Join us Tuesday May 20, 2025 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Calvary Presbyterian Church, 4th and Lippincott Streets, Riverton, NJ.
Everyone loves celebrating good work!
Whether you’re the proud owner of a historic property or love them because they are the character of Riverton, you know this is truly a labor of love.
HSR periodically publicly acclaims some of those who have gone the extra mile to care for our history.
Come and give your neighbors a round of applause to show our appreciation for what they’ve done.
Here’s a sneak peak at our winners this year. Drumroll, please …
Our top award, the Daniel Campbell Preservation Award goes to John and Danielle Casparro for their extensive (and of course continuing) restoration of 101 Lippincott Avenue, the Charles C. Miller and Hetty Lippincott Miller house.
To Gail and John Caruso for their home at 600 Elm Terrace (long known as “Dr. Mark’s House”). They re-roofed with modern materials that bring back the look of the Mediterranean tile roof. With architect Neil K. Johnson of Moorestown they added a gracious front porch that looks like it was always there.
A previous winner, Joe Rainer just keeps on going. This time it’s for multiple projects …
In 2022, just as HSR was getting ready to award Joe for multiple projects, a disastrous late night fire swept his 1922 “Williams & Wright Building” at Broad and Main. While many owners would have used this as a pretext to demolish and build something new and probably non-historic smack in the middle of our downtown, Joe brought the original building back, better than ever.
He has also done considerable upgrades to his other buildings recently, including the stunning repainting of the New Leaf at 606 Main Street.
Plus two “Honor Recognition Awards”:
Brewery 33 for creating an attractive new business right in the center of Riverton in place of a storage lot that had seen better days.
Pat McDermott in recognition of decades of volunteer service to improve the appearance of downtown Riverton and in countless other civic projects.
“What’s your favorite house in Riverton? What’s its story?”
Attention high school and K-8 students living in Riverton!
Historical Society of Riverton announces TWO student prize contests for Spring 2025:
$500 Writing Prize for high school students
$100 Illustration Prize for K-8 students
Deadline for entries for each contest is May 31, 2025 and each must respond to this year’s history question: “What’s your favorite house in Riverton? What’s its story?”
The winning entry for each contest will be featured on HSR’s website and each winning entrant will be recognized at the Fourth of July ceremonies in Riverton Memorial Park.
To get more ideas for what house you might choose, you could read the interpretative markers in front of some of Riverton’s oldest houses.
You might also use our walking tour maps: Map1Map2 to get a little more information on many historic houses.
Another source full of ideas is HSR’s book “Images of America: Riverton” at the Riverton Free Library or can be purchased online.
Details
High School Writing Prize: Riverton is a town of great houses. Many of these contribute to our historic district which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999. The story of these houses as homes for generations of Riverton residents represents the story of our town on a very personal level. You and your family are a part of that story.
Submit a 1,000 word essay about your favorite Riverton house. The house might be your house, or a house you admire or are just curious about.
For questions about the prize or to submit your entry, please contact Heather Huffnagle at 856-505-7087 or email at heather.mary.macintosh <at> gmail <dot> com
K-8 Illustration Prize: The winning illustration will feature a Riverton house and narrative elements such as specific past owners or people doing things related to the house’s story.
How do you tell that story in a picture?
Think about including details that help tell it:
— a family portrait of the first owners. They might be standing in the front yard, on the porch, or looking out the windows.
— a scene that explains what an owner did for a living. For example, if one of the original owners built houses or boats, illustrate them working on a project.
— an object that is associated with an owner. For instance, the owner of the Campbell Soup Company might be holding a can of tomato soup.
Illustrations may be drawn or painted.
You may submit a photo of your work or scan to Heather Huffnagle at heather.mary.macintosh <at> gmail <dot> com or reach out to 856-505-7087 (cell) if you’re having trouble documenting your work. We can help!
Join us for a trip to those times Wednesday March 26, 2025 at 7:00 pm at the Riverton Free Library, 306 Main Street.
HSR welcomes back Marisa Bozarth, Burlington County Museum Curator for a lively evening of stories and images from when everything that we know as Riverton and Cinnaminson was fields and scattered farmhouses.
