Groveville and Yardville Post Offices

I just obtained these Post Cards. These post card were mailed from the Groveville and Yardville Post Office's on the last day they were independent Post Offices, after this date they were Trenton Branch Post Offices.

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There is no writing or message on the reverse of these Post Cards, they were mailed only to obtain an official Groveville or Yardville post mark on this historic date.

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As we can see Pete Larkin was the Yardville Postmaster at the time, I can only guess that Groveville's Postmaster was Betty Stackhouse, at he time.

Groveville PTA Play - 1937

This appeared in the Trenton Times Sunday Advertiser, May 23, 1937. I believe the James Darnell mentioned in this add was really James "Jim" Donnell. I remember the old Plays at the Community House, some were too risque for me as a kid to attend, like the Minstrel Shows.

September 19, 1915 ~ Trenton Evening Times

Yardville School - 1935

Yardville School, the old school Building, at 212 Route 156. I parked in front of the building to compare this picture to the building to the building today, the windows are different, no longer arched at the top and with metal frames. The front door and the transom window or light are exactly the same, the side trim on the door is different. The fence in this picture is the same fence that is there today.
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I received this from Marilyn Wright McLean, through Audrey Winner.

Audrey and I could only agree on three people in this photo, top row, second from the right, Edward "Pud' McClure, front row second from the right, Mary Dwier Wright, Center Row, to the left of the teacher, tall girl with dark hair, Jeanne Bell Mushinski. I have been told the girl in the front behind the sign is Verna Luke Longmuir.
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I have been told by several, the teacher is Mae Davis, if anyone had Miss Davis and you were a guy, you still have the lumps on your head from her knuckles and if you were a girl, the hair on you head is most likely grown back from her pulling it, she did get your attention.
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Open to suggestions, please try to be accurate, hopefully these will be around for a long while and I would like the names to be correct.

Groveville Gardens - 1952

This article was in the Trenton Evening Times, Friday August 15, 1952, thanks to Cheryl (Bialota) Natriello for sending this article. These homes today, with no additions or big improvements, in good condition, are selling for between 170,000 to 190,000, those with additions, enlarged second floors and garages are well over $200,000.

Groveville Reunion, August 2010

These are just a few of the people that attended the reunion of kids growing up in Groveville, from what I understand a good time as had by all. I missed it, we were visiting with other former Groveille resident, Charlie & Marlene Donnell in Oyster, VA, for a week.
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If any one else has photos, email them to me and I will post them, several more were in attendance that I do not have photos for.

Bill Paradiso and Paul Matlack

Ed Beideman and Barry Parks

Chuck Beideman and Wayne Wright

Marilyn Wright McLean - Lisa Smith Wurpel - Tim Smith

Jack Britton

Sandi & Chuck Beideman - Linda Hanusckick Paradiso

Tom and Linda Weiss

Mike Engi and Linda Hanusckick Paradiso

This is a list of the attendees as best as they know.

Where did the Groveville Bell go?

I had heard the stories of the ringing of the bell, one story, the story in the article was told to me by Wilbur Reynolds, on Halloween they would climb to the belfry, tie a light line or fishing line to the bell, run it across the street to my Grandmother Rollings House, where there was a large pine tree wrapped in wisteria, making it easy to climb. from up in the tree and hidden, they would ring the bell, when Constable Jack Coffey would come to see who was on the school roof they would stop, seeing no one there he would walk away, they would give him a chance to get down Church Street and they would ring it again.

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When the fire house was still in Groveville, I heard stories as to where the bell went. Since I started doing this research I heard stories about the bell, both the same, as to where it went.

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One is that the bell was removed to make repairs on the belfry, one prominent local person volunteered to store the bell. Once the belfry was repaired the bell was not replaced in the belfry and that the bell may still be in the hands of a person in Groveville. I don't know if this person was a School Board Member or not, guess I should check that out.

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Too bad the bell is not there, as kids we would have loved to pull this prank.

Borden Cut Glass - 1926

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Borden Cut Glass, Church Street, Groveville, Just another of the several manufacturing companies that made Groveville such a popular place. For such a little town of three streets, there was so much opportunity to earn a living, provide for a family, and have a safe place to raise our children.

