Historical Society of Riverton, NJ

We really need to clean up this place more often.

Funny what turns up when you just turn over a couch cushion. Well, not really – we don’t actually have a couch. Or a clubhouse, for that matter.

But metaphorically speaking, the housecleaning in our storage area these past few months has turned up more than just loose change.

For more than a year, our HSR Archives Committee has taken advantage of our COVID-induced meeting inactivity to organize, catalog, and archivally store items in our collection. In taking stock, they have found some happy surprises. (See more in GN #186 May 2021, GN #187 Aug 2021, GN #188 Oct 2021, GN #189 Dec 2021)

Four recent cases in point:

#1. New glass plate negative
Archivist Keith Betten turned up an orphaned glass plate negative that he figured was of Bank and Main and gave it to Board Member and Borough Historian Roger Prichard to see if he could get a scan of it.

Roger reports that indeed it is – and quite a wonderful little time machine. He explains:

Scanning glass plates isn’t entirely successful unless you have the advanced equipment that the Conservation Center does, which we used for the collection of 19 plates last year. (See Issue #186, May 2021)

But I was able to get a usable scan from my flatbed, and here it is. (It is a passable web-resolution scan; the Conservation Center will do better.)

The date is unknown and could be in quite a range, though generally turn-of-the-century. It can’t be any earlier than 1882 when the Fitler family bought the house and rebuilt it, as you see here.

Not sure what’s the latest it could be… the town had dirt streets well into the 20th century, and I don’t know how late the last oil-burning street lamp was removed (see at extreme right).

In his book, Tale of Three Towns, Lloyd Griscom wrote, “In 1880 some fifty oil street lamps were installed on the few streets constituting Riverton at that time. Lemuel H. Davis organized this project, which was supported by popular subscription. Ann Holvick was named as a lamplighter at $7.50 annually per lamp. These lamps survived until 1908 when the Borough replaced them with picturesque gas lights.”

Former HSR President, newsletter editor, and Borough Historian Betty Hahle wrote that the first gas street lamp was installed on Lippincott Avenue, near Broad, in 1908, as a test, or exhibition piece. Shortly after that, inspired by the success of the new lighting system, Riverton installed 51 lights and Palmyra, 60.

Here’s a crop of just the street lamp (a Dietz #3 Tubular Street Lamp model later renamed the Pioneer).

Who was the photographer? That’s a mystery to me. The whole feel of it is different than the collection in the box, but it’s about the same era. It’s also about the same era as the 5×7 album prints we got from eBay that I suspect were taken by W.R. Ellison (next door at 403 Bank).

Photographer David Lothrop (who lived in Iris and Rich Gaughan’s house) was also very active at this time and did take photos of Bank Avenue houses. We got several among the great things that Miller Biddle gave us back in the Fall and I have yet to scan), but those were much more formal, not artistic/atmospheric like these.

There’s more detail on the plate than my scanner can pick up because of haloing on the thick glass plate so we should plan on paying the Conservation Center to scan it one of these days.

Thought you’d all enjoy this little excursion! -Rog

Yes, Roger, thank you for a step back in time. It must be cool for a homeowner to see a photo of their house from 100+ years ago. If you have a 50plus-year-old picture of your home that we could add to our collection, please send it to rivertonhistory@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, your Gaslight News Editor looked back to other times we wrote about the gas street lamps. Here’s a summary:

In his book, Tale of Three Towns, Lloyd Griscom wrote, “In 1880 some fifty oil street lamps were installed on the few streets constituting Riverton at that time. Lemuel H. Davis organized this project, which was supported by popular subscription. Ann Holvick was named as a lamplighter at $7.50 annually per lamp. These lamps survived until 1908 when the Borough replaced them with picturesque gas lights.”

Former HSR President, newsletter editor, and Borough Historian Betty Hahle wrote that the first gas street lamp was installed on Lippincott Avenue, near Broad, in 1908, as a test, or exhibition piece. Shortly thereafter, inspired by the success of the new lighting system, Riverton installed 51 lights and Palmyra, 60. (Also see March 30, 2011 post Welsbach Gaslamps Are Century-Old Fixtures Here)

#2 An Early Map Finds Its Way Home, Archivist Keith Betten explains:

At the very end of January this year a curious document found its way to the “desk” in the HSR’s Archival Area. A note which accompanied it indicated that it had somehow been included with the used books and media items regularly offered for sale on Sunday afternoons in the basement of the Riverton Free Library.

