Historical Society of Riverton, NJ

Century Race plans on track as historic sign fundraising revs up

Your main source for the latest developments in the team’s plans for the race and the fundraising progress continues to be the Historic Riverton Century Facebook page and the Indiegogo page.

Still, we felt compelled to play a part in the plan to help get to that goal for the sign. I came up with a choice of two different sizes of professionally made prints and offered them as “perks” for contributors at the Indiegogo Preserve Riverton’s History by Installing a Marker at the Bicycle Track Site. That brings the total number of incentives to eight.

By now you may have heard about Rob Gusky’s plan to come back to his old hometown in June to commemorate the 1895 New York Times Tri-State Relay Bicycle Race by riding from NYC to Riverton on June 8 with a few newfound friends he met on the Internet.

: Undated photo, courtesy of Ed Gilmore. Riverton Athletic Assn. Bicycle track – note roof of old passenger PRR station in distance at right; roof of Zena’s (now Orange Blossom Café) near center

No kidding. He is serious. If he and his buds can pedal a hundred miles and leave us with a historical sign when it’s all over, then I think I can pitch in.

In 2008, Ed Gilmore lent me his bicycle track photo to scan. Recently I retouched that classic, though damaged image, and offered two print sizes to Rob as perks for donors who give toward the sign fund though the secure Indiegogo website page.

One is an 11×14 inch professionally printed photo that very closely matches the proportions of Ed’s original photo. It’s just more contrasty ( a technical term), and I left in just enough scratches and dings to give it that patina of an old sepia cabinet card.

Available for a $35 donation.

For the other, I noticed that there was a horizontal sweet spot of that image that would make a great 10×30 inch panorama. Available for a $70 donation.

I also gathered together the latest bits about the long-gone Riverton track and bike races, old and new, and put them in a special 4 page issue of the Gaslight News and include a copy with each photo.

Suitable for framing, each photo is placed on Styrofoam board and wrapped in cellophane with the newsletter enclosed in the back. (These files, obviously at a lower resolution, illustrate the proportions.)

I urge you to visit the sites for information and please tell your friends. Not to sound too PBS, but if every person who thought “Yeah, Rob, that’s cool” or “liked” something about it on a page gave a dollar, the fundraising would be over tomorrow.

Every and any amount gets us closer to that goal.

What will be cool, I think, is that whenever you look at that sign you will be able to say you had a part in getting it done.

Phyllis Rodgers will have a display up at the New Leaf soon. You can see the special issue newsletter (at right) and posters I made to promote the race (at left) in the above photo. Note the size of the panorama. Both 11×14 and 10×30 prints will fit in standard size frames.

Somebody asked me what I do with myself now that I am retired. – John McCormick

Proposed ride recreates an 1895 NYC-Riverton bicycle race

With snow on the ground in Riverton for going on a month now, the humid heat of a Jersey summer seems a long way off, but plans are afoot now to shape the first weekend of June into a two-day celebration of competitive cycling with a nod to local history.

This past December Carlos Rodgers, already a Riverton history-maker as the originator and promoter of the Historic Riverton Criterium, emailed me and explained that an ex-Riverton resident, Rob Gusky, had reached out to him with a proposal for organizing a bicycle ride in 2014.

1895 New York Times Tri-State Relay Race medal

Since it will commemorate the 1895 New York Times Tri-State Relay Race from New York City to Riverton, Carlos drafted me to help with research as part of the team he was getting together to “set the wheels in motion to help make this happen.”

Do you see what he did there? An apt metaphor, Carlos!

Research, yes. I’m in.

Just don’t ask me to bike a hundred miles from NYC to Riverton.

Rob has christened Riverton’s newest bicycle race The Historic Riverton Century. A hundred-mile bike race is known as a “century.” Also cool is that he plans for it to fall on Saturday, June 7, the day before the Historic Riverton Criterium on Sunday, June 8.

As you can imagine, the logistics of pulling off a successful bike race over roads and highways from Manhattan to Riverton in today’s traffic are considerable.

To fast-forward to developments up to this point, through conference calls, emails, texts, and phone calls, Rob Gusky soon enlisted a cadre of amateur cyclists (and one amateur historian) to strategize a plan for overcoming the many obstacles to completing such a grueling race. Too, he began to also think of ways the event might benefit Riverton and promote its image to the region.

