Following up on our post of January 20, Pat Solin sent in this comment. Readers will recall her illuminating three-part series of articles on Riverton and the Great War published last year (GN Jan 2017, GN March 2017, GN May 2017 ).
Of the six World War I Riverton Gold Star boys who died serving their country, two contracted influenza and died after a short but deadly outbreak in 1918 — Raymond Pratt and Charles Kelly. Still a terrible disease.
Recently a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently stated that the disease had not yet peaked and warns that the virus will be around for several more weeks.
We can’t predict what tomorrow’s headlines will bring, but it would be awesome if you were not the subject of a future news report about 2018 influenza mortality statistics. It is not too late to vaccinate now. -JMc
Last summer I received an email from Ginny Wierski with this message:
I formerly worked at the Hoeganaes Corp. and have some pins from the company that they handed out each year to their employees. I was wondering if you would want them for your society?
Would I??? I wrote back:
Yes, Ginny, we would like to take you up on your offer. Those items would be a great reminder of a business that was once such a big part of life here for so long. When I was teaching at Riverton School, I recall a few kids having parents who worked there.
In November I posted the above photo on Facebook and asked if anyone knew what they are.
Click on the image at left to see a 20-second animation that shows each charm along with the card that accompanied it.
Brief History of Hoeganaes
Among the items Ginny donated were this 1982 Brief History of Hoeganaes and several company newsletters from Dorothy Armstrong, a forty-year employee of the company.
Aerial View of Hoeganaes Sponge Iron Corp. 1963
The sprawling Taylors Lane plant still manufactures sponge iron powders and is listed as “Headquarters” on the corporate website.
Hoeganaes is actually now GKN Hoeganaes, part of GKN Group, which is a global engineering business with locations in over thirty countries and has more than 58,000 employees. The company was formerly known as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds and can trace its origins back to 1759 and the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
After browsing the GKN website I have a new appreciation of the amazing applications of powdered metallurgy. GKN Hoeganaes’ customers include GM, VW, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Borg-Warner, Bosch, and many others. There is a good chance you have a smartphone, lawn mower, refrigerator, HVAC system, vehicle, electronic device, or another such consumer item that utilizes powdered metal components.
Coincidentally, GKN is in the news this week because the British registered company is fighting off a hostile takeover bid.
The Society strives to uncover such things to help connect members to their past experiences. Our memories and records of people, events, institutions, businesses, community groups, and traditions ultimately comprise our history.
Please contact us if you have a comment or something to add. -JMc
It is known by many names: la grippe, grip, grippe, plague, influenza, or informally, the “flu.” Since ancient times influenza has struck human populations. Thought then to be spread more by celestial influence than by inhaling flu viruses as we know today, the word influenza comes the Latin influentia, meaning “influence of the stars.”
The severity of flu seasons varies, but certainly one of the worst was the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919. History.com describes the outbreak as:
… the deadliest in modern history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet’s population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.
Palmyra Record, March 29, 1918, p1Palmyra Record, March 22, 1918, p1
A century ago, when the flu laid low inhabitants of Riverton and Palmyra, news of their plight spread in the local newspapers.
Years earlier, Palmyra’s Weekly News reported in February 1897, at least nine instances of influenza, grip, or pneumonia.
Bridgeton Evening News, January 21, 1901 Bridgeton, NJ, p.3
In 1901, a Bridgeton paper reported, “One-third of the population of Riverton and Palmyra are suffering from the effects or just recovering from the grip.”
Weekly News, April 3, 1897, p4
Long before the invention of a flu vaccine in 1938, some folks around here depended upon sarsaparilla or Dr. Bull’s Cough Syrup for symptom relief.
During the flu season of 1916, Riverton Free Library remained closed for six weeks to cut the spread of the disease.
(More recently, Riverton Public School shut down for a few days in January 1985 because of the flu.)
Last January’s post on phillyvoice.com, Philadelphia was epicenter of a deadly worldwide flu epidemic 99 years ago, pins part of the blame for what made the flu so devastating, especially in Philadelphia, on a September 28, 1918 event when sailors and soldiers returning from overseas mixed among citizens who turned out for a Liberty Loan Drive parade on Broad Street.