When a patron offered to purchase the item, which appeared to be an old, hand-drawn map, the sales volunteer on duty, Janice Pappenberg, indicated that she didn’t know how that particular document had wound up on the bookshelves there but was pretty sure that “we don’t sell old maps”. She set it aside, and that is how it eventually found its way to the “Archives Desk.”

Great save, Janice!

When it was carefully unfolded, from right to left (south to north), the hand-drawn images at first held the possibility of an important link to Riverton’s early history; featuring a side-wheeler plying the Delaware River close to the shore, and a steam locomotive, with billowing smoke approaching a railway station, but when fully unfurled, it revealed that it depicted the confluence of the Rancocas “River or Creek” and the Delaware River.

It, in fact, depicted properties “adjoining the town of Progress” (now Riverside, NJ) based on a survey of the area made by Benjamin H. Lippincott, on October 6th, 1853. Because the document did not conform with “Riverton only” accessions policy developed by the Archives Committee, and approved by the HSR board, it was presented, to and was gratefully received by Riverside Historical Society president, Alice Smith, at their archives and museum on February 10th. That society intends to have it restored and prominently displayed.

Ed. note: We hope to get a better image than this cellphone snapshot.)

#3 A “new” photo of RFL (Appeared previously in GN #186, May 2021)
Former RPS Librarian Mrs. Pat Solin actually relished the job of delving into the Library’s catacombs to inventory items. So it was with a certain glee that she sent us a hi-resolution scan of an undated and uncaptioned photo that she found. (See the original at left; photo-edited at right)

While a group email among Board Members awaited a consensus about its origin and date this Editor was motivated to post it along with a number of other vintage and modern views of our favorite library. (See them all here.)

#4 Riverton Laundry 1944 Calendar Keith Betten explains:

Pat Solin has completed a masterful organization of the extensive files of the Historical Society of Riverton, ranging over the course of more than fifty years since its founding, and I continue to organize our “Images of Riverton” collection, which includes vintage and contemporary photographs, slides, video and digital formats of people, places, and events.

In early February, I happened upon a relic from a Riverton business, probably issued in the 1940s. During that time, the Riverton Laundry, a fairly extensive operation located in East Riverton, seems to have produced what has to be termed “rather risqué” calendars for selected customers and maybe for the boys overseas.

The calendar page is gone, but the image, in vivid color, was saved. Typical of the (pardon the expression) “girlie calendars” popular at the time, it will become a part of the HSR’s “Private Riverton Businesses” archival collection.

Ed. note: Keith says “…probably issued in the 1940s” because coincidentally, HSR member Jerry Mooney brought to our attention a 1943 pinup calendar of his that also advertises the Riverton Laundry.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some Riverton Laundry ads from The New Era.

Thanks to our ability to search through 50+ years of our newsletters, I found this acknowledgment on page 4 of GN #125 Jan 2007.

“Trish and Geno Mori recently donated a calendar from the Riverton Laundry. The date is unknown as the calendar part has been removed, but the top portion of the calendar has a lovely nude female figure on it.”

Mystery solved!

Should you find any Riverton-related items during your spring cleaning, please consider donating them to the Society. I am weary of hearing someone say, “Oh, I had one of those. Threw it out.” Some of our best finds have been rescued from the trash.

 

Changes at the Point
1851-Present
Patricia Smith Solin and John McCormick

The Point at Main and Howard Sts. in Riverton has been a town feature since its founding in 1851. Using information in our archives, maps, and new research, we compile several changes the location has seen over the years and invite our readers to add more material to amplify the story.

Before Riverton was a new town, the Lippincott, Toy, Thomas, and Morgan families owned most of the farmland in the area. Riverton’s Quaker founders, members of the urban mercantile aristocracy, sought to establish a picturesque refuge in a rural setting removed from the pressures of city life.

The founders wanted it to be more than just a summer haven for their families; they envisioned a community with other families and services to enhance their proposed village. The founders purchased 120 acres from Joseph Lippincott, and they engaged Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan to develop the town plan and design Riverton’s first buildings.

A map, likely published in early 1851, with the cumbersome title of Plan of the New Town of Riverton, NJ, beautifully situated on Cinnaminson shore on the River Delaware, Eight miles above Philada. shows the early street and plot plans in what was once all farmland.

American architect Henry Russell Hitchcock declared that Riverton was “the first wholly planned subdivision in America.” The town would not simply be a row of grand villas along a waterfront, but the founders also planned to include spaces for churches, schools, and businesses.

