This archive of twenty early Mercer County area farming and school photos comes from the 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties (see previous post).
These wonderfully evocative photos include scenes of local schools and school children, and farm scenes with different animals and crops, ranging from horse-drawn plows to more “modern” equipment and techniques.
See the photo gallery – 1914 Mercer County Farm and School Photos
Farming Operations
Several photos illustrate the beginnings of the mechanization of farming operations, from a traditional horse-drawn plow (“good stock”) to more “modern” equipment, including plowing (“eight furrows at one time”), and cultivating for fruit crops (“the work of a modern tractor”):
For apple farming, there are illustrations of apple trees blossoming, hand picking an apple crop with ladders, and a horse-drawn improvised system (“The Apple King of New Jersey”):
For field crops, there are examples of using a hand-driven wheel barrow to spray potatoes, and then hand-picked harvesting for potatoes, compared to the use of mechanical equipment for harvesting wheat:
Livestock
A few of the photos celebrate local livestock: “blooded Holstein cattle” (e.g., purebred or registered), plus two cows with records of 117 and 118 pounds of milk a day.
There also is a view of a Spottswood poultry farm with free-range chickens, and a wonderful scene with two men who do not appear very enthusiastic about “picking broilers for market.” There appear to be chickens hanging in the background, at least one barrel for soaking the chickens, and perhaps a temperature gauge – plus a profusion of feathers.
Trenton Fair
Two photos show the Trenton Inter-State Fair. In addition to horse racing and other amusements, the Fair included exhibitions of “products of the farm, agricultural implements, farm stock and many other objects of educational interest to the agriculturist and the urbanite.” (See description from A History of Trenton: Recreations.)
The Fair was held at the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds, now the site of Grounds For Sculpture. (See photo at the Grounds For Sculpture history page).
Local Schools
In addition to the farm images, the book also includes photos of four local schools: Pleasant Valley, Glenmoore/Marshalls Creek, Woodsville, and Hopewell High. This was a time of very local schools, before regionalization and extensive school busing.
- The Pleasant Valley School was purchased by a former student who turned it into a family home about 1938, and used the wood of the old school room to help build his chicken houses. (Courtesy of Larry Kidder.)
- The Marshall’s Corner / Glenmoore School building is now renovated into the Old School Guitar Repair on Pennington-Hopewell Road / Route 654 near Route 31. (See Old School Guitar Repair’s Schoolhouse History page.)
- The Woodsville School originally had a church on the second floor, which was later removed to make it a one-story school building. (See Hopewell Valley Heritage.)
- The Hopewell High School building pictured is now the firehouse at the corner of South Greenwood and Columbia avenues in Hopewell Borough. It was built in 1910 as the newly-created regional Hopewell High School. (Note the building today has only two stories. See earlier post on The Confusing Hopewell Firehouse – and Boro Hall and High School.)
More from the book:
The Mercer County section of the book has been scanned and is available for download (e.g., 173 of the 288 pages, with the front half plus shared front and back matter):
- Mercer County book scan – Mercer County Section – 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties (PDF)
Plus a separate extract of Hopewell Valley materials, including county farm statistics and over 100 listings of local businesses:
- Hopewell Valley – Hopewell Valley Extract – 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties (PDF)
And 20 Mercer County farming photos used to illustrate the book:
- Photos – Mercer County Farm Photos from 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties
Plus associated maps:
Thanks to Bob Lawless for discovering and sharing the book.
Please contact us if you have comments or information on this document, or other related local materials that you can share.
More on Hopewell Valley References
Historical atlases and reference books with information on local towns including statistics, people, and businesses. These include Extract documents that include local information from books with a larger scope (e.g., county or state) and have edited versions of the text from the scanned documents.
See the Hopewell Valley References for a comprehensive list of these, plus history books on the local area and towns. These include links for more information and direct links to the full documents.
Hopewell Valley Atlases
- State Atlas of New Jersey, Beers (1872)
- Historical Atlas of Mercer County, N.J., Everts & Stewart (1875)
- Atlas of N. J., Geological Survey – NJ & HV, Bein (1888)
Hopewell Valley References
- Historical Collections of State of N. J., Barber & Howe (1865)
- NJ Railroad Gazetteer & Bus. Dir., Mitchell (1877) – Hw Valley Extract
- Industries Of N.J. – Part I, Edwards (1882) – Trenton & vicinity
- Industries Of N.J. – Part I, Edwards (1882) – Hw Twp Extract
- History of Burlington & Mercer Counties, Hageman (1883) – Hw Twp Extract
- Industrial Directory of N. J. (1901-18) – Hw Valley Extracts
- Mercer & Middlesex Farm & Business Directory (1914) – Mercer Cty & Hw Valley Extract
- Phila. Builders’ Guide (1888-1940) – Hw Valley Extract