What started as Rob Gusky’s one-man quest to recreate the 1895 New York Times Tri-State Race in June 2014 has captured the imagination of everyone who visits the Facebook page he established less than a month ago. It serves as a kind of information-central showing the organization and planning for all aspects of the race as well as to promote public support for it.

Riverton historical marker, Broad & Main

It is absolutely the best place to keep up with all the progress as various team players do their part to ensure the success of this venture. Community approval and backing builds with every day as visitors drawn in by Rob’s infectious enthusiasm affirm their support with every webpage’s coveted “like”

Riverton Athletic Assn. bicycle track, New York Times, June 4, 1895

A separate piece of this ambitious undertaking is the dedication of a historical marker sign, similar to the one by the gazebo at Broad and Main.

The proposed sign will describe particulars of the Riverton Bicycle Track constructed on the old baseball field between Lippincott and Thomas Avenues and note the original 1895 race.

A foremost racing venue of its day, the Riverton track was dedicated on — what else– the Glorious Fourth of July, 1894.

Riverton's Bicycle track - undated photo from Ed Gilmore — Riverton’s Bicycle track – undated photo from Ed Gilmore

It featured a ticket office, a club-house with separate apartments and all conveniences for both men and women, bleachers, a grandstand with a 3,000 person capacity, and twelve arc-lights to illuminate night races.

(Past the fence in the distance you can see the rooftop of the old passenger train station. And through the trees, do you recognize the building that will later be home to Klipple’s Bakery, Zena’s Patisserie, and now the Orange Blossom Café?)

New York Times Bldg c1895 — New York Times Building c1895

In June 1895, the Hudson County Wheelmen of Jersey City organized a spectacular 150-mile race pitting relay teams of the best amateur cyclists from New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey against each other.

The contest began on the steps of the New York Times Building (then at Park Row) and climaxed with racers crossing the finish line at Riverton’s own quarter-mile track. In addition, five distance cyclists who competed for special prizes by going the entire 150-mile distance left New York two hours before the first relay racers started.

Rob found out about the 1895 race that ended right here in his old hometown by browsing through the pages here at rivertonhistory.com.

In 2009, my colleague Patricia Solin authored an article for the Society newsletter, “The Fine Grounds of the Riverton Athletic Association,” which described the 1895 race and the Riverton bicycle race track, characterized by experts as “the finest quarter-mile track in the country.”

Grand Bicycle Meet, 1894-07-04, Philadelphia Inquirer, pg. 8

The debut of the Historic Riverton Criterium in 2011, and its return in June 2012 and 2013 triggered several more visits to the HSR archives to report on Riverton’s cycling legacy.

Rob started an online effort to fund the installation of a historic marker at the site of the Riverton’s Bicycle Track where the Tri-State Relay Race finished on June 8, 1895.

Any tax-deductible amount that anyone contributes on the secure website will move the campaign closer to its goal of preserving this milestone in Riverton’s history.

Have I mentioned that Rob lives in Wisconsin? You have to tune in to this story, if only to see how he pulls it off.

There is so much more to know about this exciting enterprise but discover for yourself what is going on behind the scenes now so that we might all play a small part in actually making Riverton history.

I urge you to visit The Historic Riverton Century Facebook Page and the Preserve Riverton’s History by Installing a Marker at the Bicycle Track Site Website and throw your support behind the establishment of the race as well as the installation of the sign. – John McCormick

PS: In case you missed it, the Programs & Event Tab directs you to the summary of the recent Feb. 12, 2014 meeting that featured a presentation by actor/historian Bob Gleason as Abraham Lincoln.

Did we ever luck out with this last snowstorm!

A droll Mr. Lincoln enlightened and amused a HSR meet on the eve of a severe snowstorm

Lincoln_004a (1600x343)

We held our collective breath for days as we tuned in to weather reports about the approaching snowstorm. Had it tracked a bit differently the HSR Board would have had a lot of birthday cupcakes to eat by itself.

This week marks the 205th birthday of the 16th president of the United States. The folks attending the February 12, 2014 meeting of the Historical Society of Riverton had no trouble imagining that they were in The Great Emancipator’s presence – at least for an hour or so – as actor/historian Bob Gleason gave his mesmerizing first-person account of Lincoln’s life.