A similar but much larger map on display at the Porch Club, likely published later in 1851, clearly shows a practical building with the auspicious central location at the point of Main and Howard Streets – Riverton’s first general store.

First Store
The Riverton Improvement Company (RICo) thoughtfully recognized that with most of the early founders living in Philadelphia, they needed a local community agent to help manage inquiries as well as provide “licenses and limited supplies.” (“Robert’s Brick Store,” July 4th Program, BBH, 1998).

RICo built the store directly across the street from the Camden & Amboy Railroad station, already located on Broad Street, and designated two men as contacts for the new community: George W. Shinn and Chalkley Gillingham.

George Wolfe Shinn (abt. 1835 – after 1920)
The Riverton Improvement Company hired sixteen-year-old George W. Shinn, a local farmer, to manage the store when it opened in 1851. As agents, he and Chalkley Gillingham (1807-1881), who lived near Moorestown on a large farm that he managed, provided information about the town. Gillingham was one of the founding investors of the village but chose not to live in Riverton.

A carpenter, Shinn may have helped build the store, and from the map caption, we may infer that he lived in a room on the premises. Shinn was an employee of the RICo, not the owner of the property or the business. Shinn also acted as a rental agent for homes in town, such as Rodman Wharton’s home on Main Street.

Chalkley Gillingham (1807-1881)
Chalkley Gillingham was a Quaker minister whose ancestors came to this country with William Penn. He moved from Frankford, PA to manage the Benjamin Warrington farm in Moorestown. Chalkley married, as they say, the farmer’s daughter; he and Keziah Warrington met here in NJ at her father’s farm. Quaker Meeting Records show that he wed her in 1833 when he was about 26.

As one of Riverton’s ten founders, the plan earmarked the lot at 100 Main Street for Chalkley Gillingham. He chose not to move to the new village but remained a stockholder for several years.

The US Census records them in Moorestown in 1840 and 1850. However, they moved in December 1852 to Virginia to seek hardwood forestry opportunities and run a slave-free farm during the Civil War. He established Quaker Meeting Houses and schools for white and black children. On January 22, 1881, he died and was interred at Woodlawn, VA.

Business District
Just eight years after its founding, a detail from the 1859 New Map of Burlington County by Parry, Sykes, and Earl shows houses scattered throughout the town from the railroad to the river and several buildings including the store managed by G.W. Shinn.  

By 1870, James Brown (1839-1894) managed the store. The 1880 US Census shows him as immigrating from England with his wife, Alice, whose occupation was grocery storekeeper.

In 1872 the RICo’s incorporation ended, and “the Biddle brothers” purchased all unsold Riverton properties, including the store.

Around 1878 William M. Thomas (1846-1920) and Howard H. Thomas (1850-1907) purchased the business and property. They were the sons of William S. (1808-1888) and Rebecca Thomas (1810-1881), owners of the farmland that extended from Thomas Avenue to Elm and from the river bank to the south line of the original County Club property.

In 1882 the Thomas brothers later sold the general store to Joseph M. Roberts. The manager, Henry Roberts (1845-1916) (no relation), a bookkeeper, worked in the store.

Joseph Middleton Roberts (October 15, 1855 – June 28, 1932)
Born in Chester, NJ, Roberts married Anna Margaret Shaw (1857-1942) on December 25, 1878, in a Quaker Sealing and had four children: Anna Shaw Roberts (1881-1968); Gertrude Shaw Roberts (1885-1976); Eugene Walton Roberts (1888-1964)-dentist; and Joseph Middleton Roberts, Jr. (1894-1984)-farmer.

After purchasing the general store, Joseph M. Roberts purchased a plot of land from Edward Lippincott’s undeveloped farmland parallel to Main Street. There, he built a house in 1885 at 407 Lippincott Avenue, next door to the Groves Mansion. He and his family lived there for 62 years before his heirs sold it in 1946.

A side note: HSR Board Member Mrs. Nancy Hall recalled for the Gaslight News (#139, March 2010, p. 5) a family story about Robert’s Store and her Great-Grandfather Ezra Lippincott’s Irish cook named Kate McGlinden.

Ezra Lippincott and his son J. Lawrence Lippincott developed much of the enlarged town of Riverton at the turn of the 20th century. Ezra built the house that is today the central building of the Baptist Home, now Riverview Estates.

It seems that Kate purchased for the household from Robert’s Store a box of Strike-Anywhere matches—and they wouldn’t!

She returned them to the store owner, who promptly took one of the wooden sticks from the box and, to prove the performance of his merchandise, he struck it on the rear of his pants.