Perhaps it was during the later outbreak that Mrs. James T. Weart of Palmyra volunteered to serve with the Red Cross as a nurse at Ft. Dix.
Possibly, more family stories can tell of a local connection to the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic. -JMc
For more perspective on the 1918 flu epidemic, see:
Following up on a January 4, 2018 post about telephone numbers, here is a scan of a New Era article, possibly from the 1939 Anniversary Issue, which explains the early days of telecommunication in Riverton. -JMc
1909 Christmas Issue, The New Era, p23.
rev. 2/4/2018: Rummaging through our records, I found this history of Riverton’s telephone service from The New Era.
An ordinance adopted by the Borough Council in December permits a “limited brewery” as an acceptable use in the borough’s business districts.
“You’ve come a long way, Baby,” springs to mind.
In 1851, ten 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 businesses, founded Riverton.
In 1852, the State Legislature granted a charter to The Riverton Improvement Company which, among other things, issued deeds that included a clause restricting the sale or manufacture of liquor, which read as follows:
Shall not at any time hereafter manufacture or cause to be manufactured, sell or cause, or knowingly permit to be sold, directly or indirectly, in or upon the premises hereby conveyed, or any part thereof, any spiritous, vinous, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors, except as a medicine, or for medicinal purposes in case of sickness
Thirty years later, a column in the Riverton Journal reinforced that decision with this opinion:
…the wise restriction of the Riverton Improvement Company… has saved us much of the intemperance, ill-feeling and brutality, which are the inseparable companions of the tavern and saloon. A drunkard is rather a curiosity on our streets.
Palmyra Weekly News, May 15, 1897
News of temperance movement meetings, conferences, and sermons, fictional stories with a temperance theme, and appeals to pledge abstinence peppered pages of the local periodicals of the day.
Today, over 160 years later, Riverton remains one of only three dry towns in Burlington County (Delanco and Pemberton are also dry towns in the county.)
Those Quaker founders must have thought the language was iron-clad and unbreakable.
As reported last October and November in the Burlington County Times, Courier-Post, and patch.com, that longstanding restriction of Riverton’s founders was about to give way as Borough Council considered amending its zoning laws to allow a limited brewery to be a permitted use in the neighborhood business zoning district.
Now, that truly would turn a new page in Riverton’s history.
*lyric from “Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man Soundtrack
By late December 2017, Borough Council did indeed adopt an ordinance that permits a “limited brewery” as an acceptable use in the borough’s business districts.
While the Borough has not yet granted a liquor license, the door is now open to allow a brewery as a potential use.
In a January 14 philly.com piece, columnist Kevin Riordan says he expects Riverton will embrace the idea.
What do you think, Riverton?
Will allowing a brewery bring trouble and ruin to our River City, or will it bring enjoyment and an economic shot in the arm? -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
Hey, I saw that movie Frozen. I just didn’t expect to experience it. What “act of true love” will break this icy spell and thaw our magic kingdom?
Popular Science explains here the weather phenomenon with the scary name bombogenesis, or “bomb cyclone” that put us in its grip. Winter Storm Grayson pounded us with high winds, coastal flooding, and punishing low wind-chill temperatures. In its wake, the jet stream aligned to deliver even more numbing frigid air from the area encircling the North Pole known as the polar vortex.
News accounts of yesteryear found in our Historical Local Newspapers remind us that Riverton has frozen and eventually thawed many times.
On New Year’s Day 1881, as Philadelphia recorded a low temperature of 4 degrees, no doubt Riverton residents suffered a similar condition. TheJanuary 15 Riverton Journalreported “snow ploughs have rendered sufficient service these past weeks” and “heavy snowfalls and the intensely cold weather” had suspended building activity in the developing town. The monthly periodical advised “the sloop Addie C. Horner… is fast in the ice at Riverton pier” and that “sleighing promises to be in demand for some time to come.”
