Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
We recently posted histories of Hopewell and Pennington boroughs, written by the late David Blackwell for their 125th anniversary celebrations in 2015 / 2016. But did you know that almost a century and a half ago, our predecessors also wrote a history of Hopewell to present as part of the local celebration of the Centennial … Continue reading Historical Sketch of the Village of Hopewell – from 1876
Site updates for the month of August were widely varied, from Pennington aerials to the history of Seminary Avenue (and its barbers), to Hopewell train station art, and more. By the numbers, we finished the month with 180 files in the Archives, including 77 documents and 103 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has … Continue reading August 2020 Update
During World War II, Dean Ashton, a Hopewell journalist, wrote the Hopewell News, a newsletter of hometown news for distribution to service members around the world. After almost two and a half years, and in his 43rd issue, Ashton finally was able to share the news of celebrating V-J Day in Hopewell on August 14, … Continue reading V-J Day in Hopewell – August 14, 1945
One way to understand our local history is to look at our towns house by house, street by street. We’ve been collecting this kind of information on the History Project site, including the Historic House Tour booklets in the Pamphlets Collection, and the 1985 Cultural Resource Surveys of historic structures in the Valley. And we’ve … Continue reading Seminary Avenue History
Site updates for the month of July included several important new documents, a new Pamphlet Collection featuring the Hopewell Harvest Fair, a new page organizing the Hopewell Borough materials, and a major update to the Document and Map archives to organize the entries by town and by different document types. By the numbers, we finished … Continue reading July 2020 Update – Collections and Archives
Hopewell Borough has been served by four different fire companies, with up to three of them active at the same time in the middle 1910’s. The saga is described in the Hopewell Fire Department Anniversary booklets (see earlier post). We’ve fleshed out the story by digging into historical maps and newspaper articles for more details … Continue reading Hopewell Borough Fire Companies
We’ve just added the full set of bound issues of Dean Ashton’s Hopewell News – 1943 – 1946, a World War II news-sheet with the modest ambition to “inform service members of home-town doings.” This provides a wonderful view into daily life in Hopewell (and in the service), in over 50 issues published from January … Continue reading “Hopewell News” – from the WWII Homefront
We’ve just scanned in the Hopewell Fire Department 100th Anniversary Booklet (1911 – 2011) (PDF). It’s 87 pages, with extensive coverage and photos on the history of fire companies in Hopewell Borough, plus the Ambulance Corps, Ladies Auxiliary, past and current officers, and fire equipment. The second half also has display ads that provide information … Continue reading Hopewell Fire Department 100th Anniversary Booklet – and Mystery Photo
Thanks to the people and organizations who continue to contributing material to this site, we have needed to add a new section to the site – the Town Pamphlets Collection. This includes scans of leaflets and pamphlets distributed by local municipalities and organizations within the last 40-some years. == Browse the Town Pamphlets Collection (separate … Continue reading Town Pamphlets Collection
The month of June was focused on follow-up to our earlier postings of Hopewell Memorial Day images, with more donations of photos and materials. As another bonus, the site is now hosting the wonderful Pennington History & Walking Tour site, which was developed by local resident Joe Sinniger. The site was originally developed from a … Continue reading June 2020 Update – Memorial Day and Veterans