The above adds appeared in the Trenton Evening Times from 1915 to 1926.

I have several pieces of Borden Cut Glass, as do many older Groveville residents. The Groveville United Methodist Church, has several serving dishes and cream pitchers Manufactured by Borden Cut Glass.

Groveville Kids, October 17, 1946

Left to right Paul Corson, son of the Pastor of the Groveville Methodist Church, Dennis Moyer, Jill Jones, and Tim Jones. This photo was taken in front of the, then Jones home across Church Street from the Methodist Parsonage.

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This was taken in 1946, I wonder who's car it was and what it was.

Edna Borden Sunday School Class

The Edna Borden Sunday School Class

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On the right side of the table, front to back is Lillian "Sis" Stickles, Erdith Moyer, Sarah Brecht, Catherine Crider, Anna Craft, unknown.
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On the left side of the table, front to back Ruth Sehorn, Edna Klink, Emma Lommason, Katharine "Kate" Johnson, Minnie Luke, Etta Pommerank
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This is the Edna Borden Sunday School Class of the Groveville United Methodist Church, at a special outing. It seems each time there was a special event involving the women of Groveville, whether it was the Church, the Ladies Auxiliary of the fire Company, or the Pocahontas Lodge they always celebrated at the Hawaiian Cottage.

I can tell by the Bamboo and the imitation Palm Tree, that is where they are. The Hawaiian Cottage was located on Route 38, in Merchantville, The Hawaiian Cottage is no more, neither is Merchantville, its now known as Cherry Hill.

Too Hot For Ya ~ It Was 104* Yesterday.

This was only five months ago, stare at this picture for five

minutes and I guarantee you'll feel cooler,

Enjoy your summer.

Halloween Parade - 1946

The two in the mouse costume are Dennis Moyer on the left and Daryl Dwier on the right, the teacher behind them is Miss Longstreet.

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One of the biggest events of attending Groveville Elementary School was our Halloween Party, I believe this was the lower grades, only. On Halloween every child came in costume, store bought or homemade, most were homemade, this was Groveville, if you had enough money to buy a costume you had enough money to have chicken twice that week.

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The party usually consisted of Cookies, Cupcakes, Koolaid brought in by our parents. Then there was the parade, the entire school walked down Church Street, on the side walk, pretty much single file,and you stayed on the side walk, or else.

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We walked to Main Street, turned right, walked past the Firehouse, all the way to the Mill (Anchor Thread and Mercer Textile). All of the people of the Mills would come out and watch you walk past and cheer and clap, I think it was almost as big a deal to them as it was to the kids, because they all came out.

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We would turn around and walk back up Main Street, we would cross over to the other side when we reached Matlack's and Weiss's house, because that is where the side walk starts on the other side of Main Street.

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We would walk all the way to Lloyd & Mary Bowers, cross over Main Street there because the sidewalk ended there, to Phoebe Robinson's side of Main and came back to Church Street and back to the School.

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All the way parents, mostly Mom's, would be out on the street and out on their porches cheering, clapping and taking pictures, some ran out to straighten their child's costume, it was such a fun time.

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The amazing part of this was that it was not just the parents of the children in the parade, watcing, but everyone came out for the poarade. There were no flyer's or postings that the parade was today, everyone knew, it was discussed at the Post Office and at the General Store, most of the people of Groveville "Just Knew" today was the parade.

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Now days you see teachers with small groups of young children walking holding a rope between them so they don't get lost. We had no rope, we had teachers we listened too, after all we would be walking past out mothers, it was nothing for the teacher to say "Little Gary is not listening, and the reply from Mom would be, I'll take care of that when he gets home.

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We had costumes with full face masks that obscured our vision, costume shoes that didn't fit because they were from our older brother, Dresses that were long and dragged the ground from our mothers and costume pants too long and rolled up to look silly and easy to trip over and we never lost a Kid. So glad we now have laws and rules to protect us from having all this fun.

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This is just one more thing that the children of Groveville will have to cherish forever, I know I will.

