Riverton Walking Tour brochures at Riverton Library
Fall is a brilliant time to walk the village and discover the local history displayed in eight historical markers.
There’s more to come, thanks to a generous donation in 2016 from Carlos Rogers’ Historical Riverton Criterium that established the program which shares expenses between the HSR and the property owners.
Pick up your Walking Tour brochures for a $1 donation at Riverton Free Library or Tillie’s Trinkets & Treasures. Also, free printable copies of each are available by clicking on the links below. -JMc
During Riverton Free Library’s 2018 Riverton Candlelight House Tour this Saturday 4-9pm, be sure to make a stop at the Library where the Historical Society will offer a glimpse at some seldom seen items in our collection.
The Historical Society’s Museum-for-a-Day, last seen in 2016, returns with displays on the first floor as well as in the basement.
See this Riverton mini-mansion on the House Tour
On the first floor, be sure to see the tiniest house on the tour. This painstakingly detailed doll house is a replica of the real dwelling at 806 Main Street. You will have to come on Saturday to see the inside furnishings and details, complete with a Christmas tree and doors with crystal doorknobs.
Yacht Club illustration from Reddy by Mary Biddle Fitler, 1929
Downstairs, see displays of vintage clothing, photos of old Riverton, our salute to veterans, a number of Dreer’s Nursery garden implements and photos, plus original manuscripts, novels, and scrapbook by Riverton author Mary Biddle Fitler, and much more.
Mrs. Biddle’s fictional book series for children began with the publication of Reddy in 1929 using Riverton as a backdrop.
As publicized by the RFL Assn., tickets for the Candlelight House Tour are $15 Pre-Sale/ $20 Tour Night and are available at The Riverton Free Library, The New Leaf and The Guitar Guild. Ticket proceeds benefit Riverton Free Library.
Admission to the Historical Society’s exhibition is free.
In addition to seeing the five beautifully decorated homes on the Tour, local establishments will offer entertainment & refreshments. And while here, don’t forget to the visit downtown Riverton’s Christmas Village, with horse & carriage rides and local vendors! -JMc
Added 1/26/2019: Highlights from our Museum for a Day
Santa greets a visitor
Susan Dechnik gives a mini-house tour
detail, Lippincott Family Tree
Bill Hall explains a 1920s aerial photo
Dreer Nursery catalogs, photos, implements
we remember veterans
original 1890 Bird’s Eye view of Riverton and Lippincott family Bible
How many times have you heard that word used to characterize Riverton?
Below, HSR Board Member Roger Prichard updates us on the Society’s Historical Marker Project – our effort to commemorate Riverton’s treasured past. – John McCormick, Editor
RFLibrary marker, June 2018, PHOTO: JMc
Our historical marker program has its next two markers in the ground, at Riverton Free Library and Riverton Public School.
John Laverty, Roger Prichard, RFL marker PHOTO: Bill Brown
Our volunteer Sub-Committee on Excavations (i.e. Pres. Bill Brown, John Laverty and Roger Prichard) planted them both on a recent Sunday morning. Stop by and have a read!
The marker for the Library tells the story of the tiny cottage first occupied by a nationally known motivational preacher. It was then for many decades the home of a lifelong bachelor who was a beloved figure in Riverton. It was transformed into the home of the new Riverton Free Library and Reading Room Association, which has been a treasure for the town for about 110 years since then.
RPS historical marker, June 2018, PHOTO: JMcRoger Prichard, John Laverty, RPS marker PHOTO: Bill Brown
Riverton Public School is actually the fourth public school attended by students of the area – the first being long before there even WAS a Riverton. The marker tells of how its expansion paced the evolution of the whole concept of public education in America and includes a “then-and-now” graphic with groups of children from about 1915 and 2018.
Carlos Rogers directs the action at the 6th Annual HRCriterium, 2016, PHOTO: JMc
R Bowden Shepherd c1882 Christ Church Rector 1894-1911
The genesis for the formation of the Riverton Free Library Association originated at a meeting in January 1899, called for by the rector of Christ Church, Rev. R. Bowden Shepherd, for the purpose of forming a free library for local residents.
Within months, a group formally organized, adopted a constitution and bylaws, chose a board, elected officers, and opened in May 1899, in the Parish House with 800 books donated by Christ Church.
Riverton Free Library
The permanent home at 306 Main Street came in 1908, a gift from Mrs. Sarah Ogden in memory of her husband, Edward H. Ogden.
Riverton Free Library, now housed in the Victorian cottage on Main Street, has survived and flourished for more than a century due to the devotion of scores of people who have acted as its stewards, including board members, officers and staff, volunteers, and supporters.