Business District of Palmyra, N.J., Broadway Theater marquee at left
Another cold spell occurred in early 1918. Philadelphia recorded 2 degrees on January 4. The January 11, 1911 issue of The Palmyra Recordtold citizens that a bad fall on ice caused Miss Emma Johnson to sustain a broken arm. Trains resumed a normal schedule after two weeks of “abnormal activity.” Mr. Powell Thatcher rendered assistance when Frank E. Chambers received a “cold plunge” as he was skating on the Delaware River. Water pipes had frozen in Palmyra’s Broadway Palace Theater and management advised: “repairs have been completed.”
Here is hoping that you and yours have been bearing up in this cold. If you have any pix of the recent storm, please send to rivertonhistory@gmail.com. Look in our Historical Local Newspapers for more old news from the past and let us know what you uncover. -JMc
rev. 1-8-2018: Added photo. Click here for full view of the historical marker.
frozen Delaware River, RYC historical marker in foreground by Susan Dechnik 1-7-2018
Over sixty years ago in East Camden, my mother drummed it into my head – WOodlawn 4-0502. The word provided a mnemonic to help remember the phone number. Later, the letters were phased out and replaced by numerals.
Riverton Yacht Club’s number was Rivertn-444, and Rivertn-87 rang the school. Back then, a caller rang for the operator and they told her the number for whom they were calling and she manually matched a cord to a jack to connect the parties.
In November 1960, Riverton was the first community in the state to substitute numerals for letters which increased the quantity of usable numeral combinations. The 10-digit number also permitted automated routing of long-distance calls, gradually rendering switchboard operators obsolete.
(Being first in the state to adopt all-numeral telephone numbers is at least better than being known as the place where Japanese beetles entered the United States.)
Area code 201 originally covered all of New Jersey when it was established in 1947. Within just ten years, a growing New Jersey population would need an extra area code. Area code 201 was split to form area code 609. Then 609 split to spawn 856. Over time, other area codes were put into service, and today New Jersey has nine telephone area codes.
In another option, the new area code overlays and covers the same geographic area as the existing area code, which allows existing customers keep their existing phone number. Look for area code 640 to overlay area code 609 later in 2018. NJ.gov predicts that the new area code will last for 46 years.
Who knows where it will end?
We sympathize with today’s parents trying to send their kindergartener off to school knowing their 10-digit home phone number. Then there is Mom’s cell, Dad’s, their work numbers, and more.
Although I still uselessly recall an old phone number, I remember few of today’s without looking at the contact list stored on my phone. -JMc
Camp Lenape, undated map submitted by Michael Abbott
Urban sprawl and housing development in the late 1980s ended the existence of Medford’s 419-acre Camp Lenape that once served thousands of area Boy Scouts.
A June 2016 post here at rivertonhistory.com seems to be the reason that Google first directs anyone searching for Camp Lenape, Medford, NJ to this website. (Click here to see the illustrated article and readers’ comments.)
Since then, several visitors have added their own experiences to the narrative started last summer by Harlan Radford, a veteran of several summers at Camp Lenape in the 1950s.
Harlan has sought for years to find a map of the old campsite, and late this past New Year’s Eve, Michael Abbott dropped this one in our collective lap via email.
If seeing it stirs a memory about Camp Lenape or you can share further information or images, please leave a comment or email rivertonhistory@gmail.com. – JMc
Here is something Historical Society of Riverton member Mary Pat Laverty Peters sent to the Historical Society last May that will add to the dialogue.
Not a yearbook per se, but it does represent a moment captured in time for Riverton School eighth-graders almost thirty-seven years ago.
I can still smell that volatile duplicating fluid from making probably hundreds of handwritten and typed stencils to produce such mimeographed copies of worksheets during my years at RPS (1974-2009).
Pages in the Class of ’81 booklet display the characteristic hit-or-miss reproduction quality that is typical of the process now made obsolete by photocopiers and computers.
I increased the contrast when I scanned the pages in black and white.
Click on the link below for a 27 page PDF file (2.41MB) below to see every page from George McShea’s cover to a class list, a class history for each k-8 year, the Last Will & Testament, Class Prophesy, and staff signatures.
