Local Groveville Boy is Hero

Groveville; July 13, 1923

Charles C. Borden, 13 years old, rescued Rose Leiderman, 13 years old, of New York City, from drowning in Mill Pond at Groveville. He is the son of Mrs. Susie Borden of 103 Mary St. Bordentown and is staying with his grandmother, Mrs. Susie Borden of Groveville.

Without any thought for his own safety, young Charles C. Borden jumped into the pond and pulled the young girl to safety. She was unable to swim.

Groveville School~Miss Longstreet's Class

Miss Longstreet was the Kindergarten (Reception Grade) and First Grade teacher at Groveville Elementary School for many years, she taught children of parents she had taught. This picture was obviously taken at Christmas. The children were learning to buy and sell items. They used play money, learned to make change and handle money. This photo was taken Dec. 1940- Back Row 1st Grade - Albert Grove, Shirley Wright DiGenova, Joan Weast ~ Front Row Kindergarten or Reception Grade- Ruth McEmoyl Knight, Skippy Shelton Goldy, Jackie Errickson Marchesi.

Groveville School ~ 1932

This is a class at Groveville School, in 1932. I do not know what grade this is or who any of the students are. I do know that in 1932 Groveville School went as high as Seventh Grade.

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My mother tells me that from there she went to Klockner School for Eighth Grade and then on to Hamilton High. Mom graduated from high school in 1939.
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The new Yardville School was not completed until 1939, this is why the trip to Klockner School.
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When I look at this picture, I think about that fence, its the original and still there today. My father, Ken climbed that fence, I climbed that fence, my daughter, Kati climbed that fence. I doubt if my my mother, Dot, climbed that fence, I think she was more of the "Straight "A", school work doing group".

Groveville School Post Card

This is a Post Card of the brand new Groveville School, mailed October 28, 1908, Ninety nine years ago. The school was only six years old, at this time, built in 1902. The school when built had only two rooms. I believe I had heard the rear two rooms were added around 1916.

The message on the card is;

Yardville;

We are having a nice time, saw Maggie this afternoon, she is well. Tell Father & Mother to come out on Wednesday of next week.

Ida & Howard

The school has not changed much since 1916. When a new roof was applied the two finials on the peaks, as well as the finials on the belfry and the vent cupola were removed. Also removed was the corbel on the front peak in front of the belfry. The township has done a great job of maintaining the buildings historic integrity, while still making improvements, new heat, air-conditioning, energy efficient doors and windows, as well as replacing the original slate roof with a metal roof that resembles slate.

Everyone I ask about the history and their memories of the school asks me if I know what happened to the bell, I don’t. My mother remembers the bell and it being rung for school as well as others do also, but we don’t have an answer as to where it went. I had heard it was removed for maintenance and never returned. I started school there in 1949 and have lived across the street from the school all of my life and never remember the bell. Even if it never rang again it would be nice to have it back in the belfry.

An Elegant House on Church Street

This has to be one of the most elegant photos I have found. This wonderfully posed and composed photo is of a house on Church Street. This house is located next to the Groveville Methodist Church and Cemetery, across from the Church Parsonage.

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I have been told this is the Borden Family in this photo.
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To most Groveville people this will always be known as the home of Dot and Ed Jones, and their children, Lee, Tim, and Bonnie. I never remember the house with that fence in the front, but to me growing up this house was always a special house, I think it was that porch, a great porch for watching the Memorial Day Parade (Decoration Day then) or just sitting. I guess because the rest of us lived in houses connected to another house, this was a single family home.

Ed was one of the people that sparked my interest in Groveville History. He worked at the Mill and he gave me an old Post Card size photo of the mill, it might have been an old Post Card, and it showed the mill with the Mill Race in the front. It was then that I realized that the depression in the woods near the mill was the remnant of the Mill Race.

Ed Jones was one of the men in the Fire Company that I looked up to. When he and the other older men in the Fire Company would talk about Groveville Stories and History I would just sit there and listen, they were so interesting. I just wish these guys were here today to ask questions of or at least I should have written down some of what they said.

Dot Jones was my Sunday School Teacher, let me correct that, Dot Jones was everyone’s Sunday School Teacher.

"Just an old Ice Cream Dipper"

This may be just an old ice cream scoop, but it’s an old scoop from the company store of Morris and Company, Groveville, New Jersey. This is one of the scoops my great grandmother, Naomi Rollings, used when she operated the company store.

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There were two, one has been lost. My mother tells me this was a three cent scoop; I guess this size scoop of ice cream would be $7.50 at Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream, today.

