= Historic Railroad Place Walking Tour =
Sat., Sept. 12, 2026 – 11 am and 2 pm
Registration Required – Space is Limited – Register Here
The buildings on Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough are the physical legacy of the town’s industrial past.
The arrival of the railroad in 1876 drove the industrial development of this area in the late 1800s and early 1900s – including the first block of historic residential and commercial buildings across from the train station, and the now-repurposed industrial buildings further down along to Somerset Street.
As shown in the 1932 aerial image, the industrial buildings still standing along Railroad Place are the Chocolate Factory, J. B. Hill’s Lumber (now Morehouse Engineering), the Tomato Factory, and the Rockwell / Kooltronic site. Two additional buildings along the tracks past the train station and Freight House were later replaced almost in place after fires, the Farmers Co-op Association / FCA (now Dance Exposure II) and the Grain & Feed (now Firedance Studio).
This area also was criss-crossed by two railroad sidings serving the businesses on the north side of the street.
As shown in the 1927 map, the two railroad sidings ran diagonally into the north side of Railroad Place:
- The eastward siding ran diagonally past the Grain & Feed to the Tomato Factory and Hill’s.
- The westward siding ran diagonally by the FCA to the front side of the train station.
These sidings also explain the diagonal alignment of the FCA and Feed &Grain buildings that they served.
We even still have remnants of these sidings along the street:
- The eastward siding ended in a elevated coal trestle near the front of the Tomato Factory, which was used to deliver coal to the Blackwell and Hill storage area by the Tomato Factory. The end support of this trestle still stands as a display area for Firedance Studio.
- The westward siding ended in the open area in front of the train station, to park freight cars for unloading and loading goods. What may be the bumper from the end of the siding sits by the light pole along the side of the train station driveway.
- See Hopewell Railroad Sidings for more on these buildings and sidings
- View the full History Brief: Hopewell Borough Railroad Sidings / FCA (PDF)
We welcome comments and more information and materials about Railroad Place and our local history.
More on Industrial Railroad Ave. and Somerset St.
Information on the individual properties along Railroad Place, with more details and images (and links to full History Brief PDFs):
Posts
- Industrial Hopewell: Railroad Place – and video of the associated presentation
- Historical Railroad Place – Industrial Legacy
- Hopewell Chocolate Factory (1892) – Tomato Canning Factory (1892)
- Railroad Sidings / FCA (c1875) – J. B Hill and Sons (c1875)
- Kooltronic / Rockwell / Smith (1900) – Rockwell Fire Brigade on Somerset (c1927)
- Rose & Chubby’s Luncheonette (c1890s)
- Somerset Street – Brickyard / Rockwell (1890) – Lost Somerset Street
Media
- Presentation / Video – Hopewell with the Arrival of the Railroad – How Hopewell became a town – including Rockwell and Somerset Ave.
- Hopewell Museum Videos page – Chocolate Factory and Tomato Factory
- Slide Shows – Industrial Hopewell – Railroad Place – Then & Now – Transportation in the Valley
