Save the Groves Mansion and grounds; Save the neighborhood

Groves Mansion, July 2021

This post is intended to update our recent article, “Groves Mansion status still undecided,” which appeared in the August 2021 Gaslight News. We advised our readers that we had made a case in June for the preservation of the deteriorating home and grounds in a letter to the Riverton Municipal Planning Board. The Planning Board also received in June a detailed six-page Borough Historian statement. 

The situation is still unresolved.

There has been no activity for two months since the first Planning Board hearing about the aim of JRB Properties to develop and subdivide the Frederick S. Groves Mansion at 409-413 Lippincott Avenue. No new documents have been posted on the Planning Board’s Agenda website.

As far as we know, the application is still scheduled to be heard by the Planning Board via Zoom next Tuesday 8/24 at 7:00 pm. As before, if the Board hears the case they will make time for public comment. We encourage you to do so. Here’s the link to join in: https://zoom.us/j/99667220214?pwd=eGMyc1NCM0tMTWRUajB6b29Dak9ZUT09 .”

2021-08-13 Ltr to PB from HSR re 409-411 Lippincott

The Historical Society of Riverton wishes to go on record again to state that we urge the Riverton Planning Board to advocate for the preservation of that historic home and resist any attempt to subdivide the property in a way that would result in the creation of two more homes being built on substandard lots.

Our fellow Historical Society of Riverton Board members have reviewed and approved the attached letter which was then signed by our president Bill Brown and filed with the Borough several days ago.

Fancy a swim III

RYC 3-mile swim medal, 1919, front and back

In keeping with our “Fancy a swim” theme, this screen capture from an eBay auction (that we didn’t win) shows a medal that the Riverton Yacht Club awarded for a 3-mile women’s swim in 1919.

According to the report in the August 8, 1919 issue of The New Era, “The women’s 3-mile race held by the Yacht Club last Saturday proved to be the greatest race of its kind ever held in the world.”

Despite the writer’s hyperbole, it must have been a pretty awesome event that will probably new be duplicated.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 6, 1919, p22

A firing of a cannon from the deck of Commodore R.M. Hollingshead‘s cruiser, a former coast patrol boat, signaled the start of the novel race. (Richard Milton Hollingshead, Sr. founded RM Hollingshead Corporation, and by 1920 it produced 98 Whiz brand automotive products. His son, Richard Hollingshead, Jr., later invented the drive-in movie in 1933. See more details in GN #164, Dec 2016.)

Thirty of the finest women swimmers from New York, Philadelphia, Edgewater Park, and of course, Riverton dove from the deck of the Keystone Yacht Club’s “Surprise” into the “rough and choppy” waters off of the Bridesburg pier and into the record books.

The Journal and Tribune, Knoxville, TN, Sep 4, 1921, p25

Ethelda Bliebtrey, a rising 17-year-old swimming star, won the race with a time of 44 minutes, 15 seconds.

Second place winner Eleanor Uhl that year went on to break Bleibtrey’s record with a time of 43:13 to win the 3-mile swim competition in 1920.

They both were members of the US Women’s Olympic Swim Team in 1920.

The Lake Geneva Regional News, Sept 14, 1922, p5

Billed in the newspapers of the day as an annual 3-mile swim, the Riverton Yacht Club held the event in at least 1918, 1919, 1920, and 1922.

We welcome more information about any particulars regarding Riverton’s 3-mile swim competitions.

 

Fancy a swim to Philly? II

Our previous post, “Fancy a swim to Philly?” described how Riverton youngsters proved their mettle back in the day by swimming across the Delaware River.

Maybe a knowledgeable sailor can report on today’s state of the Delaware River compared to a century ago, but swimming across now is probably ill-advised for several reasons.

Our dear former HSR Board member, Elsie Showell Waters, now passed, related the following story to Casey Foedisch who interviewed the Grand Marshal for the July Fourth Parade in 2013:

Elsie Showell Waters, 2013 Riverton July 4 Parade Marshal

When Elsie was twelve, she swam across the Delaware River, a rite of passage that all the kids simply “had to do.” Elsie learned to swim at age five in the river, and her love of swimming continued into her time at Palmyra High School. There, she was a member of the Swim Team, eventually becoming captain, as two of her sisters had been before her. She later taught swimming to children with cerebral palsy at Medford Leas, and spent many years with Bay Knight Ruff, another cousin, giving swim lessons to Riverton children. Elsie estimates that the two of them taught a third of the town to swim!

Elsie was truly remarkable and is missed by all.

Fancy a swim to Philly?

The New Era, Aug 12, 1921, p2

 

Do you fancy yourself a good swimmer? Imagine a time a full century ago and more when swimming across the Delaware River was a right of passage for Riverton youngsters.

Here are some more clippings from that era.

 

A new gallery of Ed Hartmann’s paintings

hartmann-ebay1

Back in March 2021, we introduced a tribute to local artists page. We just updated the section for Edward John Hartmann with 16 more examples of his work pulled from eBay auction pages.  Please contact us if you recognize the setting or subject of a painting or if you can account for the different styles and ways that paintings were signed.