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This dipper is about one hundred years old and in my kitchen drawer today, along with some modern stainless dippers of various sizes and still used today, carefully.

Epworth League Rally - 1914

This is a card commemorating the rally held at the Groveville Methodist Church in 1914. Below is a little history of the Epworth League.

A youth order of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Now the United Methodist Church) founded in 1889 in Cleveland, Ohio. Still active and on-line. For over half a century the Epworth League, the Methodist youth organization was especially strong. The group was authorized in 1890 by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and local churches soon began organizing their youth in Epworth leagues. The purpose of the leagues was to develop young church members in their religious life and to provide training in churchmanship. It was parallel to the Sunday school and typically met on Sunday nights. The name Epworth came from the boyhood home in England of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement.

The Estate on Church Street

At one time there was a man that lived on Church Street named Theophilus van Kannel, of Dutch – American descent. He was born in Philadelphia in 1841. He built an estate on Church Street on a piece of land between the Crosswicks & Doctors Creek and bordered on one side by Church Street and the Bordentown-South Amboy Turnpike on the other. This piece of land was as high as the top of the hill on Church Street, but the creeks had carved it into a single high piece of land over looking the Mill pond, Saw Mill, and Grist mill.

This is the only remaining remnant of the Van Kannel, estate. If you notice the three recesses on this pillar, this pillar is at the end of the fence run, in fact this is opening in the fence to the well house. These three recesses are only on one side. These three recesses held three shaped concrete pieces, the bottom pieces were concrete pieces approximately twenty four inches long, arranged in a checkered pattern and the top piece was a continuous concrete rail between two pillars. Pillars in the middle of a fence run had recesses on two opposing sides to create a fence. These pillars are approximately six feet high and eighteen inches square, with steel reinforcement rod sticking out of the top to support a pyramid shaped concrete cap.

There were two entrances from Church Street; the main entrance was across from the now Eagle Rock Apartments. This was a very steep upward drive, that curved to the right for about fifty feet, then curved upward to the left and straight to the estate, The entrance was marked with two concrete pillars as the one above with a light at the top of the pillar. The entire drive was lined with a concrete curb with a concrete pillar every twenty feet or so, with a short rail support pillar between the tall ones, on both sides of the drive.

The drive, at one time was paved with concrete and concrete rain gutters. As you neared the main house there was a small barn like building and a vegetable garden and small orchard. As you past the main house, which faced south, there was a large curved drive with a large flower garden and the remains of a fountain or large concrete area in the center.

As you stand facing the house (North) to your left is the carriage house. The carriage house is almost as large as the main house. The carriage was like two separate buildings attached with a common second floor structure, which formed open archways. One side of the first floor was a barn for stable horses and the other side was a large open barn for the storage of the carriages or cars. The archway was a covered outdoor area to prepare the carriages and hitch the horses. On both sides were the living quarters for the chauffeur and stable keeper and their families.

The most memorable was the clock tower above the Carriage house. The clock tower was the third story of the Carriage House on the top of a very high hill. This tower had a clock face on four sides and was visible from the Bordentown – South Amboy Turnpike and later Route 130.

The second entrance from Church Street is still visible and marked by the last remaining of the concrete pillars. This was about sixty feet long and ended at a small wooden building. This building housed a hand dug brick lined well and a pump. This well supplied all of the water to the main house and the carriage house. There was a tank in the clock tower below the clock mechanism and there was a large tank in the top floor or attic of the main house. The water was pumped to these tanks and gravity fed to the houses as needed.

Claire reminded me that there was a set of concrete steps that went from just beyond the well house, up to the drive, it was a very steep climb.

If you stood by the well house and walked down the path toward Doctors Creek you would see a pipe four inches in diameter and about a foot long, extending from the hill side, it was rusted and moss covered and there was a constant flow of pure, clear, and cold spring water.

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As I look back this pipe was over the side of the hill and directly in line with the well house and ran about thirty feet from the well, this pipe could have been an overflow for the well to keep the well at a constant level, as it was fed by many very active springs.

