Historical Society of Riverton, NJ

From the pages of The New Era, Riverton’s hometown newspaper, December 1, 1938, p10.

The New Era was a weekly newspaper published in Riverton, NJ commencing in 1889 and believed to have ceased publication in 1975. It focused its coverage on Riverton, Palmyra, and Cinnaminson, but often included stories from other townships in Burlington County.

Why not open an issue on this snowbound day and see if you find someone you know?

And if you have any issue or even just clippings that we don’t have that you could donate or lend for scanning  PULLLLLEEESE contact us.

Peruse our online back-issue catalog of:
The New Era (Riverton)
The Palmyra Record
The Riverton Journal
The Weekly News (Palmyra)

Looking for a particular topic? There’s a Search This Site button on the lower left side of this page.

It searches the whole site, including the papers, but the results may be repetitive and it misses a lot because of poor text recognition on the old microfilm from which most of our digital copies were made.

Still, “For better is half a loaf than no bread.” – 1546 book of proverbs. -JMc, Editor

Full disclosure – every day is a snow day for me since I retired in 2009.

Some snow photos that I took today.  Get ready for two or more snow events in this week’s forecast.

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Some panoramas taken around town…

Click on the photo for a larger screen image. Then look below that larger image for a link to the full-size image.

Past Snowy Pix

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Ten years ago… Our first website post-January 20, 2011

Illuminating Riverton’s Past

by Harlan Radford, Jr

The maritime history of New Jersey’s eastern seaboard has been punctuated with over 4,800 shipwrecks. Covering the span of some 400 years, the New Jersey Shipwreck Database compiled by Beach Haven’s New Jersey Maritime Museum chronicles pertinent details about those many shipwrecks.

One such shipwreck, the Fortuna, became an emblem for the Jersey Shore town that became its graveyard.

The ill-fated Italian bark Fortuna ran aground at what is now Ship Bottom, NJ in 1910.

The grounding of the Fortuna was not the shipwreck that gave the borough of Ship Bottom its name – that is another story.

The arresting Fortuna hulk became one of the most widely photographed wrecks on the Jersey coast and numerous photos depicted people actually climbing the masts, hanging from the bowsprit, and standing on the underside of the ship’s hull.

 

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Fortuna remained visible only during most of 1910 until wreckers cut it up for salvage.

As memories of the wreck faded, vintage postcards and old photographs served as the only testimony as to the evidence of this tragic maritime event.

While violent storms provoked many shipwrecks, incessant coastal fog and darkness also caused many shipwrecks before New Jersey lighthouses were constructed in the latter half of the 1800s.

The heavily traveled shipping traffic to North American cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston saw many travelers and cargoes sailing along the Jersey Shore.

Because of the treacherous shifting shoals, numerous inlets, and dangerous sandbars, this area off the Jersey coast earned the ominous name “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

On January 18, 1910, the three-masted, steel-hulled vessel with a gross tonnage of 924 and measuring 193 feet long, was transporting a cargo of coal from Montevideo, Uruguay bound for the port of New York City.

Built in 1869 in Hamburg, Germany, and sailing under the flag of Italy, the ill-fated final voyage of the Fortuna ran aground at the 16th Street beach at Ship Bottom during rough seas and thick fog.

Members of the Ship Bottom U.S. Life Saving Service saved all 18 persons without casualty including Captain Giovan Adragna, his wife, two children, and a newborn Adragna baby, along with a crew of 13.

That Fortuna has now become associated with the iconography, lore, and history of the seashore town which became its final resting place, has been largely due to the efforts of Brant Beach summer resident Carole Bradshaw.

While walking the beach, Bradshaw came upon some pieces of the ship in 1983. She also discovered Fortuna’s anchor protruding from the sand which was recovered, authenticated, and currently resides on the lawn at the Ship Bottom Borough Hall.

Later, on a frigid but sunny Saturday in January 2010, about 100 persons gathered on the 16th Street beach to witness a historic re-enactment of the wreck of the Fortuna led by Carole Bradshaw.

A scale model replica of the Fortuna sporting white improvised sails, rigging, and an Italian flag atop the three-masted hull bore the name “FORTUNA” in white letters.