Click the images to enlarge. The Parry family (above) owned several farms all around the intersection of today’s Riverton Road, Branch Pike, and (yes) Parry Road. In addition to strawberries, they had extensive orchards and grew other crops.
Here’s a view of our whole area in 1849 on the J.W. Otley and R. Whiteford map. The little dots are the only buildings. No Riverton! Palmyra was tiny and there’s nary a Wawa or gas station to be found! All farmland.
Here’s William Parry’s ad in the 1860 Boyd’s Directory which we found at archive.org:
We think that the “Turnpike to Camden & Phila” is today’s Branch Pike, based on the word “Branch” in the caption. That would make it likely that the crossroad is today’s Pomona Road.
Please join us for an interesting escape into days long ago. Free and open to the public.
Discovering and retelling Riverton’s stories since 1970.
Remember this great circa 1898 picture of founder Robert Biddle we included in our Images of America book everyone loves so much?
(Click on any pic to enlarge.)
It’s a scan of a 5”x7” glass plate negative, made by Robert Biddle’s great-great-grandson Stephen Biddle Russell, a retired attorney who has lived in Florida for decades.
Steve scanned that plate and several others for us a couple of years ago … and tantalizingly mentioned that he has dozens more.
Well, “dozens” was an understatement – he has nearly 100 images from his Biddle family collection, and he’s now donated ALL of them to the Historical Society of Riverton!
And he’s used his scanner to make darned good digital images of all of them, easy to just click through like you’re in a time machine.
We’re just stunned at his generosity and are so very grateful.
Above, for instance, on the right is Helen “Elsie” Biddle (1875-1962), Robert’s granddaughter, with her gorgeous brand new sailboat (look at the shiny varnish!) The young lady with her isn’t identified but looks a lot like her sister Anna (1869-1926). The fascinating building to the right is the family ice house (today called 2 Lippincott Ave. and home to HSR President Faith Endicott).
Here is our hero Steve Russell with his partner Karen Green on the day they delivered all the glass plates. Because they are so fragile (and heavy – there’s 31 lbs. of glass there!) Steve brought them from Florida in carry-on luggage carefully protected in a hard rolling case. He went to the airport an extra hour early just to be sure TSA knew what the heck he was bringing on the plane.
As you can see in the foreground, Steve also made up for us a couple of invaluable keys to family group photos. When proud patriarch Robert reached his 80s, he began having these pics taken at his birthday celebrations (August 10th) with all his descendants and their families spread out along the back porch of his home at 309 Bank Avenue.
Here’s the one from his 82nd birthday in 1896.
Everyone in the picture lived in Riverton. Robert (8) and his daughter/caregiver Martha (20) there at 309 Bank, his son Charles Miller Biddle (6) and family lived at their magnificent 207 Bank (corner of Lippincott), Anna Mary McIlvain Biddle (13) and family at 201 Bank (upriver corner of Thomas), the Frishmuths in a now-gone home at 101 Bank (upriver corner of Linden), and the Atlees in their brand new home at 100 Linden.
Now – not all 100 are of great interest. There are quite a few of the Biddles and Lippincotts relaxing at a hotel in Atlantic City, and many from various grand tours of Europe and the American West.
But good golly, there are some great images here no one has seen in 125 years. How about this one of an ice storm in 1898? That’s 101 Lippincott Ave. on the right (looking toward the river). Left to right are Charles Miller Biddle, daughter Helen “Elsie” Biddle, and her brother Robert Biddle 2nd.
This is what a box of 12 glass plates looks like (“gelatine” plates weren’t made of gelatin, they were glass plates with a thin gelatin-based light-sensitive emulsion) …
… and here’s what one of the 5″ x 7″ glass negatives looks like:
Rivertonians of today and Rivertonians of the future are truly blessed to be the recipients of this generosity. What other town creates this kind of special devotion?
Take a minute and enjoy a couple more images.
Who recognizes this one? It was taken from a small boat, so the slow shutter speed needed meant it’s not very clear. But truly a rare view.
It’s a riddle: which house isn’t there anymore – and yet it isn’t gone?
Answer: It was moved! This is the foot of Fulton Street in the late 1890s, then the home of Walter and Mabel Woolman. Around 1913 they wanted to build a new house there (which became today’s 701 Bank Avenue) so they moved this old house to what is today 201 Fulton Street, where it still stands (home of your Borough Historian, as it happens).
