Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
The May updates on the Hopewell Valley History Project site supported Hopewell Valley Heritage Week in the Valley, and continued to focus on Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough for the Industrial Hopewell walking tours and the upcoming online virtual tour of Railroad Place. By the numbers, we finished the month with 225 files in the … Continue reading May 2021 Update – Industrial Hopewell
A now-historic ice cream scoop has been returned to the Rose and Chubby’s building by Bob Witkowski (aka Mr. Haircut) and Sal Torre. The scoop goes back to the 1950s, when it was used at the store that was then owned by Jimmy and Marie Hall. Jimmy also loaned the scoop to the American Legion … Continue reading Hot Scoop at Chubby’s
As a follow-up to the earlier story of the history of the Aunt Chubby’s Luncheonette building in Hopewell (the corner store at North Greenwood and Railroad Place), we have two menus kindly provided by the Aunt Chubby’s family – one from when the store was known as Chubby’s Luncheonette (around 1991 to 2012), and another … Continue reading Historic Chubby’s Lunch Menus
Here are references and links for the Industrial Hopewell historic walking tour and online webinar on Railroad Place, including the webinar video, presentation slides, tour handout, more detailed briefs on the individual properties, associated slide shows, and related Hopewell Museum videos. These cover the large industrial buildings along Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough, including the … Continue reading Industrial Hopewell: Railroad Place – References
Next week, May 22 – 31, 2021, is Hopewell Valley Heritage Week, celebrating the rich heritage of the Hopewell Valley with a full week of events, some virtual and others outdoors. This year’s theme is Trains, Planes & Automobiles – American Indian to Modern Day Transportation in Hopewell Valley. And to celebrate we have two … Continue reading Historical Slide Shows for Heritage Week
Completing our exploration down Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough, we have reached the large Smith / Rockwell / Kooltronic manufacturing facility at the end of Hamilton Ave. The building is now used for office space and storage, but was once a large manufacturing plant providing over 200 local jobs. The facility is clearly composed from … Continue reading The Kooltronic / Rockwell / Smith Story
An Online Virtual Tour –“Trains, Tomatoes, and Chocolates” by Douglas DixonThursday, June 10, 2021, 7 pm See Industrial Hopewell: Railroad Place for the presentation slides, tour handout, associated briefs for the individual properties, and slide shows. See associated slide show: Industrial Hopewell – Railroad Place – Then & Now (Use the playback controls to Pause, … Continue reading Industrial Hopewell: The Growth of Railroad Place
We have two new aerial photos from 1966, showing views to the horizon of Pennington and Hopewell boroughs. The ground is blanketed in snow, with open area and fields surrounding the development in the towns. These are thanks again to Roger Labaw, who filmed these while flying in a private plane. Looking East Over Pennington … Continue reading 1966 Snowy Aerials of Pennington and Hopewell
We’ve been exploring down Railroad Place in Hopewell, and today we reach J. B. Hill and Sons – a Hopewell fixture for over a century. The company had its origins as a coal business back to 1890, then added grain & feed, lumber, building supplies, fuel oil, and finally general hardware and paints before closing … Continue reading J. B. Hill & Sons on Railroad Place
The April updates on the Hopewell Valley History Project site were focused on Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough, in preparation for the upcoming Industrial Hopewell Historical Walking Tour. By the numbers, we finished the month with 220 files in the Archives, including 97 documents and 123 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has 1823 … Continue reading April 2021 Update – Railroad Place
