Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
The October updates to the History Project featured local dairies, 1974 aerials, and a variety of new images. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 308 files in the Archives, including 153 documents and 155 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has 3680 files, and the Panoramas Collection … Continue reading October 2023 Update – Dairies & Aerials
Here is a fun collection of milk bottles and other artifacts from the heyday of independent farms and dairies in the Hopewell Valley in the mid 1900s. These are from the collection of Robert Warznak, including some items from his grandparent’s dairy, Hillcrest Farm (or Hillcrest Dairy), on Pennington-Titusville Road. They include bottles from the … Continue reading Hopewell Valley Dairies
What do you notice in these two 1974 aerial views around the Hopewell Elementary School? One shows the view from the school north to Broad Street, and the other shows the view west from the intersection of Broad and Princeton Avenue. These wonderfully clear photos show features including St. Alphonsus Church, the businesses then at … Continue reading Hopewell Borough 1974 Aerials
The September updates to the History Project included the Quarry Swim Club presentation and related references including information on stone crusher machines, plus photos of the Hopewell Harvest Fair and updates on the Runyon Farmstead construction. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 308 files in the Archives, including … Continue reading September 2023 Update – Quarry Video
How did the Hopewell Quarry and other late 1800s / early 1900s operations turn walls of rock into crushed stone? The first step is clear: drill holes into the rock wall, stuff in dynamite, and then blow off the front layer of the wall. But now you have a mess of boulders and big chunks … Continue reading Stone Crushing Machines
The Hopewell Quarry Swim Club, west of Hopewell Borough, was once the site of a rock quarry that operated from the 1890s to around 1920, making crushed stone for local roads. And the stone crusher equipment there did provide the name for the adjacent Crusher Road. In this profusely illustrated presentation, Doug Dixon surveys this … Continue reading Memories of the Hopewell Quarry – Video and References
The “Memories of the Hopewell Quarry: Stones to Swimming” talk is this Wednesday, September 6 at 7 pm, at the Hopewell Presbyterian Church or online over Zoom. This profusely illustrated presentation by Doug Dixon starts back in the late 1800s with the development of quarrying in the Hopewell Valley to generate crushed stone for local … Continue reading Hopewell Quarry Swim Club Photo Gallery
The August updates to the History Project included more on the Quarry Swim Club and the American Legion Carnival. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 300 files in the Archives, including 150 documents and 150 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has 3513 files, and the Panoramas … Continue reading August 2023 Update – Legion Carnival
In addition to the Hopewell Quarry swimming club, there were multiple other quarries operating in the Hopewell Valley in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. These were making crushed stone for use on the local roads – to replace the pain of rutted and muddy dirt roads with solid macadam roads that allowed travel … Continue reading Hopewell Valley Quarries
The lake at the Hopewell Quarry Swimming Club was not just for swimming – there also were a variety of boats and floats used in the water. Some of these were for play and relaxation, while others were there for the lifeguards so they could quickly get to someone who needed help. So here are … Continue reading Hopewell Quarry Swim Club – Boats and Floats