Built in the mid-1850s this was the second home in Riverton built by Daniel Leeds Miller, Jr. and his wife Anna. Daniel was the principal founder of the town (the one who actually bought the farm from the Lippincotts on behalf of his partners) and he lived here until his death in 1871.
Here is how it looked in a detail from the famous 1890 Birds Eye View lithograph by Rivertonian Otto Koehler.
And finally, here’s a super-rare riverbank picture from 1899 (lots of winter scenes in the collection, for some reason).
Recognize it? Two of those houses still stand. The three nearest homes left to right are:
– 311 Bank (then a guest house named “The Red Gables” and run by retired Civil War general William L. James and his family) – 309 Bank (at the time 48 years the home of founder Robert Biddle), and – 307 Bank (originally built for Robert Biddle’s brother William Canby Biddle and demolished by the Baptist Home in 1984 despite an uproar of opposition from Riverton residents).
We’re very grateful to Steve Biddle Russell – and to Moorestown’s Joan Biddle and her late, beloved husband Miller, who introduced us to Steve quite a few years ago now.
Historical Society of Riverton’s rich depth of authentic historical material has come almost completely from generous members of the public who, like the Biddle family, know that there are things that are important beyond ourselves. These images, documents, and artifacts all have stories to tell.
Please consider letting HSR scan or archive things in your own collection!
Discovering and retelling Riverton’s stories since 1970.
Still time to send the best – and easiest! – Riverton Christmas present.
One of our books should be on every coffee table in town. What do you give those grown kids who’ve flown the nest? Or the siblings now living far away who miss Klipple’s bakery?
You send them memories of home, of course!
It’s 128 pages, packed with over 150 historic images with carefully researched captions.
A trip in a time machine in your favorite town that’s changed so much — and hardly at all!
Click and buy – from:
OR – the Riverton CVS has a display of them back next to the prescription counter. Save on shipping!
Compiled by: Pat Brunker, Iris Gaughan and Eileen DellaPenna
T. Robins “Robin” Brown of Riverton, New Jersey, passed away peacefully on September 27, 2024. She was a valued Historical Society member who took on the years’ long task of organizing the Society’s extensive artifact collection.
Robin was born in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of Raymond and Elizabeth Brown and sister of Randy, Ray Jr., and Ceci. She grew up in rural Gloucester County, VA and spent days swimming, crabbing, and exploring the Ware River and nearby forests and marshes. Robin learned curiosity and compassion from her father and determination and a love of gardening from her mother. She attended St. Catherine’s School and Mount Holyoke College. There, she cultivated a love of architectural history and made many cherished lifelong friends.
Robin went on to become one of the first women to get a Master’s degree in Architectural History at the University of Virginia. Upon seeing or walking into a historic house, Robin would start describing specific architectural features with staggering enthusiasm and detail. If a tour guide at a historic house made a factual error, Robin would correct it in the nicest way possible, then would share many more facts and observations.
Robin met Kieran Quinn, her future husband, at a party hosted by mutual friends. Kieran was nearly a foot taller than Robin and was twice as broad, but their shared intellectual curiosity and love of the outdoors brought them together. They married in 1975, moved to Nyack, NY in 1977, and welcomed sons Thaddeus (Thad) in 1978 and Edward (Ted) in 1981.
Robin juggled work, parenthood, hobbies, and civic engagement with boundless energy. She worked as a consultant in architectural history, as a development officer for several environmental nonprofits, and as Executive Director of The Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ. The Hermitage, a National Historic Landmark, was purchased by Ann Bartow DeVisme in 1767 who moved to Ho-Ho-Kus from Manhattan with five children. Among the visitors to the house during the Revolution were James Monroe, William Paterson, the Marquis de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, Lord Sterling, Peggy Shippen Arnold and Aaron Burr. In 1847, Elijah Rosencrantz, Jr. commissioned the well-known architect William Ranlett to construct a romantic Victorian residence which would incorporate the historic Colonial house. Robin was in charge of the now fourteen-room Gothic Revival house museum.