October 1976 ~ Save Groveville School

Reading this article brought a tear to my eye. Dennis Moyer dropped this and several other articles and photos off to me, from his Mom, Erdith Dwier Moyer's collection.
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This was such a "Hub" of the community, I have lived across from the school all of my life. As I mentioned earlier in my blog, Mom's used to walk their children to school, then after the bell rang the Mom's would hang out in the School Yard or on the side walk and talk, then slowly make their way down Church Street to stop at the Post Office to pick up their mail and the latest gossip (no home delivery of mail). From there they would make their way to the corner store to make sure they had something for lunch (As kids we went home for lunch from school) and pick up something for supper, the corner store had canned goods, fresh produce and fresh butchered meat, like a mini super market.
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My mother Dorthy Lippincott graduated from Hamilton High in 1939, when she went to Groveville School it went to the 8th Grade in four rooms, by the time she reached 8th Grade it only went to 7th and she was bussed to Klockner School for 8th and then on to Hamilton High.
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I graduated Hamilton High in 1962, when I went to Groveville School it went to 5th Grade in four rooms, the large basement room was the cafeteria and sometimes on rainy days we had our recess time there.
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By the time I reached the 5th Grade the school only went to 4th and we were bussed to Yardville for 5th thru 7th. Eight was at the old Steinert, now Nottingham, then on to Hamilton High, now know as West.
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It was a sad day for the community when our school closed, it was a nice school with a personal touch.

For many years Dot Jones, still of Groveville, was our crossing guard at the corner of Church and Main Streets, she knew every student and their parents.
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One of our teachers, Sarah Brecht, lived on Main Street, and could be seen walking to school along with the children. She was also my Sunday School teacher.

When I was young we had a crossing guard at the school, a maintenance man, a janitor, a man in charge of the boiler, and a teacher's assistant, it was all the same man, Nimrod "Uncle Nim" Dwier, when he spoke you listened.

We didn't have a Principal at the school or a School nurse, The Principal and the School Nurse were at Yardville School, they were also responsible for Yardville Hights School. Many times a nurse would be need for a scraped knee or a bumped head and the nurse would not be available, they would go across the street to my house and get my Mother, Dot Lippincott, to come over, she was a Registered Nurse, she would dab on the Mercurochrome and a band aid.
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I am gratful the building is still there and is well maintained by the township, I just wish it was a school that my daughter could have attended. Its now used as our community center and the place where we vote, since the Fire Company left town, but that is another story.
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I have more articles to post on the school, but I want to get this up and work on the others.

Groveville-Yardville Memorial Day Parade - 140 Years

Ironton, Ohio lays claim to the nation's oldest continuously running Memorial Day parade, it has been a tradition since 1868. The first parade was held May 5, 1868.

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The Groveville - Yardville Memorial Day Parade was first held in May of 1870, we celebrated the 140th anniversary, this year, could this mean that we are the second oldest parade in the country, I am sure we may be the oldest continuing in the state. I am still searching for an older parade.

Groveville Fire Company - 1950 Banquet Committee

Groveville Fire Company - 1950 Banquet Committee

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Standing, Left to Right, Ted Wacowicz - Charles "Charlie" Thompson - Edward "Eddie" Jones

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Seated, Left to Right, Joseph "Jo~Jo" DeMent - Mildred "Millie" Williams - Nimrod "Nim" Dwier

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Yes, that is a real band in the background, no DJ's back then, you listened to what they played, and it was all good music.

Groveville Veterans of WWII

This is a photo of the men and women of Groveville after returning from serving our country during World War II.

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The amazing point is, at the time Groveville was comprised of three streets, Church Street, Main Street, Allen Street, and a portion of the Yardville-Crosswicks Road (Broad Street) and there are 56 men and women veterans in this photo, that is a lot of people from such a small area, that same spirit still exists today as almost every house in Groveville flies an American Flag.

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A committee was formed from the men and women of the the Groveville Volunteer Fire Company and the Groveville United Methodist Church and a Dinner Dance was given to these men and women. The Dinner Dance was held in the almost completed Groveville Fire House that was being built by the men of the community.

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Those seated are the men and women veterans, those standing are a portion of the committee that arraigned this Dinner Dance.

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I am trying to put together the names of these Veterans, I do know some, but not all.