Riverton Free Library October 2017
In researching to prepare for a historical marker commemorating the landmark, Patricia Solin and Roger Prichard have written a feature article for the January 2018 Gaslight News chronicling the history of the RFLA and the building that now serves as its home.
I revisited the building last week and met with Nancy Fort, the new Director. After getting a fresh exterior paint scheme last fall, workers had turned to paint the Library’s altered interior. The spirited conversation of adult card players enjoying a game filtered in from the next room.
Fine Box
Nancy Fort placed this antique wooden box on an old round oak table displaying the worn patina of decades of use. I had to wonder. What changes – not only to the building but also in its operation – had it witnessed over the years?
Please tell us about your memory of Riverton Free Library. -JMc
This cherished Riverton holiday tradition returns after a cancellation in 2015.
The weather forecast for this Saturday’s Candlelight House Tour in Riverton calls for 51 degrees and partly sunny skies. A tenth home has just been added to the tour.
During your rounds of the decorated homes stop by The New Leaf for refreshment and entertainment.
HSR archives entrance
After a two-year absence, the Historical Society of Riverton’s Museum-for-a-Day returns, this time to the Library’s basement.
Maybe we should call it Mini-Museum-for-a-Day since the space is small. Still, if you can venture downstairs, it’s worth the price of admission, which is free for this one day. Who knows when we can do it again?
HSR Board members have prepared a number of exhibits of materials from our seldom seen archives.
A remarkable highlight is Society member Dorothy Talavera’s own collection called A Family of Brides containing bridal gowns, photos, invitations, love letters, and mementos representing almost two centuries of brides in the same family.
Upstairs, in the Library’s meeting room, we will screen the 43-minute DVD Romance of Riverton, filmed in 1926. It is available again for $20 after a sellout in 2015.
Also available for sale upstairs will be reproduction prints of many of the postcards, photos, and maps plus historically themed mugs seen on our website. See more information about the DVD and the mugs here. – JMc
Rev. 12/1/2016: This bulletin from Deb Lengyel – Here is a link to the 8-page tour booklet for a sneak preview of the homes this year. It includes a list of businesses and shops open for the event, a map, and provides descriptive information filled with architectural and local history details for the places on the tour. A history lesson in itself! Thanks to Deb and Idea Patio Creative Services for again generously donating her design expertise and a part of the printing costs to the project.
Riverton resident Carlos Rogers goes for the hat trick June 9, 2013, 1:00 p.m., as The Historic Riverton Criterium returns this year for the third time to the gaslamp-lined streets of this near-square mile borough.
In a crit, cyclists race a specified number of laps on a closed course over public roads closed to normal traffic. In this case, athletes pedal 20-50 laps (depending on ability), around an eight-tenths mile fixed loop circuit of the Borough’s thoroughfares during a typical hour-or-so long match.
Capitalizing on the success of the last two competitions, Carlos’ HRC Facebook page has already drawn pro and amateur contenders signing up for the USA Cycling sanctioned series of bicycle races, which includes USAC CATEGORIES 3/4, 45+, and Pro/1/2.
Find out more about registration, race categories, directions, the cash purses and cash premes, lots of photos and results of the past races, and all particulars on that Facebook page.
Contributors have opened their checkbooks, and several sponsors have returned to throw in their support behind this exciting community event that already has a history of giving back to the local area’s groups and organizations.
The popular Kids Race returns and you might want to get your cameras ready for the Fireman’s Fun Lap!
From Left: Carlos and Adrienne Rogers , Karen Healey ( RFL President) Michael Robinson (RFL Manager)
Since 2011, the HRC has been committed to supporting Riverton and its surrounding communities by making financial contributions to various organizations to aid and benefit our friends and neighbors. See the HRC Missions Proceeds Sheet here. ( Word .docx) This year’s proceeds benefit the Riverton Fire Company.
Jeannie O’Sullivan, Staff writer for the Burlington County Times, wrote a great color piece on last year’s day at the races, and if you search “criterium” in our search box at the upper right of your screen, you will be directed to several other references to the 2011 and 2012 races as well as Riverton’s vintage bicycle races of the 1890s.
I am ready – I found my cowbell from last year. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor
One Society member commented that the homes on the December 3rd Candlelight House Tour December were “…historic and all quite beautiful.” This extraordinary biennial event invites the public inside some of the most distinctive homes and buildings in historic Riverton to raise funds for the Riverton Free Library.Hundreds of admirers of 19th century architecture came from throughout the greater Philadelphia and South Jersey areato view the historic buildings all beautifully decorated for the holidays which included five private homes plus the Porch Club, Christ Church, and TheNew Leaf Tea Room and Gift Shoppe.