Now known as “The Anchor Lady,” Carole Bradshaw authored Fortuna in 2010, an engaging account of how her discovery in the surf drove her to research how the wreck affected Captain Giovan Adragna’s family by tracking down the now-grown newborn.

Bradshaw has presented the Fortuna story to many organizations throughout New Jersey, including the NJ Maritime Museum in Beach Haven.

We invite readers of this intriguing story to share additional insights and information about their memories of the Fortuna shipwreck.

So now you know…

 

 

Photos used with permission from Six Miles At Sea: A Pictorial History of Long Beach Island, New Jersey by John Bailey Lloyd – Down The Shore Publishing, Box 353, Harvey Cedars, NJ 08008 – Copyright 1990 and Two Centuries of History on Long Beach Island by John Bailey Lloyd – Down The Shore Publishing, Box 353, Harvey Cedars, NJ 08008 – Copyright 2005.

I took this gaslamp by the Yacht Club photo in 2019.

Hearing the forecast for snow on Sunday, I asked on our Facebook page if anyone could please take some photos that I could post on our page.

Mark Still kindly sent in this misty photo of the Tacony Palmyra Bridge. A brilliant photo of the same bridge taken by Mark in 2017 serves to introduce the PALMYRA, NJ section of our IMAGES page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We should wake up to a beautiful snowscape on Tuesday morning. We have more room.

Just sayin’. -JMc, Editor

2-8-2021: This just in from my former grade partner,  monarch butterfly enthusiast, and avid gardener, Mrs. Susan Dechnik.

 

 

All of this time secluded at home during COVID has caused a proliferation of FaceBook groups with a nostalgic look back at places and experiences of our past.

One such group I found recently is About South Jersey. The stated aims of admins Rick and Denise Grenda is to provide… “A place to post photos, information or recollections of about the southern part of the State of New Jersey and close by areas.”

Another is Things that aren’t there anymore – South Jersey edition, which has the goal of connecting… “A group of friendly folks who want to remember people /places/ things from South Jersey ‘way back when.'”

It happened in New Jersey “…makes an effort to post current and big stories from the past that are part of the Great State of New Jersey and surrounding areas.”

The best part – none of them tolerate any posts with current politics, controversial views, spam, or selling.

For those with a soft spot in their heart for Philadelphia, a look at the 1993 WHYY production of Things That Aren’t There Anymore and its sequel in 1994 will take you back to Connie Mack Stadium, grand movie theaters, and Willow Grove Park.

Heck, play it on your TV and show your kids what you did back in the day.

Inspired by the TTATA theme, many of our earliest posts were about places that have disappeared in Riverton such as the Lyceum, the Lawn House, Klipple’s Bakery, Dreer’s Nursery, the train station, the bicycle track, Wolfschmitt’s Barbershop, even a dairy and an Acme Market on Main Street, and much more.

Some places are not gone so much as they have transitioned to something else, like the former Olds Community dealership at the start of this post.

Riverton is fortunate to have a historical society and a community that supports its efforts. History speaks to us from the pages of old 19th and 20th-century hometown newspapers, from many collected vintage postcards and photographs, and the collected historical research found in 185 newsletters from 1974 to the present.

Mrs. Betty B. Hahle, former Riverton Town Historian, HSR President, and editor of our newsletter once advised me to not forget to record the history that is happening today.

Our interpretation of local history has depended so long on these analog artifacts of the past, we wonder what primary source material future historians will turn to in order to chronicle Riverton’s events today.

Stay safe, kids, and please support the goals of the Society with your membership dues and donations of items.  -JMc

Just so you know, we are still on the job of discovering and preserving local history during this COVID-19 epidemic. Our board members are each working remotely from our respective homes on exciting projects that will help bring more of the extensive holdings we have collected over fifty years to light. More details will be forthcoming in later posts.

Speaking of fifty years, we missed out on celebrating our birthday party last June!

On June 4th, 1970, 54 persons attended the first meeting of the Historical Society of Riverton held at the Porch Club.

We hope to celebrate with you when the coast is clear.

