Memories of the Hopewell Quarry: Stones to Swimming
Presented by Douglas Dixon
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Wed., Sept. 6, 2023, 7 pm - Free and open to the public
- Attend in person at the Hopewell Presbyterian Church, 80 West Broad St., Hopewell, NJ - Or join online virtual presentation via Zoom -> Click to register here for online only Yes, the Hopewell Quarry swim club, east of Hopewell Borough, indeed 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 will survey this century and a quarter of local history, from stones to swimming. First, we will drill into historic maps and newspapers to trace the development of quarries in Hopewell, which saw strong demand to improve the local dirt roads. Then, we will do a deep dive into a large collection of photos contributed by multiple generations of “quarry rats” to fathom how the site evolved as a swim club over time. The result is a story of the growth of the Hopewell area, and of the dedicated efforts by a handful of couples and families to preserve and enhance this local resource for over a century.
About the speaker: Doug Dixon is an independent technology consultant and writer, now morphed into a history enthusiast and author. He is a board member of The Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.
Since mid-2019, Doug has developed the Hopewell Valley History Project to collect and freely share digital copies of local historical materials to aid research into area people and places (HopewellHistoryProject.org). With the assistance of over 130 local contributors, the History Project now hosts some 560 documents and maps, 3400 images and videos, and an interactive historical map of Hopewell to aid research into Hopewell area people and places. With these materials, Doug also has authored some 40 Hopewell Borough History Briefs, 500 pages of research reports on local organizations, businesses, and properties – and the people who made them. As a software technologist, Doug specializes in Web technology, databases, and digital media. He has authored four books on digital media, published hundreds of feature articles, and presented over a hundred technical seminars and talks. Hopewell Public Library Speaker Series Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and The Hopewell Museum - Attend the event in person in Fellowship Hall at the Hopewell Presbyterian Church, 80 West Broad Street, Hopewell, NJ 08525. The in-person event is free and open to the public – No registration is required. - Or attend the event online via Zoom – Click to register here for online only |
[Lowe Family]
1930s [Nancy Kennedy]
Doug Dixon
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2023 Annual Meeting of the HVHS
“The Archaeology of Two Hopewell Farms”
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Sun., Sept. 24, 2023
- 2 pm - Business Meeting & History Awards Presentation; 3 pm - Program In-person: Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township Online: Internet Webinar via Zoom - Register Here |
Moore House outline
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2 pm - HVHS Annual Membership Meeting with Election of Officers and Trustees
The public is welcome to attend. Members will vote on HVHS business. Presentation of the Hopewell Valley History Awards. |
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3 pm - Historic Preservation Program -
“The Archaeology of Two Hopewell Farms” The HVHS is honored to have two eminent New Jersey archaeologists talk to you about two of the Hopewell Valley’s historic farm families. Michael J. Gall is a Principal Senior Archaeologist at Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc., a cultural resource management firm in Cranbury, New Jersey, and serves as an Adjunct Professor in the History and Anthropology Department at Monmouth University. Dr. Richard Hunter is President of Hunter Research, Inc., an historic preservation consulting firm. The company provides historical, archaeological and historic architectural services to a wide range of clients. A long-time resident of Hopewell Township, he currently serves as a Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commissioner and past President of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. Mr. Gall’s talk will be on the Moore Family Farmstead in Hopewell. That archaeological work was undertaken in advance of construction for the Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell and revealed important clues about the mid-18th-century Moore family. Their story is told through the archaeology of their former farmstead and the artifacts the family left behind. Mr. Hunter’s talk will trace the Phillips Family of Pleasant Valley, especially as it relates to Howell Living History Farm. Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Phillips’ farmed, milled, and smithed in the Valley. The house of blacksmith John Phillips no longer exists but the house of his farmer/grist miller son Henry still exists on the grounds of Howell Living History Farm. |
Phillips House cellar
Richard Hunter
Michael Gall
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Meeting Information and Registration
In-person: Howell Living History Farm, Visitor Center, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township, NJ 08530
Online: The annual meeting and the presentation will be streamed online over Zoom. Register here for the online Zoom presentation |
A Return to Summer Socials -
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Golf Links [undated, Bill Frenchu]
Clubhouse and putting green, 1960 [Peter Gantz]
Clubhouse and view, 1961 [Peter Gantz]
Download Flyer (PDF)
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Reserve Tickets - After June 10 ($35 Each)
Click for order form - Enter number of tickets - then pay with PayPal or credit card
Click for order form - Enter number of tickets - then pay with PayPal or credit card
Grow It, Cook It, Serve It!:
Historic Utensils and Implements from the Farm to the Table
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Mon., May 22, 2023 - 6:30 - 8 pm ET
The Hopewell Museum, 28 East Broad Street, Hopewell, NJ Join William L. Kidder, Catherine Granzow, and Sarah Mezzino - local experts in historical agriculture, hearth cooking, and decorative arts - for a “show and tell” about antique farm tools, kitchen gadgets, and serving ware. The program will feature objects from The Hopewell Museum, Howell Living History Farm, and the Granzow personal collection.