Curator Mrs. Cheryl Smekal welcomed scores of visitors to our limited-engagement museum.
Mrs. Phyllis Rodgers, proprietor of The New Leaf, generously offered space to the Historical Society of Riverton (HSR) to host its popular Museum for a Day exhibition, a traveling display of local Riverton artifacts, photographs and ephemera from its archives.
The showing offered a special opportunity for its exhibit curator, Mrs. Cheryl Smekal, to display women’s period clothing and furnishings as well as rare objects belonging to prominent Riverton families. Mrs. Smekal organized the event with assistance and guidance from Society Board members Mrs. Pat Brunker, Mrs. Nancy Hall, Mrs. Phyllis Rodgers and Mr. John McCormick.
Can you guess the name or the use of these household items which might have been found in homes of the early 1900s?
A table covered with 16 household objects common to the earlier 1900s which beckoned to onlookers, “Can You Guess…?” sometimes created traffic gridlock as museum visitors seriously debated the various uses to which some of the more puzzling objects might be put.
John McCormick, Gaslight News editor, blogger, collector of Riverton objects and lore hopes to interest more people in contributing information and images to the Society.
John McCormick was on hand to answer questions from collectors and the public about memorabilia and collectible ephemera. John, a retired educator and local historian, offered reproductions from his vast collection of local historic images with street views from local Burlington County towns.
A display includes photos and artifacts from various business enterprises and a vertical wall banner which outlines the history of the New Leaf building.
John devoted a section of the show of artifacts to The New Leaf at 606 Main Street since that address has played a number of roles in Riverton’s business section since it first was the location of Ezra Perkins’ butcher shop about 1900.
You can view a PDF file of that banner that outlines the history of 606-608 Main Street here.
Always of special interest to collectors are the vintage post card reproductions photo-restored by John McCormick featuring Dreer’s Nursery, New Jersey shore resort towns like Long Beach Island, Ocean City, Stone Harbor, and other locales like Burlington, Trenton, Moorestown, Mount Holly, Palmyra, and Riverside.
One collector visiting the Society’s Museum for a Day was delighted to see that John had added considerably to what he had available at Victorian Day 2007, and he pulled up a chair and devoted over two hours to browsing the vintage postcard reproductions.
Pat Lynch and Nancy Hall peruse the gifts available for the history enthusiast – Ruff Copy, Historic Riverton, History of Riverton Fire Co., Romance of Riverton, back issues of Gaslight News, History of Palmyra, repro maps and photos.
The Society appreciates Mr. McCormick’s generosity in sharing his collection on the HSR web site and blog for people of all ages to enjoy.
While an adult visitor may recall and perhaps even reminisce with the website’s content, a child seeing those same images and stories may see for the first time how life in his or her hometown was so different a hundred or more years ago.
We commend The Friends of the Riverton Free Library for their successful house tour program which reminds us that our magnificent, historic homes in Riverton can be restored to their past splendor rather than sold as apartment conversions.
The Candlelight House Tour significantly contributes to the rediscovery of Riverton by visitors and homeowners as a special place to live. The following photo gallery of our Road Show Museum will suffice until the HSR can secure a permanent solution to display the wonderful collection to which so many Rivertonians have contributed over the years.
– Gerald Weaber, President Historical Society of Riverton
Curator Mrs. Cheryl Smekal welcomed scores of visitors to our limited-engagement museum in 2011
Lippincott family Bible on stand at left
page from Lippincott family Bible
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Ezra Lippincott family on porch of Bank Ave. home, now part of Riverview Estates
caption for next group photo of Riverton tourists on way to CA
hockey and baseball display
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scan of letter from Charles Flanagan to H. McIlvain Biddle regarding the famous 1872 Riverton baseball team
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John McCormick, Gaslight News editor, blogger, collector of Riverton objects and lore hopes to interest more people in contributing information and images to the Society.
A display includes photos and artifacts from various business enterprises and a vertical wall banner which outlines the history of the New Leaf building.
display of original Dreer’s catalogs and postcards, reproductions in frame and at far left
reproductions from Dreer’s Garden Book color plates
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Quaker bonnets – Nancy Hall
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HSR President Gerald Weaber hopes that the One Day Museum results in more interest in local history.
Pat Lynch and Nancy Hall peruse the gifts available for the history enthusiast – Ruff Copy, Historic Riverton, History of Riverton Fire Co., Romance of Riverton, back issues of Gaslight News, History of Palmyra, repro maps and photos.
Can you guess the name or the use of these household items which might have been found in homes of the early 1900s?
