About the Hopewell History Map – New

Updated 8/2024 – Added Info panel with 100 property summaries, GPS current location, and links to History Briefs and Image Gallery

Use the interactive Hopewell History Map to explore historical information and images on properties in Hopewell Borough. The Map is built on the familiar Google Maps platform, and so has the usual map controls, plus additional historical property annotations displayed as street numbers and thumbnail images. It can be used to tour properties in current-day Hopewell, explore and animate the evolution of properties and the town over time, and then dig deeper into the histories of individual properties.

The History Map provides access to information on historical properties from the History Project site, which are displayed additional panels, including summaries of historical information, historical photos from the Image Gallery, and History Briefs and other research reports from the Document Archives.

Map, Info, & Photo Panels
2-Panel: Map & Larger Photo

== Explore the Hopewell History Map (separate site) ==

The default interface shows the main Map panel with property addresses and thumbnails, plus pop-up historical information when you clock on an address. The Photo panel then shows associated images of the property, which you can click through in date order and zoom in for more detail. The Info panel also shows short summaries of the history of the property. A separate Table panel displays a grid of all the properties and associated information, which also updates with the map.

Click the Photo/Info window to re-configure the panels to focus on the Photo display. The panels also adjust automatically with the window size (and on smaller smartphone screens).

As of August 2022, the History Map covered 775 street addresses across Hopewell Borough, including over 100 historic places, and over 1700 images of properties, historical and current-day, buildings and streetscapes. It also provides additional information on local properties, including over 100 Info summaries, and 100 History Briefs and research reports (PDF).

This is a work in progress, designed to be open for adding additional historical information and images. Comments welcome.

Browse Properties / Explore Local History / Panels and Controls
Historical Sources and Dates / More References


Browse Properties: Addresses, Photos, and Information

Browse local addresses on the map, and view images and summary information for the associated properties (as available).

Browse Local Properties: Explore street addresses by panning and zooming in the Map.
Click an address to view associated images and information on the property in the Map pop-up, the Info panel, and the Photo panel. Historical places are shown in red, and other addresses are in blue. Icons indicate that associated images and/or documents are available.

Display Thumbnail Images:
Zoom in on the Map to display thumbnail images of each property (as available). Zoom in further to view larger thumbnails of the currently-selected address and adjacent addresses.

Pan and Zoom / Re-Center:
Zoom out on the Map to view the larger area. The thumbnails and then the addresses are removed as the view zooms further out.
Click the “Hw” marker (always visible) to return to the center of Hopewell.
Click the Current Location button (top left corner of the map) to use GPS to move the map to the area of your current location. This moves to the center of Hopewell if GPS is not available or not accurate, or when outside of Hopewell.

View Property Images:
Cycle through the available images of a property in the Photo panel. The navigator thumbnail in the top right shows the extent of the currently zoomed area in the full image.
Click the sequence buttons (bottom right) for the First/Last and Previous/Next images.
Click the zoom buttons (bottom left) to pan and zoom In / Out / Home in the images – or use the mouse (computer) or touch (mobile).
Click the caption box at top left for additional information and links about the currently-selected property and currently-displayed image.

View Images Full Size:
Click the Full Size button (right-most in the bottom left zoom controls) to display the image full size in the window.
Click again to return back to the multi-panel layout.

View Property Information:
The Info panel displays historical information about the currently-selected property.
Click the links at the bottom to view associated materials, including History Brief and Site Survey reports (PDF) and the set of photos in the Image Gallery. The same information summary and links are also available in the caption box of the Photo Panel.

Browse Properties by Address:
Select Show Places in the top left menu to add the Places panel (bottom left) and browse through the table of street addresses in town. All three panels then update when you click an address in the Map or the Places panel.


Explore Local History: Then/Now, By Date, Reports

Dig further into local history information, displaying property images over time and viewing property brief research reports.

Animate By Date

Then/Now and Date Controls

Alternate between historical and current-day views of the town, and animate the growth of town over time by stepping through dates from circa 1850 to 1910.


Current-Day vs. Historic Images:
Click the Then / Now control on the top right to alternate between displaying the oldest and the most recent image available for the property, as shown in both the Map thumbnails and in the Photo panel.

Step by Date:
Animate the growth of Hopewell Borough over time by stepping through dates from circa 1850 to 1910.
Click the Date Control at the top right to show only the places known to have existed by that date. Step back to “Date” to show all properties (the default).

View Associated Information

Bottom of Info panel

Both the Photo panel caption box and the Info panel display basic information on the property and provide links to additional historical reports.


View Property Documents and Images:
Click the View Doc links to open the associated History Brief and/or 1985 Site Survey research documents in a separate window. (See Property Reports.)
Click the View Photos link to open a separate window to view the set of associated property images in the Image Gallery.
Click the Full Image link to open the current property in a separate History Map window, with the image full size.