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I am proud to say that one of the veterans is my father, Ken Lippincott and my uncle, Alfred Johnson, I am also proud to say that one of the women standing as one of the people putting on this affair is my Great Grandmother Naomi Rollings and my Grandmother, Katharine "Kate" Johnson. I'll bet that every person that spots a relative in this photo is just as proud as me.

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Thanks to Denny Moyer for this photo, his Grandfather, Nimrod "Nim" Dwier and his mother, Erdith Moyer, are both in this photo, as one of those organizing the dinner.

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There are two photos because this is almost a panoramic photo and my scanner does not do pieces this long, one way or another, I was either cutting off Victor "Vic" Champion on one side or William "Bill" Straley on the other.

Just Some Groveville Kids, Late 1950's

Thanks to Carol Heaton for these pictures, I still have more from Carol, but I wanted to get some up and will do the rest later. Carol, I didn't forget you want these back, I have these in an envelope ready to go this week, just want to make sure, one more time, I scanned them all.

Carol Heaton

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Daryl Dwier

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Jean Miller
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Robert "Bob" Matlack
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Jill Jones
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Albert "Buddy" Weiss

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Groveville Baseball - 1920

Front Row, kneeling, Charles Stackhouse ~ Fred Luke ~ Len Purdy ~ Everett Sutts ~ Charles Bennett ~ Cap Cole ~ Archie "Arch" Middleton ~ Charles "Pud" McClure ~ Bat Boy Charles "Dusty" McClure.

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2nd Row, Standing, Harry Inman ~ Alfred McClure ~ William "Bill" Tantum ~ Wilbur Carey ~ Raymond "Ray" Danley ~ Ray "Bick" McClure ~ Walt McCabe ~ Unknown. Gentleman in the background with tie is Ed Berkeheiser.

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If you ever saw he movie "Field of Dreams, with Kevin Costner, these men look like they walked out of the movie with these uniforms.

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This is the Groveville Baseball Team, 1920, this had nothing to do with the fire company, this was made up from the people of Groveville. The top photo is the complete photo, the bottom has been cropped to show the men better.

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This was taken on Main Street, on the right side leaving Groveville, where it bends to the right, past the Cemetery entrance. The building on the right is a portion of the barn owned by the Bowers family, at the time this was the last house on Main Street. The house in the background was the house last owned by Mina Shelton.

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This is where the town Baseball Field was located and was know to all as the Peach Orchard, for obvious reasons at the time.

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It is hard to believe but at this time between this point in Groveville and the town of Crosswicks there was nothing but fields and woods and two farms.

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Thanks to Joan McClure for finding this in her collection for me. Her husband, Pud, is on the right, next to the dog.

Groveville Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary ~ 1950's

Standing Left to Right; Unknown ~ Unknown ~ Jenny Miller ~ Emma Lommason ~ Stella "Stell" Sellers ~ Betty Chamberlain Simpson ~ Mildred "Millie" Williams ~ Gertrude "Gert" Inman.

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Seated Left to Right; Helen Bell ~ Noma Bell Eades ~ Vivian "Viv" Heaton ~ Jean Bell Mushinski ~ Mabel Haggerty ~ Katharine "Kate" Rollings Johnson ~ Mary Etta Simpson ~ Verna Rollings.

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The Groveville Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary, mid 1950's. The Groveville Firemen were a great bunch of community minded men that did more for the community than fight fires, but these women and the women before them and the women after them were the support of the fire company. No one will ever know how hard they worked to make the fire company a success.

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On a big fire these women would be at the fire making soup or sandwiches, providing Hot coffee and cold drinks. During fund raisers, like our Turkey Dinners, the combined Carnival with the DeCou Fire Company or our annual fund drive, our Halloween parties for the children and of course Santa on Christmas Eve, the ladies of the auxiliary were with out a doubt indispensable.

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Many of the women were wives of the firemen, but some were not, just women of the community that wanted to make a difference. These were all great women.

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The women I have marked "Unknown" are ones I think I know, but want to be positive before I post a name.