Robin’s family loved camping, paddling, and sailing together. Kieran became Commodore of the yacht club where they lived. Robin was a passionate gardener, finding joy in growing and sharing bulbs, seeds, and saplings. She volunteered for architectural review boards, historical societies, and planning committees and canvassed for local and national politicians. She and Kieran were adventurers and traveled the world. Robin explored places far and near, from a honeymoon in Peru and Bolivia to a 6,000 mile road trip in 2022 through the South and Southwest.
Robin and Kieran moved to Riverton, NJ in 2019 to be close to their grandchildren. They were attracted by living in a historic town, full of numerous architectural styles, and one with a Yacht Club. Robin started a new garden, became active in the Porch Club and Historical Society of Riverton, and was an active member of five book clubs.
Robin’s contribution to the Historical Society was immense. She had a passion for history. She was a meticulous cataloger and did extensive research on every item she came across, treating everything like it was her own. She collected and proudly displayed the artifacts for two recent HSR programs – “The History of the Riverton Yacht Club” and “Growing up in Riverton.” The presence of the artifacts at these programs added a great deal of factual depth to the presentations.
Handkerchief belonging to Hetty Lippincott (1869-1955), who grew up at 303 Bank Avenue (today the Riverview Estates)
Robin knew how to – or found out how to – preserve every object in the collection, storing things in archival boxes. She would also clean objects for display and preservation if necessary and appropriate. Robin was tenacious, had a depth of knowledge, and did a heroic amount of work for the society. She developed a cataloging system for the items and placed the data on a computer in the archives for easy retrieval.
Robin also served on the Architectural Review Committee in Riverton, utilizing her depth of knowledge of architecture and preservation.
Help support our good friends at the Riverton Free Library!
HSR supporters love Riverton homes – and all will like to know the biennial House Tour is coming, your opportunity to get a glimpse of a variety of then, decorated for the season.
Several are vintage homes, including one built by a Riverton founding family and one built by the co-founder of the 4th of July Parade!
Click here for info on the homes you’ll see and read about their proud owners:
Here’s a quick look:
412 Lippincott Avenue, built 1888 by the man who later co-founded the Riverton 4th of July Children’s Parade.
503 Bank Avenue, built 1851 by Riverton founders Caleb Clothier and his wife Hannah Hallowell Clothier.
400 Linden Avenue, 1920 American Foursquare.
209A Linden Avenue, 2006 Modern Classic.
105 Bank Avenue, 2023 Modern European-style farmhouse.
1954 Mid-Century Ranch, expanded 2018.
The following will also be open and welcoming visitors:
Riverton Free Library (306 Main Street) ticket sales The Porch Club (4th & Howard Streets) refreshments and rest rooms Mt. Zion AME Church (3rd and Penn Streets) Calvary Presbyterian Church (300 4th Street) Christ Episcopal Church (305 Main Street) Riverview Estates (305 Bank Avenue) refreshments and rest rooms until 8 pm
Private citizens organize successful effort to protect their community’s history
Historical Society of Riverton (NJ) board members John Laverty (l) and Roger Prichard (r) installing the historical marker for the Riverton Free Library, housed in an 1853 cottage designed by A.J. Downing.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2024
RIVERTON, NEW JERSEY – Rivertonians Roger T. Prichard and John M. Laverty, Jr., have been awarded an “Honorable Mention for Preservation Stewardship,” one of the 2024 New Jersey Historic Preservation Awards given by Preservation New Jersey, a statewide non-profit historic preservation organization.
Each year, Preservation New Jersey reviews organizations and individuals who have contributed in memorable and significant ways to historic preservation or sustained contributions to the understanding and promotion of New Jersey’s rich history.
The Award is presented to Prichard and Laverty for their work as independent citizens to form a community roundtable that generated consensus towards and the writing of a new Historic Preservation Ordinance.
The historic charm of Riverton’s National Register Historic District faces growing losses from teardown and modern renovation projects. Until 2023, Riverton lacked the zoning protections that other historic New Jersey towns have used for years to preserve the historic character their citizens love.
Riverton (NJ) riverbank home built 1905-1907 for C.C. Fitler. Photo: Historical Society of Riverton
The award nominator recognized these long-time board members of the Historical Society of Riverton, saying “… Prichard and Laverty convened a citizens’ Preservation Roundtable to build consensus among many disparate Riverton constituencies, including business owners, landlords, local volunteer organizations, and elected leaders.”