With so many folks leading reclusive lives during this crisis, a nostalgia for the experiences of our younger years has perhaps prompted a flurry of comments and feedback to many former posts. Thank you for your continuing interest and support.

Unlike the last set of unidentified Riverton School photos, the donors of these photos kindly supplied the year taken and some had the names of people in the photos on the back.

Let us know if you see someone you know.

Click on each image for a larger view. When that opens, scroll down a bit and note the link that opens the full-size image.

If, during your own seclusion, you find something that can add to our collection, please contact us.  Stay safe, kids. -JMc, Editor

Another one of those folders that I mentioned in our last post held these four mystery cabinet cards without dates.

I believe that the first three photos show students in front of the Riverton Public School that was at the corner of 4th and Howard Streets as shown in this detail of a 1905 Sanborn Insurance Map.

Click on an image to enlarge it. Then scroll down a bit and note the option to view the full-size image.

This next undated photo probably was taken by the current brick school that was built in 1910. Other additions followed in 1935, 1955, and 1974.

None of the photos have any dates or names. If you have any ideas, please contact us. -JMc, Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With no meetings or presentations for the past several months and with none on the horizon, board members of the Historical Society of Riverton have been reorganizing and cataloging the multitude of items in our archives.

No, that’s not our stuff; that’s a secret archive at the Vatican.

Here’s Archives Committee Chairperson, Keith Betten wrestling our shelving into place in the basement of the Riverton Free Library last February. We are using it to store our collections of documents, books, photos, objects, maps, vintage clothing, and other such historical records.

Some people binge Netflix; you might say that we binge the collection and preservation of artifacts.

“Riverton Organizations” is one of the twelve major Record Groups developed by the Archives Committee from the many, varied documents collected by the Historical Society of Riverton over the course of the past fifty years. Within that group are subgroups, such as “Riverton School,” and within that are more categories.

Among the many items coming to light from doing this inventory and cataloging are a number of folders of Riverton School photos.

I have scanned Riverton School class photos before. The last time was when I helped Mrs. Mabel Kloos prepare a History of Riverton School presentation for the school’s 100th birthday.

However, there are some fantastic photos in these folders that didn’t make it into that presentation.

Here is a taste. This series of small photos captures a May Day history pageant showing milestones in Riverton’s history, year unknown. Can a car buff date any of the automobiles in the photos, know when Mrs. Bush taught, or recognize anyone?

Click on any image for a larger view. There is room below each photo to leave a comment. Click through two more times for the largest view.

Please contact us if you have something to give or loan for the archives.

Until the next dive into our archives… JMc, Editor

As most of us can only enjoy our movies today as streaming content on our tvs, who remembers a real hometown movie theater?

For me, as a kid in Camden in the 1950s, I recall spending Saturdays at the Arlo on Westfield Avenue where I could see a newsreel, a few cartoons, and a feature film for a whole quarter.

Imagine the excitement when the talkies came to Palmyra! For Riverton, that was only a brisk walk or a bike ride away.

Bonus question: What business is in its place now?

See the whole Talkies article here.

Please enter a comment below if you can add your recollection of the Broadway Palace to this brief record of another thing that isn’t there anymore. Contact us if you have a photo we could post.

Added 1/22/2021:

Lowell Doerr checked in to contribute this: I remember going to the Saturday kids matinee…cost a dime to get in and after all the seats were full the owner lined up the additional kids and sat them in the runways and exit lanes!!! Money first…Safety last!….LOL

ML DiPietro guessed that a church – Holy Spirit Cathedral – is now in that spot. I said that she was warm, but no.

Added 1/23/2021:

M Gilbert also guessed that the former site of Palmyra’s Broadway Palace Theater is now Holy Spirit Cathedral. I thank MGilbert for persisting with an explanation even though I had mistakenly attributed today’s location to a place two blocks away.

MGilbert points out: I also thought that this was the Holy Spirit Cathedral (corner of Leconey and Broad). The rooflines of the other buildings in the photo look very similar to the ones seen today on that block and on the Palmyra Pharmacy on the next block.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, sure, when you explain it like that. No, kidding, thank you for the correction.

-Editor, JMc