The event will be held outdoors, behind the the Hopewell Museum at 28 East Broad Street, Hopewell Borough, weather permitting. |
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Walking Tour of St. Michael's Preserve
By Rick Klevze
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Fri., May 26, 2023 - 6 pm ET - Meet at the north entrance to the Preserve
Rick Klevze will be offering a walking tour of St. Michael's Preserve on May 26th at 6:00PM. St. Michael's land was farmed by the Klevze family. Rick will explain the history of the farm, the orphanage and the farm's relationship to St. Michael's Orphanage..
Rick Klevze is a lifelong area resident who was raised on and worked the St. Michael's farm until 1997. He has a Bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cook College/Rutgers University and a Masters degree in soils and crops from Rutgers. He is currently employed by Growmark FS as a Certified Professional Agronomist and Certified Crops Advisor, where he has worked for 43 years. Klevze serves on the Farm Credit East Customer Service Council and is a member of the MidAtlantic CCA exam writing committee for the American Society of Agronomy.
Klevze's grandfather, Charles Murphy, came to St Michael’s as an orphan in 1902. His grandmother, Mary Fish Murphy arrived between 1909 and 1920. They became a caretaker and cook respectively. His mother, Catherine Murphy Klevze, was born in 1932 and was raised on the farm. In 1949, his father, Frank Klevze, was sponsored by the Catholic Church and emigrated to the US. He was placed at St. Michael’s to work the farm. In 1955, he partnered with Klevze's uncle, John Eichinger, and leased the property from the Diocese. He operated a dairy until 1976 and then continued with livestock and field crops until 1997. A Hopewell Valley Heritage Week event, sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. Meet at 6 pm at the north entrance to the St. Michael's Preserve, past First Street just outside of Hopewell Borough. Parking is limited at the Preserve, with overflow parking at the Hopewell Elementary School, 35 Princeton Avenue. (The main St. Michael's lot further south also is in use for the new Awakening sculpture in the field.) See D& R Greenway map of the St. Michael's Preserve. |
Family on hay wagon, 1940
Rick Klevze
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History of the Mercer County 4-H Fair
Presented by Larry Kidder
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Wed., May 24, 2023 - 7 pm ET
- Attend in person at the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library 245 Pennington-Titusville Rd., Pennington, NJ Free, but limited space - Registration Required -> Register here (through MCL) - Or join online virtual presentation via Zoom -> Register here for online only Larry Kidder tells the story of the changing nature of agriculture that led to changes in rural life in the early 20th century. New opportunities in towns and cities resulting from the industrial revolution, combined with a focus on celebrating rural life and finding ways to make farming a viable lifestyle, led to the creation of educational opportunities for all ages and especially the young. The 4-H programs that we know today grew out of that movement. In Pleasant Valley, one of the earliest and very successful programs for young people in Mercer County developed into the Pleasant Valley Calf Club during the second decade of the twentieth century. One activity of the club was putting on a community wide agricultural fair in the summer, which was held at the rural school house in the center of the Valley. The Calf Club and other youth clubs devoted to aspects of rural life became part of the growing 4-H program and the annual county 4-H fair. Today, the Mercer County 4-H Fair is held in central Pleasant Valley near where those early Calf Club Fairs were held.