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When I was young I remember people coming constantly, with jugs, to fill them with water from this pipe, as kids we never missed a chance to drink from the spring. The spring is now dry and the pipe is gone

``````This is the Path to the Spring ``````



The owner, Theophilus van Kannel, was an inventor. While working for the Automatic Hook and Eye Co. of Hoboken, New Jersey in 1888, he invented and patented the revolving door. In high-rise buildings, regular doors are hard to open because there is a slight vacuum caused by air flowing upwards through stairwells, elevator shafts, and chimneys. Van Kannel's new type of door was easy to open in tall building (and also saved heat in the winter). Van Kannel patented the revolving door on August 7, 1888. It would have saved Air Conditioning too, but that was not invented until 1902.

I am sure he had no idea how much kids would love spinning in a revolving door, I did.

Even though the revolving door was his most memorable invention, he also invented one of the most popular rides at Coney Island’s Luna Park. It was the Witching Waves built in 1907.

The ride was destroyed in 1919, by the Rockaway Beach Hook & Ladder Co. in an attempt to save the life of 16 year old Tony Embricati who had crawled under the ride and was caught in the mechanism. The ride was not rebuilt.

Here are the Witching Waves ride in 1919, the cars of which were propelled by an undulating floor of hinged plates.

The Ride Witching Waves - Coney Island, NY


The Ride Witching Waves - Blackpool, England

Van Kannel’s other inventions were the Hydrant Valve-1869, Improved Hydrant valve-1873 (used in the Fire Hydrant), the spring loaded door closer we use today-1867, the Cider Mill-1867, the Commercial Cherry Stoner (for remove cherry pits)-1885. All were patented and in use today.

Mr. van Kannel passed away, December 24, 1919, at the age of 78 at the apartment of his nephew, Benjamin S. van Kannel, at the Roger Morris Apartments, in New York, of a heart condition. Mr van Kannel was buried in Cleveland, Ohio, Friday, December 26, 1919.

The estate changed hands several times, falling into disrepair and at some time the main house was damaged by a fire and never repaired. The last owner I knew was Chester King of Main Street in Groveville. The main house was torn down in the early 1960’s and the carriage house was intact until the late 1960’s, when it too was torn down. The high hill it sat on was leveled and sold for its soil and sand value.

For a short period, when my father was young he and his family lived in the carriage house and related some of what the estate looked like, to me. I was informed today in church that it was during this time that the mansion house was damaged by fire. Some of what the estate looked like was learned by me sneaking up to the “Haunted Mansion” with Charlie Donnell.

Local stories tell that during Prohibition, around 1930, the estate was owned by a family named Falcy, and was a large producer of illegal alcohol in central New Jersey.

A story told to me by the late Jim Stackhouse of Groveville; he remembered a late night raid of the estate and the next day he and others stood on the hillside, opposite the driveway on Church Street, watching government agents hauling out the illegal equipment in trucks.

I remember a small log cabin like building about fifteen feet square, on the hillside, in the woods, just above Doctors Creek and near where Route 130 is now. Storyies have it, there was a tunnel that connected this cabin to the cellar of the main house. It was speculated that this was an escape route should the house be raided. Thinking back and having seen this cabin, I could not see it serving any other purpose. It was not any where near the main house or easily accessible to any buildings, to be used as a tool shed or storage. It was not close enough to the creek for a pump house and it had no utilities. This speculation only adds to the mystery of the estate.

I spoke to several people familiar with the estate before writing this and everyone agrees it must have been a beautiful estate when Mr. van Kannel lived there.

Today the only remnant of this estate is the lone concrete pillar with steel conduit sticking out of the top on Church Street and the street in Yardville named for him.

Mercer Textile - 1934

This is some Groveville memorabilia I have picked up, this I bought on EBay. This speaks for it’s self. I purchased this envelope only because it’s just a little bit of Groveville History.

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A. B. Caya is a manufacturer of premium textiles in Canada. It was established in 1932 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It’s interesting to wonder what was in this envelope, a payment for goods or a contract to supply A. B. Caya with some of the premium textiles produced by Mercer Textile.

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The other question is why someone in Canada saved this enveloped in such good condition since 1934, did they know EBay was coming ….. I doubt it.

Wedding Announcement

Groveville; Friday, October 2, 1874

We wish to announce the marriage of Fannie Salter of Groveville to Ezra W. Keeler, owner of the Clarence Cotton Mill, also of Groveville, on Sunday, August 30 1874. The ceremony was performed in Newport, Rhode Island by Rev. J.C. Kimball