Panels and Controls

The Hopewell History Map is designed to be used in standard Web browsers (e.g., Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Internet Explorer). It works on both computer displays and on mobile tablet devices. The display automatically simplifies for smaller windows and smartphone screens.

Window Panel Layouts

2-Panel: Map & Larger Photo
Smartphone

The History Map has a standard window layout with Map, Photo, Info, and optional Places panels. It defaults to showing the Map, Photo, and Info panels; use the menu to show the Places table panel.
Click the Photo / Info button (bottom left of the map) to enlarge the Photo panel by switching to a two-panel layout. Adjust the window size and orientation as desired for side-by-side or top-bottom layouts.
On smartphones with smaller screens (and with smaller window sizes) the layout automatically reduces to show only the Map and Photo/Info panels.

Window Panels

Map, Info, & Photo Panels
  • Map Panel (top) – Standard Google map with Google Points of Interest icons, with added historical annotations (street numbers).
  • Photo Panel (bottom right) – Displays a slide show of images for the selected property (if any). Click the property information caption for links to property documents, and to view the images full size.
  • Info Panel (bottom left) – Summary description of the property history. Click the links at the bottom for additional reports and full images.
  • Places Panel (optional – bottom left) – Table of street addresses of all properties in Hopewell Borough, with additional information including historic name / date, historic sources, Block / Lot numbers, Latitude/Longitude, and the number of associated images and documents (if any) .
  • Menu button (top left) – Click for options and links.

Map Panel

Standard Google Map, annotated with historical information (street numbers) for all Hopewell Borough properties

  • “Hw” Marker – Click to re-center and re-zoom the map to the default position.
    • (Always visible – The street address numbers are only displayed when zoomed in within the town.)
  • Properties – Red and blue street numbers
    • [Desktop] Hover to display abbreviated address and historical information.
    • Click to display additional information (in Map pop-up, Photo and Places panels).
    • Historical places (blue numbers, “^” prefix) – Displays additional information.
    • Sites with imagery (house “⌂” icon) – Displays images in the Image panel.
    • Sites with documents (square “□” icon) – Click link in Image panel caption drop-down.
  • Google Points of Interest (names and icons) – Click to display info.
  • Google Property Information – Double click on map background to display info.
    • Draws a marker with pop-up at the nearest property found.
    • Draws a yellow rectangle around the associated property bounds (if found).
  • Photo / Info button (bottom left corner) – Click to switch between displaying the Photo panel and/or the Info panel (depending on the available screen size and orientation).
  • Current Location button (top right corner) – Click to use GPS to move the map to the area of your current location. This moves to the center of Hopewell (the “Hw marker”) if GPS is not available or not accurate, or when outside of Hopewell.

Photo Panel

Displays information about the selected property, with associated images (if any)

  • Displays associated property images and information (when street number has house icon “⌂”).
  • Caption shows information (top left)
    • Lists property address, plus property historic name and date (“aka” – if any), and date and description of the current image (“Img” – if any).
    • Click to drop down for more information on the property, including Block/Lot and associated documents (also see the Address panel for additional information).
    • Click the Document link to view the associated 1985 Historical Site Survey in a separate window (street number has square icon “□”).
    • Click the Image link (“Full Img”) to open a separate History Map window to view the image full size. (In a full-size window, click the Image link (“Orig Img”) to display the original image file.)
  • Use the sequence and zoom buttons at the bottom to step through the images and pan / zoom in the current image.
    • Click the sequence buttons (bottom right) to step to Previous/Next or First/Last image in the sequence.
    • Click the zoom buttons (bottom left) to zoom In/Out, zoom back to the full Home view, and enlarge/shrink to the Full Image. Also use the standard mouse controls (desktop – click / drag / mouse wheel) or touch controls (mobile – drag, pinch).
    • Image caption displays image count (e.g., “[2 / 3]” for second of three images).

Places Panel

Table of all properties in Hopewell Borough, listed by street address, with columns containing additional information.

  • Click a row to display the selected property on the Map and Image panel.
  • Click in the column headers to sort ascending/descending.
  • Click the menu in the column headers to filter the column values (press and hold on mobile devices). For example, in the Date column, enter “1” to select only the rows containing any historical properties (i.e., with an 1800’s or 1900’s date).
  • Columns include historic Date (can be circa or by) and Description, Sources for historic information (see below), number of Images and Documents (if any), Block/Lot numbers, Old Block/Lot numbers (for Hopewell Borough pre 1994), and GPS Lat/Long. “Tax” is the tax address of the property (if different from the street address).

Menu

Click the Menu button (top right in header) for display options and links.

  • Options – Display the Options dialog (see below).
  • Show Places – Replace the Info panel with the Places Table when in the three-panel layout.
  • Help / About the History Map – Show this Help / About page (in a new window).
  • Main Hopewell History Project Site – Click to launch the main Hopewell History Project site (in a new window).