William L. (Larry) Kidder received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania and is a retired high school history teacher who taught for forty years in both public and private schools, including 32 years at the Hun School of Princeton.
He served four years of active duty in the US Navy and was assigned to the US Navy Research and Development Unit, Vietnam and then the destroyer USS Brownson (DD868) home ported in Newport, Rhode Island. In the 1980s he was the lead researcher and writer for the creation of the Admiral Arleigh Burke National Destroyermen’s Museum aboard the destroyer museum ship USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD850) at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. For more than thirty-five years, Larry has been a volunteer at the Howell Living History Farm, part of the Mercer County Park System, in Hopewell, New Jersey where he has served as an historian, interpreter, and draft horse teamster. He is an avid member of the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM). Larry is the author of five books focusing on the American Revolution in the Mercer County region. Active in historical societies in Ewing (past president), Hopewell (also a past president), and Lawrence townships, Larry has given a number of talks to a variety of groups in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He has worked on several projects for Crossroads of the American Revolution, including as editor for its Meet Your Revolutionary Neighbors project and consultant for the creation of its recent Ten Crucial Days Audio Tour. He is also a consultant and battlefield tour guide for the Princeton Battlefield Society. As a founding member of the non-profit TenCrucialDays.org he helps narrate full-day bus tours of Ten Crucial Days sites. For more of Larry's projects and books, visit his website, wlkidderhistorian.com. A Hopewell Valley Heritage Week event, co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, The Hopewell Museum, and the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library. |
Larry Kidder
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The Story of the Hopewell Inn – and the People Who Sustained It
Presented by Douglas Dixon
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Wed., May 3, 2023, 7 pm - Free and open to the public
- Attend in person at the Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood, Hopewell, NJ - Or join online virtual presentation via Zoom -> Register here for online only The Hopewell Inn, long known as the Central Hotel, had a nearly 150 year history as a part of the town of Hopewell before it was demolished in July 2022. The building was used for residential and retail, hotel and livery, saloon and apartments, luncheonette and rooming house, and bar and bistro.
This presentation explores the forgotten history of the Hopewell Inn, and of the people and families who nurtured and reinvigorated the building and ran the businesses through the years. We also will take a visual tour the building in its final form – not only the exterior and public spaces, but also the upstairs rooms and cellar – and discover clues about how the building was constructed and expanded over time.
The story of the Hopewell Inn begins in the 1870s with the Sexton sisters, who sold their family farm and opened Hopewell’s first drug store in the building.
After being converted into a hotel in 1893 and expanded in the early 1900s, the building’s heyday continued into the 1930s, when, as Gebhart’s Hotel, it became the headquarters for the world press after the Lindbergh kidnapping. Since the 1950s, the building was shepherded by multiple generations of two different families, as it evolved into a friendly neighborhood bar, restaurant, and gathering space. In addition to the building owners who focused on food and lodging, we also will remember others there who contributed to Hopewell, including Mrs. Carter’s Millinery and Fancy Goods store (and Library!), Cray’s Oyster Saloon and Livery, Funeral Director F. K. Forsythe, and Paul (“Pop”) and Bertha Gebhart’s Lunch Room. Doug Dixon is an independent technology consultant and writer, now morphed into a history enthusiast. He is a board member of The Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.
Over the past few years since 2019, Doug has developed the Hopewell Valley History Project (HopewellHistoryProject.org), working with over 100 local contributors to collect and freely share digital copies of local historical materials. The History Project now hosts some 500 documents and maps, 3000 images and videos, and an interactive historical map of Hopewell to aid research into Hopewell area people and places. As a software technologist, Doug specializes in Web technology, databases, and digital media. He has authored four books on digital media, published hundreds of feature articles, and presented over a hundred technical seminars and talks. Hopewell Public Library Speaker Series Co-sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and The Hopewell Museum - Attend the event in person at the Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood Ave, Hopewell, NJ. The event is free and open to the public – No registration is required. - Or attend the event online via Zoom – Register here for online only |
“Times Square” at Gebhart’s Hotel - 1932 Lindbergh press [JCD]
Doug Dixon
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