses in the early 1900s, sharing the space and also two to three adjacent smaller buildings.
Some of these that we can trace included:
- Marion Voorhees Hardware, Stoves, Farmers Supplies, etc. (1900)
- William Hart pool room and tobacco and cigar store (1898)
- A. Farley Stout, tinning and plumbing (1916)
- M. D. di Puglia barber shop (1910s)
- Vincent Denito fruit store, tobacco and cigars (1916)
Piggott Agricultural Implements – 1880-c1889
The current building at 4 Mercer is actually the second at that site. The first building was built in 1881 for J. H. Piggott’s Agricultural Implement business. Piggott sold a wide variety of farm machinery, including equipment and goods, including reapers and plows and mowers, field rollers, corn shellers, and hay cutters.
Piggott did farm work as a boy near Hopewell. At age nineteen, he enlisted to serve as a private in the Civil War during 1862-1863. After returning to Hopewell, he learned the blacksmith and machinist trade, and then started the Agricultural Implement business and built the warehouse and an adjacent blacksmith shop.
Piggott later was involved in a number of other business ventures, including a confectionary and ice cream parlor, billiard and pool parlors, machinery repair services, a fruit and confectionary store, and an oyster saloon and lunch counter.
However, while the Piggott building resembles the current building in location, size, and shape, they are not the same building – since the Piggott building collapsed into the stream in 1895:
The agricultural warehouse on Mercer street, belonging to Joseph M. Phillips, collapsed last Friday morning. …
On Thursday the Home Comfort Range Co. unloaded a carload of stoves and put them in the building and in the evening it commenced to give way. An attempt was made to save it but it proved useless. The building was set on piling over the creek and the immense weight was too much for the rotten supports, and down it went to the “bottom of the creek,” about 4 feet. The goods in the building were moved out on Friday and men were put at work tearing away the debris. A new structure will be erected on the same site. [HH 5/2/1895]
By that time, Piggott was no longer using the building, and it was occupied as an an oyster saloon and pool parlor, a storehouse, and as a dwelling (upstairs). The new building was built quickly, and then was used by similar businesses.
== View the full History Brief on 4 Mercer St.,- Piggott Agricultural / Eagle Bakery / Franco’s Pizza (PDF) ==
Please contact us if you have photos of or more information on this building and these businesses – especially interior shots of the pizza restaurant and the bakery.
