Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
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
Who were the people who lived here in the Hopewell Valley around 1875 – some 150 years ago? And what did they do here? The maps of the time show that many ran small businesses, providing supplies and services to the local community. Some of these businesses are still familiar today: druggist, barber, shoemaker, dressmaker, … Continue reading Pennington & Titusville Business Maps c1875
This week we’re celebrating Mount Rose, due to the kindness of Sheila Fields, Max Hayden, and Richard Hunter in sharing important material including local histories, preservation efforts, and documentation of the historic Mount Rose Distillery and Mount Rose General Store. See the Mount Rose History Brief for more on the historic village of Mount Rose … Continue reading Explore Mount Rose
The January updates on the Hopewell Valley History Project site included explorations of several historic Hopewell landmarks, through newly-contributed family photos and the History Project collections. There are also some new enhancements to the site, included extended Image Galleries, built-in Pan/Zoom for exploring images in the History Map, and a new Property Report viewer for … Continue reading January 2021 Update – Hopewell Landmarks
This could be the most confusing building in Hopewell Borough – The current firehouse and former Borough Hall on the corner of Columbia Avenue and South Greenwood Avenue (2-4 Columbia Avenue). Yes, these three images are the same building – The tall three-story High School built in 1910, the squat two-story Borough Hall renovated in … Continue reading The Confusing Hopewell Firehouse (and Boro Hall and High School)
The saga of the Chocolate Factory in Hopewell is even more interesting than we have heard. This iconic brick building on Railroad Place has been a shirt factory, *three* different candy factories – and the home of the Fraley Electric Thermo Vibra Company (view on the History Map). The story also is a testament to … Continue reading The Saga of the Hopewell Chocolate Factory