July 3 at 3:49pm pix from Gary Weart

Gary Weart’s genuine affection for Riverton and its Glorious Fourth of July celebration is apparent in this next collection of photos. The moments captured in these phenomenal photos moved 365 people to view them on Facebook.

Asked what photo gear he used to produce these memorable images, Gary replied, ” IPhone XI. Have discarded the ole Nikon.”

That settles it – I might as well throw away my Sony Alpha. I can’t top these.

You can hear the exuberance in his remarks that accompanied Gary’s visual love letter to Riverton.

July 3 3:49pm
Highlights from the 124th Children’s Parade in Riverton, NJ. The weather cooperated and we had temperatures that were perfectly mild and even some unexpected sunshine. The South Philadelphia String Band is always a highlight and they were in full costume! Love the Scottish bagpipers, from the Philadelphia Emerald Society Pipe Band, too! Lots of runners before the parade and the route was lined with many folks happy to see the return of the festivities in “Main Street USA!” Enjoy! Happy Birthday America!

 

July 2 at 9:47pm pix from Gary Weart

Do you remember the apprehension we felt recently as dire weather forecasts threatened to cancel Riverton’s Independence Day celebrations for the second year in a row?

Listen to the hope in Gart Weart’s voice as he pleas for some divine intervention so that he can see the parade and festivities for which he has made another annual pilgrimage from his home in South Carolina.

His photos reached 624 people and the post elicited 67 likes, loves, and wows.

July 2, 2021 9:47pm
Waited out the heavy thunderstorm under a golf umbrella down by the Riverton Yacht Club. Got a little wet. However, just had that feeling that once the rain pushed through about sunset that the aftermath just might be special. Perseverance, patience, and a little previous experience paid off along with a little divine intervention indeed. Be still my humble and grateful heart. Now if we can just get that parade and all the other 4th of July festivities in with a little cooperation from Mother Nature! Stay tuned from “Main Street USA” in Riverton, NJ. Enjoy.

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July 2 at 6:41pm pix from Gary Weart

Gary Weart, a longtime friend of the HSR and a photographer with an uncommon perspective has again posted a gallery of photos on Facebook of pre-Independence Day Riverton and Palmyra sights.

Simply because FB posts can be hard to find again, we include Gary’s remarks and a screenshot showing some of the comments of other viewers. Reaching 444 people and earning 47 likes and loves, this is about as viral as we get here.

Thank you, Gary!

July 2, 2021 6:41pm
This morning’s walk along the Delaware River from Riverton to Palmyra. A few things caught my eye and brought back memories. More decorations for the 4th of July in these two special patriotic communities at the doorstep of liberty. What a blessing to have my formative years in this cradle of America’s birth and seeds of our independence. Salute!

We do love a puzzle… even incomplete ones

I have compared historical research to assembling pieces of a puzzle in these pages before.

Admittedly, it is a not-so-original comparison, but the metaphor works here since this is an investigation in which we worked out some of the edges of the topic after Bill and Nancy Steel allowed us to scan some remarkable photos from their family album.

That started us investigating the 1913 suffrage hike from New York City which culminated in an immense suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. timed to coincide with newly elected President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration.

Two of the photos, in particular, Luncheon at Haines Pond and Col. Ida Kraft speaking at Bridgeboro, showed nearby locations and suggested that maybe some of Riverton’s very own members of the Porch Club’s Suffrage Committee might have participated in the event.

Using clues from the photo captions led to further delving into the Library of Congress website, our own online collection of old hometown newspapers, Porch Club records, and online newspaper archives to fill in some more pieces.

Our 2016 website post Family pix of 1913 suffrage trek to DC may have a local connection details the progress made on this still incomplete puzzle.

Our interest in returning to this puzzle was recently renewed when Jane Swersey, an independent scholar who is writing a paper on the topic, supplied us with this critical puzzle piece – a letter to suffragist Alice Paul from her brother, Parry Paul.

National Woman's Party Papers at Sewall-Belmont House (now the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality Center. It's dated February 20, 1913 and found on microfilm reel 1
1913 letter to Alice Paul from Parry Paul

It confirms that the route of the suffrage march did indeed pass through Riverton!

It is another tantalizing bit of circumstantial evidence that suggests the possibility that some Riverton women may have been involved in the march.

We will have to put this puzzle aside for a while and hope that some more pieces turn up. Perhaps another letter, a diary, a newspaper article, or some other such primary source will yet mention one of the names of Riverton women of that era below in connection with the 1913 Suffrage March.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery
Miss Annette Campbell
Miss Amelia Coale
Miss Edith Coale
Mrs. E. S. Cole
Mrs. Catherine B. Lippincott
Miss Helen Lippincott
Miss Elizabeth Lippincott
Mrs. Mary W. Lippincott
Miss Beulah Parry
Miss Susanna Parry
Mrs. Mary L. Thomas
Mrs. E. R. H. VanValin
Miss Elizabeth Williams
Mrs. D. Henry Wright

Lisa Hendrickson of Mt. Laurel’s Alice Paul Institute provided the above list of Riverton women for our 2019 post, Suffrage memorabilia needed for educational project.

Our hope is that some descendants of the women or another researcher will stumble across this post and provide another piece of this intriguing puzzle.