Groveville's Boy Preacher - 1899

I received this article from my friend Cheryl, it is a little hard to read, but she asked if I had heard of this, I had not. the article is interesting, but I am not sure of its validity. Before posting this I asked several people if the had ever heard of Charlie Fisher being referred to as the "Boy Preacher", no one had.
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This would be Wendel's father, so I asked Blanche, Wendel's wife,Charlie's daughter-in-law, if she ever heard him referred to in this way and she had not.
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Stories are told over and over, and last for generations in Groveville, but no one recalls this. The other thing questionable is the part where he preached to a flock of sheep, no one recalls anyone in Groveville raising sheep or there being a farm to raise them.
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Why in 1899 did it get published in a New Brunswick Newspaper?
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To bad Wendel is not alive so we could get the facts, but then if Wendel were alive I would have a lot more to write, he had great stories.
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All in all its a good story.

Groveville Fire Company~Mid 1950's

Front Row Left to Right – Don Snyder - Ray M. Bell - Frank Ferris - John “Johnny” Engle - Albert J. “AJ” Simpson - Charles Thompson - Peter “Pete” Mickschutz - Unknown

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Second Row Left to Right – Unknown - Unknown - Edward Jones - Howard Jones - Nimrod Dwier – Unknown - Edward “Murph” Mushinski – Russell “Russ” Taylor - Joseph “Jo~Jo” DeMent

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Third Row, Standing - Robert “Bob” Simpson - Robert “Bob” Heaton - Joe Zeppa - Wendel Fisher - Raymond “Bill” Dwier - Jake Sellers – Unknown - Vince Symczk

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Fourth Row, Standing – James “Jim or Stackie” Stackhouse - William “Bill” Rousseau - Unknown – William “Bill” Henry – Edward “Eddie” Klink – Unknown - Charles “Deacon” Inman

Just some Groveville thoughts

In January I was invited to Charlie and Marlene Donnell’s 50th anniversary, they now live in Virginia, on the Easter Shore. Charlie grew up on Church Street across the street from me, he had TV before us, so every night at 5:00 pm it was “Howdy Doody Time”,(until we out grew that) but I had to be home at 5:30 pm, because that’s what time Dad got home for supper. His anniversary was like a gathering of old friends, those that did not attend had a medical excuse. It was so worth the trip.

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Last night I had a visit from Carol Heaton Brown and her husband Dave, they were up from South Carolina to visit family and have read my site and we keep in touch; they put me on the visit list. Carol is my age and grew up on Main Street, just across from and down the hill from the Fire House; Dave lived on the same side of Main Street as the Fire House, the last house, next to the Mercer Textile Mill. We spent the entire night talking about old times and of course we said what everyone has said that experienced growing up in Groveville has said “It was a great place to grow up, everyone’s parent looked out for you, and if you did something wrong, your parents knew about it before you got home.

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Carol brought me a folder full of pictures, which I promised to scan and send back to her. This is an example of the love people have for Groveville, like Carol, they have a little piece of Groveville in the photos they and their families have saved over the years and everyone is proud of them and want to pass them on to others. We could have talked for hours, and we did. Most all of my future photos are from Carol.

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It is so great when any of us get together, it’s like family. For years people of our age group held a reunion, no set time, it could happen anytime, someone would get the idea we need a reunion and it would start, but now most of us are retired and moved to faraway places and can’t make it back for a reunion, but they sure were fun, the last few were held at the Crosswicks Fire House.

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I have been told that many people have found a connection with old friends and family through my site and that makes it all worth it.

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I have heard from Groveville people from California, Oregon, Washington State, Florida, Maine, Michigan and other states, I even have received emails about my site from someone serving on a ship in the Gulf, he did say he could not say which Gulf, I could understand that, I don’t need to know.

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It’s amazing how many people I have know just in my lifetime that have grown up in Groveville and moved away, but still have held their memories of his little town with streets that go nowhere, so dear to their hearts. By that I mean if you are in Yardville and going to Crosswicks, Allentown, Robbinsville or Bordentown, there is no need to pass through Groveville, the only people that come to Groveville either live here or are lost. The people that have lived here, even for a short time kept its memory dear.

