Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
We have some wonderful new images from two new contributors: Jacob Aungst kindly shared images of a Hopewell Dainties sign. The Dainties brand was the flagship product manufactured by the Hopewell Chocolate Company at the old Chocolate Factory from 1909 to 1930 (see earlier post). The sign has seen hard times, but is readable on … Continue reading 1955 Hopewell Trains and Stations
The March updates on the Hopewell Valley History Project site included reports on the Second Calvary Baptist Church of Hopewell and the Hopewell Tomato Factory, photos of Tomato Factory artifacts and the back of the Chocolate Factory, new Hopewell Borough 1972 Aerials, and the full 1964 Mercer County Tercentenary booklet. By the numbers, we finished … Continue reading March 2021 Update – Hopewell & Mercer
In 1964, Mercer County celebrated the “300th Anniversary of New Jersey” with a wonderful commemorative book, Mercer County Tercentenary 1664-1964, which provides a broad snapshot of the time, with extensive discussions of the history, current status, and path forward for the county – from a rather optimistic and positive perspective. This book is in the … Continue reading Mercer County Tercentenary, 1664-1964
The current Tomato Factory Antiques Center on Somerset Street in Hopewell was indeed once a tomato cannery, which operated from 1892 to around 1950. (See the previous post for stories of the factory during World War II.) We’ve just posted an extensive history brief on the history of the Tomato Factory and the canning business … Continue reading The Hopewell Valley Canning Company
Got cans? The Hopewell Valley once had a thriving canning industry, and, yes, the Tomato Factory Antiques Center on Somerset Street in Hopewell was indeed once a tomato cannery. In fact, tomatoes were a favorite crop with New Jersey farmers, who routinely canned tomatoes and other produce for their families. Starting around 1850, and continuing … Continue reading The Hopewell Tomato Factory During World War II
Thanks to discussions with local historian Elaine Buck, we have assembled the story of the Second Calvary Baptist Church in Hopewell. The Church that we know was built in 1959, and is the anchor of eastern end of Columbia Avenue at the corner of Maple Street. But, as we have come to expect with Hopewell … Continue reading The Second Calvary Baptist Church of Hopewell
The February updates on the Hopewell Valley History Project site included new material on Mount Rose, documents on the Lindbergh case and 1932 Hopewell, annotated maps of Titusville and Pennington showing homeowners and businesses from 1860 and 1875, and new panoramic images – plus new tools for viewing panoramas and the other collections. By the … Continue reading February 2021 Update – Mt. Rose, Lindbergh, Maps & Panoramas
We’ve added new 1964 aerial images – from the year the Beatles took America by storm. This project expanded into developing a new Aerial Panorama Viewer for exploring them (including panning and zooming into the images), which then grew into extending the simple Collections Viewer interface to support the other History Project collections. New 1964 … Continue reading New 1964 Panoramas, and Collections
So who was where in Hopewell, when, and doing what? We have some annotated maps that help with this (see previous post), and some business directories. And now, as a result of the Lindbergh case (see companion post on our fascination with Lindbergh), we have a 1932 phone directory for Hopewell and the surrounding area … Continue reading 1932 (Lindbergh) Hopewell Phone Directory
What is it about the Lindbergh case that so fascinates us, almost ninety years later? And what was it about this drama that caused such a media circus at the time? Mark Falzini, Archivist at the New Jersey State Police Museum, wrote about this enduring mystery in his 2006 report, “Studying the Lindbergh Case: A … Continue reading Our Fascination with Lindbergh