The Bank on Main provided a handsome setting to hear how Mr. Lincoln’s rose to our Nation’s highest office from humble beginnings. Our speaker’s liberal use of Lincoln’s wit and humor lightened the narrative of what was a difficult life filled with struggle. He is so totally immersed in Lincoln fact and lore he effortlessly charmed the assembly as he finished with answering a number of questions from the audience.

With so many members expressing a positive review of the performance, HSR President Phyllis Rogers immediately set about making plans to have Mr. Gleason return as Edgar Allan Poe. Here’s more information about the many personas of Bob Gleason.

We welcome member comments or questions, and will gladly add to this photo gallery any more pictures taken that evening.

Janet and Dennis DeVries receive their historic plaque for their home

Diaries donated to PH&CS illuminate Cinnaminson’s Civil War era

Jay Howard presents his findings to a well-attended meeting

The Palmyra Cultural and Historical Society had a huge turnout for its free presentation on the Civil War at the Palmyra Community Center on January 9, 2014.

The publicity blurb promised material history archives and comprehensive research on the socioeconomic impacts of the war specific to Palmyra.

Jay Howard of the Palmyra Cultural and Historical Society delivered on that promise and gave a detailed analysis of Palmyra’s social and economic condition during the 1860s.

He based his conclusions on an incredible present that a very generous Cinnaminson resident gave them–a set of Civil War diaries.

one of Capt. Hall's Civil War diary volumes — one of Capt. Hall’s Civil War diary volumes

We could look at, but not touch, one ledger of the multi-volume diary written by Capt. Charles Hall, Fourth New Jersey Volunteers, which was passed down through his family. His great-great-granddaughter Virginia Harding donated it to the Palmyra organization a few months ago. .

Muster sheets list names of Union soldiers

Jay Howard, who is also a professor at the Community College of Philadelphia, has been engrossed with their contents since. He coordinated the names mentioned in the diaries with names listed on local Civil War muster sheets and consulted Adjutant General William S. Stryker’s two-volume Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861-1865.

I confess that I went hoping to freeload some information about Riverton’s involvement in the War between the States because at that time, the towns of Riverton and Palmyra were still part of Cinnaminson Township.

While the focus that evening was definitely on Palmyra, there may be some Civil War vets from Riverton we’ll hear about later when the PH&CS finishes transcribing the diaries. We have a short list of Riverton Civil War vets compiled, but part of the difficulty is sorting out names of Riverton residents from the Cinnaminson records.

Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer Edward Colimore interviewed Mr. Howard about the author of diaries, their donor Virginia Harding, and the information he has gleaned from them. You can find the philly.com article here.

PHCS screenshot — Palmyra & the Civil War screenshot

Here is a link to his a PDF file for Jay’s slide presentation in which he examines Palmyra society of the Civil War era. Note slide #7 which gives a general overview of the economic situation in Riverton. You’ll want to see this separate Word .doc which includes Jay’s explanations of the slides.

This is a perfect example of the tremendous value that primary source materials serve in documenting local history. We thank Ms. Harding for her extraordinary generosity to the community and Mr. Howard and his research team at the Palmyra Cultural and Historical Society for their contribution to our understanding of the region’s history.

I certainly look forward to the next chapter in Jay’s investigation. Let us know what you think and we’ll pass it along to Jay. – John McCormick

Revised 2/10/2014: Note that the Word file explaining Mr. Howard’s slides has been revised, and if you visited earlier, you may want to see his much amplified version.

Get used to it – more on the way

So thoughtful of you to check on the elderly here at the Society during today’s snowstorm.

I’m fine, thank, you.

Just be careful if you’re shoveling this heavy snow.

I had to go out, so on the way I took a few pictures with my phone just in case our members in California and Florida are missing the snow.

Membership Chairperson Pat Brunker sent me the latest membership list on an Excel file and it shows 154 addresses for 11 different states – Florida to Maine and New Jersey to California. About 2/3 of the addresses are in the 08077 zip code, which includes Riverton and Cinnaminson.

Here’s a few more pictures.

You don’t have to be a Society member to check out the website or send us a comment. There must be some better photos out there, folks. We’d love to post your snow scene pix, new or old. – John McCormick

ice - WmMcDermott — Icy Riverton Yacht Club – Bill McDermott

Added 2/8/2014: Thanks to Bill McDermott for this photo and a poem, first published in December 1920 Harper’s Magazine.

Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
– Robert Frost

Meeting notice – March 2, 2014

See the January 2014 Gaslight News for more details.

Meeting notice – February 12, 7 p.m. at The Bank on Main

See the January 2014 Gaslight News for more details.

History Repeats Itself as Ice Jams the Delaware River

As last night’s (Jan. 9) Action News segment explained, the sight of recent ice jams on the Delaware brought out spectators with cameras to record the “once in a lifetime” event. However, for our friend William Hall this makes at least twice, as regular readers of our newsletter will recall (“Adrift on the Icy Delaware,” Gaslight News, January 2013).

IMG_6279 [1024x768 PPt] — ice jam RYC pier 1920

This stereoview of ice shards clustered up over the pier by the Riverton Yacht Club in January 1920 comes from Elsie Waters. There is another view on a Feb. 2011 post along with a few other images from this rare collection.

Say, doesn’t that pumper in the Feb. 2011 post look like the same one depicted in the photo I bought on eBay, mentioned here Dec. 22? But, I am off topic.

March 8, 1934 Courier Post ice-bound RYC

Back to the ice conversation.

Here is mention of a close call for some ice skaters rescued from an ice floe in 1900 by Charles Biddle.

Mary Flanagan’s scrapbook continues to be a goldmine of source material for this blog. This newspaper clipping provides another example of the uncommon phenomenon.

Or is it?

Can any reader recall another occurrence of glacial blockage on the Delaware?

If you have an old one or a new one, please send us a scan or donate it for our archives.

River Ice, undated, from Bill & Nancy Hall's family photos — River Ice, undated

Please appreciate the view from a safe distance.

NYT, Feb 11, 1917 Charles Durbonard, possibly Durborow

This is NOT to suggest that anyone should actually risk going out on the ice.

Or in it, as evidenced by this clipping from a Feb. 11, 1917 New York Times showing Riverton’s Charles Durbonard taking his usual morning dip in the Delaware prior to going to his office in a Philadelphia bank.

I believe this is the same Charles Durborow referenced in news articles of the 1910s-1920s as being a champion long-distance swimmer associated with the Riverton Yacht Club.

Again, I digress. – John McCormick

Civil War muster sheets and diaries lend new insight to War’s local impact

You ARE in the right place, but our friend Will Valentino of the Palmyra Historical and Cultural Society asked that we remind you of this upcoming presentation. Local history buffs, genealogists, family tree makers, and Civil War fans will not want to miss this timely presentation that compliments our nation’s celebration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial , or its 150th anniversary.

P R E S S R E L E A S E

FOR GENERAL PUBLICATION

For additional comments /questions /photos

Contact: JIM MAY, PHCS President @ 856 829 6725 or JAY HOWARD @ jp912@hotmail.com

PALMYRA HISTORICAL & CULTURAL SOCIETY REMEMBERS

THE CIVIL WAR AND OUR LOCAL VETERANS

The Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society and The Palmyra War Memorial Committee invite you to revisit The Civil War and its local impact on society, culture, economics and politics. A recent donation to the Historical Society of Civil War era Muster sheets and diaries by Virginia Harding has sparked renewed interest in Palmyra’s role in America’s only Civil War .

Join Jay Howard of The Palmyra War Memorial Committee and The Palmyra Historical Society’s Genevieve Lumia in this unique free presentation.

The evening will feature Mr. Howard’s presentation on his research on the War’s effect on our local residents, and Genevieve Lumia will discuss her involvement in transcribing these historical documents that lend greatly to the understanding of Palmyra’s contribution and sacrifice to this struggle. Come discover what we have learned through this important donation to our archives !

The free event will take place at 7PM on Thursday January 9, 2014 at Palmyra’s Community Center located in the heart of Historic Palmyra at 20 West Broad Street. Light refreshments will be served.

Residents are encouraged to contact Jay Howard at the above email with any information on local veterans and to bring any artifacts or photographs on Palmyra they wish to donate to The Palmyra Historical Society for preservation. Become a part of Palmyra History…TODAY!

After more than 20 years, the Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society is still going strong vitalizing and instilling pride in our community through free events and the conservation of local history. In addition, every month, join trustee Will Valentino as he journeys “Back In Time” in the pages of THE POSITIVE PRESS exploring our towns unique contributions to the local historical tapestry.

