The August 2025 updates to the History Project included the Builders’ Guide to Hopewell Valley Construction Projects, the Toll Gate and Hopewell Elementary School Centennials, an odd Rorer Funeral Football Ladle, and additional material, especially for area schools. (See Site Updates for more.)
Builders’ Guide to Hopewell Valley Construction Projects
The Builders’ Guide to Hopewell Valley Construction Projects – 1888-1940 is extracted from the Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders’ Guide, which was published weekly from 1886 to 1940, with about 1000 pages per year. The listings include notices of upcoming work, calls for proposals with specifications of new projects, and announcements of contracts awarded.
This Hopewell Valley extract has 170 descriptions of construction projects in the area from 1888 to 1940, also including parks, roads, bridges, railroads, and trolleys. The areas covered include including Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough, Pennington Borough, Titusville, Harbourton, Woodsville, and Washington Crossing.
Toll Gate and Hopewell Elementary School Centennials
We are coming up on the 100th anniversaries for two of our local schools next year – Toll Gate Grammar School and Hopewell Elementary School.
This Toll Gate and Hopewell Elementary School Centennials post summarizes the histories of the two schools, with links to more information.
Rorer Funeral Football Ladle
This Rorer Funeral Football Ladle was created as a promotional product for the Funeral Director business of Francis C. W. Rorer, that operated on Front Street in Hopewell Borough from 1915 to 1947.
However, this ladle as a promotional product is a rather more expensive than the more common paper fans and metal ashtrays. One possible explanation is that F. C. W. Rorer’s son, Herbert F. Rorer, ran the Rorer Hardware Store at 31 West Broad Street starting in 1926, which then continued under the family until it was closed in 1979. So perhaps some ladles became available through a deal with the hardware store?
Additional Materials
Additional material includes area schools and churches, and other local historical images.
Image Gallery
- Hopewell Boro: Rorer Funeral, Rainieri Paint, Purple House, Louellen & Lanning / Eaton Place
- Schools: Hw Elem yearbook covers 1997-2025, Hw Elem class photos 1965-70, Penn Gram class 1946, 2020s Timberlane Middle School shirts
- Mementos: Farr / Rorer Funeral, Shear Madness
- Legion Memorial Day observances
Pamphlet Collection
- 2024 Pennington Methodist 250th Anniversary
- 1946 Pennington Grammar & 1959 Hopewell Elementary School yearbooks
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.
