Riverton Fire Company will mark 130 years of service for the town in March 2020.
Given its important role in Riverton’s history, dedicating a page of our website to the organization was one of the first things we did when we built it in 2011.
I just added the above three images scanned from slides that I won recently on eBay auctions to the Riverton Fire Company page along with several other photos and documents. Use the contact form below to contact us if you have something to add to our virtual museum.
Regular visitors and certainly, members of this Historical Society, will recall former Town Historian Mrs. Betty B. Hahle’s now familiar explanation that a group of Philadelphia merchants seeking a place to build their summer homes away from the City’s problems, yet close enough to commute to their Center City places of business, founded Riverton in 1851.
Whether that number of investors was 10, or 7, or 9 is a matter of some uncertainty that Roger Prichard will undertake at a later date. Even the names change, depending on what map, document, or newspaper clipping one references.
The resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia CREDIT: Library Company of Philadelphia
But did you know that two of the oft mentioned investment partners, James Miller McKim and Professor Charles D.Cleveland, were also part of the remarkable and inspiring story of how Henry “Box” Brown, who was born enslaved on a Virginia plantation, mailed himself to freedom in 1849?
Both were right there unpacking Brown’s shipping crate when he arrived at 5th and Arch in Philadelphia. This was less than two years before they helped found Riverton.
Although the anti-slavery lithograph above depicts the climax of an audacious story that may be familiar to many today, some abolitionists of the era feared that publicity would only make it harder for other slaves to adopt a similar scheme with which to emancipate themselves.
Antislavery print celebrating the moment fugitive slave Henry Box Brown emerged from his crate in Philadelphia. Brown, with the assistance of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, escaped slavery by having himself shipped to Philadelphia where he emerged in the presence of abolitionists C.D. Cleveland, J. Miller M’Kim, William Still, and Lewis Thompson. Depicts Brown just emerging from his box with Still holding the crate’s lid labeled, “Wm. Johnson, Arch St. Philadelphia, This side up with Care;” Cleveland with a saw in his right hand; M’Kim with a hatchet in one hand and using his other hand to help Still hold the lid; and Thompson pointing to Brown with his right hand as he holds in his free hand a walking stick.
Mr. Brown adopted the moniker “Box” for obvious reasons and wrote a book, The Narrative of Henry Box Brown. He went on to became an abolitionist speaker and performer, touring the US, Canada, and England. His heroic escape from bondage has been the subject of many books, television shows, and newspaper, magazine, and web articles.
His bold escape was so popular that this lithograph was printed and sold to the public. And look – the two men on the left are our Charles Cleveland and J. Miller McKim!
James Miller McKim, 1810-1874
In 2010, the New York Times featured one such article, “When Special Delivery Meant Deliverance for a Fugitive Slave,” that vividly details how Brown escaped and it features an eyewitness account written by the very man who accepted delivery of the precious cargo in Philadelphia – James Miller McKim.
The very same J. Miller McKim and Charles Cleveland who unpacked the exhausted but exhilarated Henry Brown from his crate would, within two years, be part of the establishment of Riverton in 1851.
Both men were key figures in the anti-slavery community, James Miller McKim served as lecturer, organizer, and corresponding secretary for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, and Professor Charles Dexter Cleveland courageously assisted fugitive slaves by operating as an “agent,” or coordinator, who plotted courses of escape and made contacts to help them connect to the Underground Railroad.
Famous African-American abolitionist William Still devoted over nine pages of his 1871 book, The Underground Railroad, to the work of James Miller McKim (pgs. 654-659), another ten pages to Charles D. Cleveland (pgs. 723-734), and six pages (pgs. 81-86) on his account of the deliverance of Henry Box Brown.
For the ways that these gentlemen connected to Riverton, we turn to the research conducted by Mrs. Betty B. Hahle who often wrote of Riverton’s founders in her signature “Yesterday” columns in the Gaslight News and temper it with a bit of our current understanding. Gaining access to Betty’s original research notes may well clear up discrepancies.
This is a detail of the earliest known map to exist of Riverton, undated, but consistent with where things stood before the end of 1851.