For more info go to www.boroughofpalmyra.com Help us in making Palmyra a better “Place to live and grow”. Permission is granted to copy , distribute and post the attached flyer on our event. Thank You.

Commemorative Abraham Lincoln postcard, 1909. courtesy Mary Flanagan

P.S. SAVE THE DATE FOR A VERY SPECIAL HSR PRESENTATION ON FEBRUARY 12.

Mr. Bob Gleason, a highly regarded historical interpreter associated with the American Historical Theater will visit the HSR in the Bank on Main as he channels one of his most complex and fascinating historical figures on the very anniversary of the Great Emancipator’s birth.

Once a real bank, built in the late 1920s, The Bank on Main is on the United States Federal Register of Historic Places and is a marvelous venue for such an extraordinary Society meeting. More details to follow. – John McCormick

Snow Day 2014!

Gertrude Wright out for a sleigh ride in Riverton, 1914

Snow day!

When I started working at Riverton School in 1974, I remember the squeals of childish delight that followed that anticipated KYW radio announcement that school was called off on account of snow.

And that was just the teachers.

Later, administrators and PTA members developed complex phone chain networks that started with key people calling two people, who each called two more, and so and so on.

http://www.riverton.k12.nj.us/ screenshot Jan 3, 2014

Now, I guess the kids get automated phone calls, text alerts, or check their computer.

I wonder how they got the word out a century ago when Gertrude Wright was a Riverton schoolteacher. Former resident Richard Flach sent this image from Florida of his relative enjoying a sleigh ride near 413-415 Elm Street in Riverton.

Gertrude Wright, undated Riverton School photo

Gertrude Wright was the mother of Bay Wright Ruff, Riverton author and artist who passed away last year. Her family displayed much of her work along with many photos at her Quaker memorial service, including this remarkable undated Riverton School class photo, which I photographed.

The many characters of the Wrights, Showells, Flachs, and Waters families, like so many other Riverton clans of yesterday and today, have played out their parts on this Riverton stage, and much of it must be recorded in family albums, now even on computer memory and Facebook pages.

Some of the rarest images of old Riverton are probably the backdrops of family portraits stored in attics and drawers all across the nation. If future history buffs are to have any images of today’s ‘good old days’ to look back upon, please let’s try to supplement what seems to live on forever on YouTube.

As Betty Hahle, former Town Historian, told me, be sure to document what is going on today, for this is tomorrow’s history. One of her favorite memories was looking up Elm Terrace lined with gas lamps as the snow fell.

Please send us, or post on Facebook, any photos that show us how you have spent any past or present Riverton snow day. – John McCormick

REVISED 1/20/2014: While we hardly can be said to go viral, this post engendered more interest than most. Visitor engagement is what every blogger strives for, including me, especially when I hear from people who take the time to respond to our work here. We got 10 “likes” on Facebook for this post, several of whom reminisced at the very thought of those childhood times of getting the day off on account of snow.

Hey, I’m retired now. Every day is like a snow day.

I was especially gratified to hear from Michael Cattell who pointed out a mistake on a caption when this post first ran and proposed an idea for a video with accompanying period music.

I sincerely thank Michael Cattell for correcting an error in the caption. Our conversation started on the Historical Society’s Facebook page and you can also see an exchange of our comments in the “comment” link below. His sharp eyes caught that the backdrop for the Gertrude Wright sleigh picture was actually on Elm Street in Riverton, and not in Palmyra as it was originally captioned.

He produced this short YouTube animated morphing video showing the old and new views dissolving back and forth as evidence. It is amazing how he perfectly duplicated the angle and perspective of the 1914 photo with his own new 2014 photo of the same Elm Street setting.

With some luck, this may develop into a longer video project contrasting his new photos and our vintage views of historic spots in Riverton.

To be continued, I hope… JMc

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Revised 2/10/2014: Note that the Word file explaining Mr. Howard’s slides has been revised, and if you visited earlier, you may want to see his much amplified version.

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P R E S S R E L E A S E

THE CIVIL WAR AND OUR LOCAL VETERANS

For more info go to www.boroughofpalmyra.com Help us in making Palmyra a better “Place to live and grow”. Permission is granted to copy , distribute and post the attached flyer on our event. Thank You.

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