Options Dialog

Click Options in the menu to display the Options dialog and change display options. The dialog floats over the window until it is closed, so you can view the results of the changes and also click controls in the panels. This is particularly useful on small screens with limited space – which the dialog also adds the Date and Then/Now controls.

  • Places Options
    • Filter Places – By Source – Use the drop-down menu to only show historic properties listed in a specific source document or reference map. Select “Show All Places” to display all known addresses in the town (the default), or “Show all Historic Places” to display all known historic places.
    • Updates both Map and Places panels, and updates count after Places header.
  • Map Options
    • Show Map Place Thumbnails – Check to show the image thumbnail when a property is selected, and for all properties when zoomed in. Uncheck to show only the addresses and not image thumbnails.
    • Show Map Place Popups – Check to show place information pop-ups when addresses are clicked on the Map. Uncheck to not show popups, i.e., when quickly clicking through multiple addresses.
    • Show Google Points of Interest – Check to show Google Maps points of interest icons (default). Uncheck to hide the Google POI markers.
    • Show M&S RR Route – Overlay the approximate route of the Mercer & Somerset Railroad through the Hopewell Valley in the 1870s. Click the station and intermediate markers for more information about that site. The markers are connected with straight lines to approximate the route.
  • Help / About the History Map – Click to show this Help / About page (in a new window).
  • Main Hopewell History Project Site – Click to launch the main Hopewell Valley History Project site (in a new window).

Standard Google Map Controls

  • Map/Satellite Control (top left)
    • Map – Show default Google street map
      • Check Terrain to add terrain background
      • Shows approximate property lines and shapes of buildings (in gray), with street address
      • Annotated with street names (when zoomed in to a few blocks)
      • Optionally annotated with Google Points of Interest icons (municipal and businesses, when zoomed in to the town) – click for more information (as stored by Google)
    • Satellite – Show Google satellite aerial view
      • Check Labels to add street and property labels
  • Zoom Control (+/-) (bottom right)
    • Click +/- to zoom the map in and out one step
    • [Desktop] – Also use mouse wheel to zoom in/out
    • [Mobile]- Also pinch/spread with two fingers to zoom in/out
  • Pan
    • [Desktop] – Click and drag with the mouse to pan the map in the window
    • [Mobile] – Drag with finger to pan the map in the window

Historical Sources and Dates

The current list of historical properties on the map (street numbers in blue) is assembled from several sources, including the 1985 Hopewell Borough Cultural Resource Survey (a.k.a. “Site Survey“) and historical books and maps.

Use the Date control to view only the properties that existed as of that date (i.e., found in one or more sources or on one or more maps as of that date). Use the By Source menu in the Options dialog to view only the properties listed in one specific source.

The date listed for a property is derived from one or more sources, and may be an exact year (if known), or circa an approximate year (“c”), or no later than a specific year (“by” the date of a published book or map).

The historical sources currently used:

(These sources also are listed in the “Srcs” column in the Places panel table, abbreviated as S/G/H/9.)

The 1985 Site Survey is the definitive N. J. Historic Preservation Office reference, listing historic properties up to 1875. The maps used as the key references for the Site Survey are also listed in the menu (as “SS”); selecting one of these maps will display only the places that the Site Survey identifies as appearing on the corresponding map. (As a result, for example, the 1902 selection does not list any additional properties from after 1875; it only lists the pre-1875 properties in the Site Survey that also appear on the later map.)

The historical maps referenced in the Site Survey (see the Map Digital Archives and Historic Town Maps of Hopewell Borough):

  • Otley & Keily, 1849 – Map of Mercer County, N. J.
  • Lake & Beers, 1860 – Map of the Vicinity of Phila. and Trenton
  • Everts & Stewart, 1875 – Combination Atlas Map of Mercer County, N. J.
  • Fowler, 1887 – Hopewell N. J. (Panoramic aerial view)
  • Scarlett & Scarlett, 1890 – Fire Map of Mercer County, N. J.
  • Sanborn Map Co., 1902 – Fire Insurance Maps of Hopewell, Mercer Co., N. J.

(The full list of reference sources and maps are abbreviated in the “Refs” column in the Places panel, listed in the same order, and abbreviated as the first letter plus the last two digits of the date.)


More on the Hopewell History Map

Use the interactive Hopewell History Map to take a visual tour of the Hopewell Borough historic district, panning around to see all the street addresses in town with historical information, and then zooming in to see thumbnail images of each property.

== Explore the Hopewell History Map (separate window) ==
== More About the Hopewell History Map ==

Animate the growth of Hopewell Borough by stepping through time from circa 1850 to 1910 — showing new properties appearing with each time period.

Explore local properties by viewing available images from the Image Gallery, comparing the oldest and most recent images, and panning and zooming in the images.

Hopewell Valley History Project
HopewellHistoryProject.org
Email: info@hopewellhistoryproject.org
Thanks especially to:
Hopewell Valley Historical Society
Hopewell Museum
Hopewell Public Library
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