Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
Here are two student typography projects done in 1919 and 1920, including a poster for a game between Princeton High School and Hopewell High School. These were done by Royal Carroll, who was in 9th grade at the time at Princeton High School. Royal lived on the family farm east of Rocky Hill, and married … Continue reading Learning Your Letters – School Signs
Updated 2/14/24 – Thanks to multiple commentators on Facebook. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw the beginnings of personal photography, with local drugstores selling photo postcards and photo enthusiasts carrying box cameras that used glass plate negatives. So if a group of young people in Hopewell wanted to take some fun pictures, their version … Continue reading Hopewell Rocks
The January updates to the History Project featured information on automobile travel in the early 1900s – maps, travel guides, and cars – plus a video of the 1984 Pennington Memorial Day parade. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 319 files in the Archives, including 157 documents and … Continue reading January 2024 Update – Automobile Travel
1/13/24 – Added Art Slack’s 1941 Dodge The Hopewell Valley not only has fine historic buildings, but also antique cars that go well with the historic feel. You can see these cars in local parades and events, including Cruise Night in Hopewell Borough. Here’s a wonderful photo of a 1941 Studebaker taxi at the Pennington … Continue reading 1935 LaSalle and 1941 Studebaker in Hopewell
Here are three maps that continue the story of the development of the Hopewell Valley road network. The 1920s N. J. State Road Maps show the original route of our Route 31 (previously Route 69) – directly through downtown Pennington and then forking at Marshall’s Corner. The 1962 Hopewell Township Road Map then shows roads … Continue reading 1920s and 1962 Hopewell Road Maps
by Douglas Dixon Here are some highlights of the 2023 additions to the History Project site, with links to more information, plus associated documents, maps, photos, and videos. The purpose of the Hopewell Valley History Project is assemble an archive of reference material in local history, shared online in digital and searchable formats for education … Continue reading Hopewell History Project – 2023 Highlights
The December updates to the History Project featured research on the Brick Farm Market building, the Old School Baptist Church, and 1960s area maps, plus large photo collections from several contributors on St. Michael’s Orphanage, from the Hopewell Business Association, and of Titusville and Washington Crossing postcards. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, … Continue reading December 2023 Update – Brick Farm Market & St. Michael’s
We have posted a new collection of some 180 photos of people and activities at St. Michael’s Orphanage in a album on the History Project site. This is in addition to the some 30 existing mostly postcards of the building, for a total of over 200 images now shared on the site. These include over … Continue reading St. Michael’s Orphanage Photo Collection
Season’s Greetings from the Hopewell Valley History Project! Here are some snowflakes and snow – Two sets of photos that remind us of holidays in Hopewell, with local traditions including the snowflake lights in downtown Hopewell Borough and snowy scenes at Gazebo Park. See the links at the end for more historical snowy scenes. Do … Continue reading Hopewell Holiday Traditions – Snowflakes and Snow
65 East Broad Street in Hopewell was built in 1933 as a combination garage, store, and apartment – and as the new home of the Arena family and their Italian-American grocery business. The building was shared by multiple businesses into the 1940s, and then was the home of several auto sales and repair businesses until … Continue reading 65 East Broad, Hopewell – Markets and Autos