Plan of the New Town of Riverton, NJ, detailfirst mention of Riverton founders, Public Ledger, 9 Apr 1851, Page 2
On this map, J. Miller McKim’s name appears on the house at the far right. It still exists today, beautifully restored, at 102 Penn Street, after a move in the 1940s.
An April 9, 1851 newspaper article in the Philadelphia Public Ledger also counts him as one of a number of “our most respected citizens” who “…have had plans prepared by Samuel Sloan, Architect, for tasty villas, and the work is now under contract and in progress.”
Tasty, indeed.
However, he never technically owned that house in Riverton. Prof. Charles D. Cleveland took over McKim’s interest before January of 1852. Fellow HSR Board Member Roger Prichard surmises that perhaps the other founders chose to include the esteemed abolitionist for the cachet of prestige that his name might convey to the group’s capitalist venture.
Charles Dexter Cleveland, 1802-1869 CREDIT: Dickinson College
Author and schoolmaster Prof. Charles D. Cleveland headed a girls’ school called the School for Young Ladies at 903 Clinton Street in Philadelphia, a house that stands today. It wasn’t far from the business establishments of the other Riverton founders. Betty Hahle wrote that he served as director and officer of the Riverton Improvement Company.
Probably not the best advice for someone trying to move or declutter, but we have gotten some of the best stuff that some folks would have relegated to the trash bin.
Regular visitors to this online virtual museum that we call rivertonhistory.com know that much of it is comprised of photos and scans of items that we don’t actually have; folks often send us files or loan the item for copying. Sometimes a generous donor gives us printed material, an artifact, or a collectible related to Riverton’s history.
We have the space, if you have something to give or loan that will illuminate another bit of Riverton history.
This collaboration between the Society, its members, and visitors to the website has resulted in this ever-growing community resource. Here are some examples.
football team in pieces
In 2008, J. Edward Gilmore, a former HSR Board Member and former Borough Councilman, showed me a cabinet card depicting a Riverton football team.
Well, pieces of a cabinet card, anyway.
football team photo-restored
To shorten the story, just know that spending several hours with PhotoShop resulted in a usable photo. Cloning a leg from one player and and applying it to another to make up for a missing piece was the tricky part.
Ed Gilmore has been a frequent contributor to this online repository of local history. He has loaned or donated several dozen items, including many old hometown newspapers, vintage postcards, and irreplaceable photos.
It’s not like we can go back and take them again.
Woolston Carriage Works, Riverton, NJ photo
Lorraine Gambone quite literally trash-picked these two cabinet cards from curbside collection in 2007.
This is the only known photo of the Woolston Carriage Works that once stood at 7th and Lippincott Sts., seen restored here.
Butcher Ezra Perkins had his shop at 606 Main Street
Lorraine also plucked from the same rubbish the photo at right of butcher Ezra Perkins who had a meat store in the same building that is now The New Leaf. See a restored photo here.
For every one of these successes there are many, many times more discouraging stories of discarded items that, once lost, we can’t get back.
Like the person who told me that he threw out stacks of old New Era newspapers that were in the attic of the home when he moved in.
Or the too common story of a person’s belongings being disposed of by heirs who don’t understand their historic importance.
I often wonder how some of the items I see on eBay made their way across the miles to locations across the nation and even overseas.
1920 Fourth of July Celebration Program
In 2013, after I lost out on a winning bid for a 1920 Riverton July 4th Program, HSR member Gerald Blaney generously allowed us to scan his rare eBay find and display it here.
Such indispensable primary source material helps us flesh out the details of Riverton’s past. (Click on the thumbnail image at right to see a PDF file showing 4 pages.)
Main St Riverton postcard, c1910, printed in Germany with a menu for an Amsterdam restaurant
Here’s a puzzle – an eBay auction listing from a seller in Britain had a c1910 postcard of Main Street Riverton with a menu printed on the back for a restaurant in Amsterdam. I also had a Lawn House postcard with a Dutch distillery ad, but I neglected to scan the back before I sold it.
So… to summarize the lesson, kids, here is a list of the kinds of things that the Historical Society of Riverton collects (underlined terms link to examples of content; skip them if you do not want to see the images.) :
The primary purpose of the Historical Society of Riverton is to create an awareness of our heritage, to discover, restore, and preserve local objects and landmarks, and to continue to expand our knowledge of the history of the area.