“Roger and John brought to the table as many stakeholders as possible, distilling a town-wide understanding of ‘no more teardowns,’” said Faith Endicott, President of the Historical Society of Riverton. “It was important to recognize the risk of destroying what makes our town special. Our historic character is worth defending from further harm.” 2
“We put everyone in the same room as equals and let them listen to each other,” said Laverty, who served as Moderator.
Riverton (NJ) c. 1855 home of Daniel Leeds Miller Jr., a Philadelphia abolitionist and petroleum merchant. Photo: Historical Society of Riverton
Prichard observed, “We all agreed that everyone loves the appearance of this little Victorian town on the bank of the Delaware River and any work must follow the old rule: ‘first, do no harm.’”
“Riverton has a culture of respect for their vintage homes. Homeowners invest more for pride than for profit, whether long-time residents or newcomers,” he added.
Borough Council then unanimously created a first-in-Riverton Historic Preservation Commission, which elected Laverty as its founding Chair. “Yes, we need to defend our history – and – at least as important, we need to have a focus on ‘customer service,’ to help our property owners find good, affordable choices,” Laverty said.
Riverton’s new Historic Preservation Commission hopes to attract, cultivate, and champion projects which respect the surviving good work of long-ago craftspeople, protecting the property values of the many owners who have already restored and maintained their vintage properties.
Riverton (NJ) 1880 clubhouse of the Riverton Yacht Club, oldest sailing club on the Delaware River, built on the town’s 1851 steamboat landing pier. Photo: Historical Society of Riverton
Hundreds of resident voters stood in line for as long as 4 hours to cast their votes in the 2024 presidential and local election on Tuesday, November 5.
In my section of the line, the mood was peaceful and reserved. Small talk won the day and people seemed to be happy to be a part of the experience.
The weather was perfect all day and into the night and good-natured humor passed through the lines as time wore on.
Fortunately, in this town you are bound to catch a familiar name or face and enjoy a chat about an agreeable theme.
From time to time various generous souls provided multiple boxes of pizza from Milanese to make the experience seem shorter and definitely more enjoyable. Thank you!
We can only hope these connections take root and help us all remember from this personal experience that we have more in common than not. Right now, we ALL agree that this could have been done better!
With many technical bottlenecks, Burlington County Superior Court extended the time and 9:00 pm became the deadline to join the line, which by then (below) stretched down Howard to 4th and more than halfway along 4th toward Cinnaminson St.
We particularly like this photo, showing super-dedicated voters queued across from the Porch Club of Riverton, whose members worked tirelessly for decades more than a century ago to expand the right to vote to all. Photo at 9:05 pm by Roger Prichard
There were many hundreds in line, still remarkably patient and dedicated, at 9:00 when new voters could no longer join the line.
The last voter finished and walked out at 12:53 a.m. on Wednesday morning. In all, 994 Rivertonians voted, a turnout of about 65% of registered voters.
Out deepest thanks to our local volunteers and municipal employees who remained cheerful while coping with problems not of their own making — and to our great Rivertonians who persevered to exercise their power.
Mark your calendars: Monday October 28, 2024. HSR is happy once again to partner with our good friends at The Porch Club of Riverton in their beautiful historic hall and take a time machine trip of reminiscences from the 1940s onward.
The Wright family is one of the most extensive and fascinating extended families in Riverton’s history. Remember the Showell family we profiled in our last blog post? Yep – the two families were joined by marriage in 1910!
The Wrights first settled here in 1887 when Philadelphia entrepreneur Charles A. Wright saw a Riverton house advertised for sale in a Philly paper. Having always admired Riverton as he passed on business trips on the steamboat, he grabbed at the opportunity. It was the house at 305 Bank Avenue (later moved to 102 Penn Street, where it still stands). He produced a large and energetic family here, who lived in various homes around town.
Our program will be presented by three great-grandchildren (yes, you read that right) of that man, Charles A. Wright:
Barbara Flach (Knight) Meyer
Lenore Wright (Showell) Layton, and
Doris Ellen (Showell) MacKenzie
We hope you can join us! No admission, just walk in. Refreshments will be served.