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Groveville’s cemetery is filled with the names of those that came here, found work, raised their families here and never left, those are the ones that made this little town memorable. I have asked people why their family came to Groveville, what drew them here, these are the newer families of Groveville, those whose family came within the last on hundred years, almost every one that knew their family history told me they came here because the word was out there were jobs in Groveville.

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The Textile and thread mills were the big draw, from the maintenance job that kept the mill clean and running, to the man with the chemical background to perfect dyes and every job in between. There was the Company Store, a Barber Shop, Bakery, Shoe Repair, and the General Store on the corner; we had our own Post Office, School, and later our Fire Company. There were two Borden companies, Borden’s Mincemeat and Borden Cut Glass Company. There was also the McEmoyle Basket Company, manufacturers of canvas products, they invented and produced the canvas wheeled baskets you see in the Post Offices and in Hospitals for linens.
In the early days there were, just over the Yardville border on Church Street, a Grist Mill and a Sawmill.

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Later many Groveville men worked at the Chandler Palruba Oil Cloth Factory in Yardville, some even ventured as far away as the other side of Hamilton Township to the DeLaval Plant.

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Every time I see a Revolving Door, I think that was invented by Mr. VanKannel of Groveville

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What really brought people here was the little town with the very busy Mills.

Groveville Elementary School 1944 ~ 45

Thanks to the help of Kathleen Colgan Catana and Janice Rollings Schultz, all of the photos have names associated, this is why I have moved this back to the top.

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The teacher in this photo is Miss Longstreet. The names were written next to the photos, some were incomplete and some had no names, if you can help I would appreciate it, here is what I have, the ones with ? after their names are the ones I am not sure of, or their names were unreadable;

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Top Row, Left to Right; Janice Rollings, Donald Heaton, Fayette "Fay" Waters, Joan Mason, Joan Blanchard, Kathleen Colgan.

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Second Row, Left to Right; Kenny Stickles, Connie ?, Alice Brecht, Norman Mount, Mae Grove, Joe "Jo-Jo" Dement.

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Third Row, Left to Right; Frances ?, Anita Pomerank, Tommy Mason, Leigh "Lee" Jones ?, Carolyn Ann Fine, Bobby Inman.

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Bottom Row, Left to Right; Janice Patterson, Danny Mozer, Colin Stackhouse, Sue Lavin, Richard "Richie" Sellers, Tommy Lippincott.

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I received some help from Daryl Dwier Bitner and Carolyn Ann Fine Perialas with some of the names

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This is a photo of the Groveville Elementary School, Reception and First Grades 1944 - 45, I am working on posting the names, but at least we are moving forward.

Mrs. Doris Atkins, Sunday School Class ~ 1957

Dave Sehorn sent me this photo of his Sunday School Class, he believes this was taken in 1957.

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From left to right back row: Eddie Atkins, Leon Gennet, Bill Helfry, Roland Wills, Dave Sehorn, Billy Rouseau, Emma-Jane Reynolds, Frank Bendy, the boy in the stripped jacket is unknown .Front row: The Girl in white is unknown,and the little boy looking away I believe is Tommy Atkins, and of course, Doris Atkins, Teacher.

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This photo was taken in front of the Groveville Methodist Church, the house in the background with the screened in porch is the home of Mildred Williams & Family and the house to the right was the Sellers Family and Rose & Tim Palinski's Home.

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I believe the dark car in the background belonged to Helen Rouseau, not sure about the other, I will be surprised if I don't get and email from Charlie Donnell, telling me who owned these cars, he always knows that stuff.

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I knew Charlie would come through, its amazing how one picture leads to so many stories, Charlie writes; The car on the right side was Mildred Williams 4 dr. 1953 Pontiac. Orange & white in color. Helen Rouseau had a Pink (kind of Pink) with a white top 1955 Plymouth (I don't think she'd let ole Frank drive it). Brother Jim Donnell had just moved out from the side next to Millie and went to his new house on Broad street. A polish guy named Stosh Havulruski or some name such as that, moved there after Jim, (and I worked with his son as a welder for years and still can't pronounce or spell the name) Jim moved to broad St. in 1956. Stosh worked for Kaye Tex. Mabel Haggerty lived there before Jim. Around 1952 she moved to Broad St. too.

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