On November 23, 2019 the Historical Society of Riverton hosted our first ever Historic House Party to raise funds to expand our Betty B. Hahle Excellence in History Award, a cash prize we have granted for over a decade to Riverton School’s most exceptional history students. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary this year, we’re looking to build on our past successes. Thanks to our members and friends, we have raised $4,000 to seed an expanded award program that supports excellence in history writing using the HSR’s archives.
The Historic House
Sociable at Coales’ May 4, 1889
The event took place at the historic Coale House, located at 100 Lippincott Avenue in Riverton. The house, built in 1878, has seen a lot of parties. We used a photo of one of these in our publicity for the November 23 event. Before 1910, parties would have taken place in the drawing room where this 1889 photo was taken.
In 1910, Hetty Coale commissioned designs for a renovation of the Second Empire style house at the corner of Lippincott Avenue and Carriage House Lane. This update included the house’s distinctive wraparound porch. The 1910 plan also included a new stable/carriage house, fireplaces, front façade windows, and a substantial reorganization of rooms which make the house’s interior feel more like a four square of the early 20th century than a conventional Victorian house.
100 Lippincott 11-23-2019
The original façade and porch looked very similar to those on other Victorians on Lippincott Avenue. To achieve a more contemporary look, the architects of the 1910 remodel chose round, simple Tuscan columns for the porch, as well as pine decking. In 2019, current owners Henry and Heather Huffnagle replaced the rotting porch with mahogany decking and synthetic columns identical to those in the 1910 scheme.
Pat Brunker greets Astrid Caruso and Roger Prichard 11-23-2019
The 1910 porch is the perfect spot for a Riverton party most months of the year. For our fundraiser, strings of Edison lights festooned the front and back porches. People flowed in and out of the house all night. Nearly 90 people took part in the event, and many helped with finishing touches.
Nick in carriage house 11-23-2019
HSR member and sound and light expert Nick Condadina volunteered to help make our event truly spectacular. The newly painted interior of the 1910 carriage house glowed in electric blue and purple light thanks to his professional grade event lighting. Kids in attendance enjoyed this heated space and the backyard bounce house.
We were delighted with the returns. Even HSR members and neighbors who were not able to attend the event donated to the cause. This overwhelming support will help as we work through the next stage of expanding the scope of the Betty B. Hahle Excellence in History Award.
The Cause
The HSR board has been thinking about improving our family and kid-friendly programming for some time. The Betty B. Hahle Excellence in History Award has supported this goal for over a decade, as have a number of programs such last year’s presentation on suffragist Alice Paul that was well attended by students. At the same time, retired New Jersey State Assistant Archivist Keith Betten has been working with members of the board to improve our archives. Our space in the library’s basement has been a huge boon to this effort.
As we’re looking ahead to the future of the organization, and past successes, the Betty Hahle Award seemed like a great idea that relatively few people know about. And something that could grow to support use of our archives, especially as more and more materials become available on our website.
Writing has been one of the HSR’s strong suits since our inception half a century ago. Mrs. Betty B. Hahle was a past president and newsletter editor of the Society, as well as Town Historian, who wrote extensively about Riverton history – why not honor that legacy by rewarding students who follow her tradition and help tell local history with primary documents?
A committee made up of educators and granting specialists will help iron out the details of this program this year. We will keep you up to date as this award program comes together. Thanks to everyone who made our event a huge success!
Heather Macintosh Huffnagle, House Party Chair, Membership Chair
Folks are gaga over these historically themed mugs.
We over 20 mugs on hand and can take your order.
Maybe one would serve as a gift for a Rivertonian here or for one who is now far from home. Or gift yourself; you deserve it!
Click on the images below to see more detail. Or click here to see a 5-page PDF.
Special orders, no problem, but they can take two weeks. There is no handling charge and we can ship for our cost of postage. Call the number on the first thumbnail below to order or to get more details.
Some mugs now on-hand have a different color than the ones pictured… 005 is white; 009, three pink, one blue; 014 is blue; 018 is white; 042, one pink, one white; 053 is white; 058 is blue
REVISED 2/8/2020: In addition to the sold out mugs shown on the pages above, the following numbers are also sold out – #001, 002, 004, 023, 048.