Mom and Dad - 1954

Mom & Dad on vacation in Williamsburg Virginia, 1954. I was there and so was my Grandmother Kate Johnson. I can't believe Dad's 1950 Hudson made it.

The Stores of Groveville

During our childhood in Groveville there was not an Acme or Wal-Mart, but there was not shortage of stores as far as we knew.

At one time there was a General Store, The Company Store, a bakery, shoe repair, Pool Hall, barbershop, and these were the ones I heard about.

For serious food shopping we used to go to, I believe it was, Giant Tiger, a grocery store on Chambers Street, just past Trenton High School on the same side of the street, but for meats Dad always went to Public Meat Market at Clinton and Olden Ave. Sometimes we would go to the A & P at Park and Broad, now R&S Strauss Auto Parts.

For a town with only three streets, Church, Main and Allen, we had three stores, we thought that was plenty. These three stores were totally different,

Then - 1930

Now - 2007

The corner store was more like the General Store; they sold fresh butchered meat, luncheon meats and cheese, wheels of cheese fresh cut, canned goods, produce, bakery items, paper products, dairy products & packaged ice cream, soaps, and household goods. In the very early years, when Mr. Hartmann owned it, it had a gas pump out front. This is visible in the “Then” picture (by the tree). Wonder if it was removed by and approved Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Remediation Co. – I doubt it.

This store had a variety of owners and names, Lester “Les” Johnson, Len’s, Ben & Sadie’s, Manny’s, Hartmann’s, and Isaac “Ike” Bowers. These are the names that Mom and I remember.

The other store was more of a candy store, our kind of place; it was owned by Josephine “Jo” and Harley Hepburn. Before Jo and Harley owned the store it was know as Diamond’s.

This was before my time and I have no idea who Diamond was, but this was an advertisement from the Trenton Times for Diamond’s. My mother remembers it being Diamond’s but could not tell me much more than that.

Jo and Harley sold hand dipped ice cream (Abbott’s), bottled soda (E.L. Kerns), penny candy, bread (Bond), Hostess and Tasty Cakes. They sold Cigarettes, cigars, pipes & pipe tobacco, Chewing Tobacco, shredded dry and plug style. Don’t forget Triple Cola, 16 oz for twelve cents, two cents bottle deposit.

There was very little liter back then, there was no soda in cans, only bottles, and if you returned an empty bottle to the store you got .02 for a small bottle and .05 for large, big bucks in those days.

They sold lots of odds and ends; guess they were called “Notions” like corn-cob pipes on a card, combs, marbles, fish hooks & sinkers, even cheap fishing poles. I remember she used to have Punch-Cards. This was a card about a foot square with a series of about 50 covered small holes. You paid a dime or a quarter and picked a hole and punched it through, which pushed out a small piece of paper with a prize listed on it, not every hole was a winner.

The screen door was pulled shut with a big spring, it always squeaked as it closed and slammed when it shut, some things you always remember.

To the right of the front door was a wooden phone booth. The phone in the booth had three coin slots, Nickel, Dime, and Quarter. The mouthpiece was fastened to the phone and the ear piece was on a cord.

On the left side of the door, behind the shelves of bread, rolls, donuts and Tasty-Cakes was a pinball machine.

Claire Dwier Zarr reminded me that as a child she used to help Jo Hepburn out in the store, dispensing Penny Candy. She remembers Danny Mozer, who's father George, owned Crosswicks Sand and Gravel Co., on Church Street in Groveville, later owned Yardville Supply, riding his horse, Patches to Jo's store and buying two Ice Cream cones, one for him and one for the horse. Everybody wanted to ride Patches, but Danny would not let us, neither would Patches.

I wish I had pictures of the store; it was a one room, one story building with a large concrete porch.

Sometime in the late fifties, Jo closed her store. It was soon after that Groveville went modern; we got home delivery of mail, good news for the mailbox salesman. This meant the Post Office Boxes were removed from the Post Office, freeing up room in the building for Jim and Betty Stackhouse to add hand dipped ice cream, penny candy, greeting cards, and soda.

Then - Post Office 1930

Now - Post Office Building (Beauty Shop) - 2007

Betty’s, as it was known, continued until the post office consolidated and closed the Groveville Post Office and the Yardville Post office (Brick building, South Broad, across from The Yardville Bank) and opened the present Post office on Route 130 and Klockner Road.

It was not long after that Jim and Betty closed their store, leaving one store, on the corner.

Its no longer the General Store, now it called the Family Place Deli, They sell packaged ice cream, candy, cigarettes, soda, lottery tickets, and small items. It is mostly a deli, coffee and sandwich shop.

New Year Greeting

This is pretty much self explanatory as there is no one from 1902 to ask. Speaking to other members of the church, this was most likely a card handed to church attendees or it may have been sent to the membership.

One Hundred Five years later all we can do is speculate. This also came from Wayne Wright, handed down from his mother, Mary Wright, who we all miss.