Kate the Cook responded, “Sure’n I should be carryin’ Joe Roberts’ arse around all day.”

Kate returned to her kitchen with a new box of matches.

Fire, 1890
Segway to a spectacular fire for which the village was not prepared. It destroyed the store and led to the formation of the Riverton Fire Company.

From Lloyd Griscom’s Tales of Three Towns (p.48):
“On January 11, 1890, a disastrous fire broke out in the stable adjoining the old Shinn store operated by Joseph M. Roberts in the center of town, destroying the store, William Wolfschmidt’s barbershop, and the home of Rebecca Faunce. A bucket brigade concentrated on saving Louis Corner’s home nearby, the fire in other buildings being out of control.”

The inferno destroyed the 1851 store and other buildings because the fire hose was too short of reaching it from the hydrants.

The loss of property was estimated at $12,000, or $368,000 in today’s dollars.

Within the next two months, the volunteers purchased a small hose shed at 5th & Main Sts., adopted a constitution and bylaws, elected officers, and became incorporated as The Riverton Fire Company of Riverton, NJ.

Meanwhile, the undaunted 26-year-old merchant continued to sell goods from a temporary structure on the site while builder Edward Pancoast promptly replaced the old store by the fall of the same year with a large, multi-story brick building.

Barber Wolfschmidt also replaced his structure with one of brick. It remains there today as a residence.

Roberts named his new modern beauty, The Brick Store, as he also had another brick store in Palmyra.

Roberts’ new “Flat Iron” store at The Point in Riverton provided fresh and canned fruits and vegetables, “satisfaction guaranteed.”

He offered a wide variety of groceries, meats, and dry goods such as notions, chinaware, hardware, tinware, paint, glass, and other general merchandise. Camden’s Morning Post said of the store, “…you could get anything from a safety pin to a sewing machine at his store.”

The second floor had a large room that served as a meeting place for local organizations and a venue for entertainment and athletic events.

Shopkeepers rented several smaller rooms and a third floor served as storage—an upholsterer, clothing retailer, and clothing cleaner each rented space in the building for a time. The New Era newspaper and the Cinnaminson Bank conducted business there before moving to other quarters.

 

Mt. Zion AME Church began as a missionary society in 1896, meeting in the Roberts Store second floor. The congregation moved to its present location at 3rd & Penn Sts. in 1909.

Shortly after its late-1890 opening, local citizens raised money to install “a fine drinking fountain for man and beast . . . a welcome addition until cars replaced horses.”

The origin of the July 4th Parade traces to 1897 when  Charles W. Davis and Alfred J. Briggs organized the first Children’s Flag Parade. The procession formed at Roberts Store on the Point, each child received a silk flag, and all marched to the riverbank, where singing and oration followed. Aquatic events and then fireworks ended the day.

 

Roberts conducted the store until 1927 when he sold out to the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, or the A&P.

He maintained a smaller store out of the same building until his death.

 

Joseph Roberts died from complications of a stroke in 1932 and was buried in Westfield Friends Burial Ground.

The Roberts Store: Just a Memory
Upon Roberts’ death, the family closed his small store and sold the inventory.

When the A&P struggled to meet its expenses, the store moved across the street to 528 Main in November 1935.

Joseph Roberts’ heirs found out that they owed back taxes. Amid the Great Depression, they had to choose from dire alternatives—raze the building or sell it to a developer. Discussions arose between the heirs and the town about converting the space into a park.

Negotiations between the family and the borough to create a park broke down, and the building came down in 1938.

The Woolston family, former carriage makers, purchased the property and constructed a gas and service station at 515 Main Street to complement their automobile agency on Howard St.

Another incarnation was Reynolds’ Service Station. Oddly, because of our access to old Riverton newspapers, it is easier to research the older events than it is the newer ones.

Please contact us if you have any photos or information about that chapter of the property.

Joseph Rainer bought the property in 1994 and for a time used it for his painting business. In 2002 he tore down the structure to three walls and transformed it into the Victorian ornamented structure that stands there today. Various businesses have since rented the building, the most recent being Haven Hair Design Studio.

Marcus Tullius Cicero famously said, “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” A major purpose of our Society is to create an awareness of our heritage by explaining how individuals and groups throughout our history have shaped the town of today that we cherish.

ADDED 4/20/2022: We are so pleased when a reader contributes images or information that further develops a story. We just received this email from HSR member Mary M. Flanagan:

I saw an article in the Gaslight News recently asking for information on the former service station at 515 Main St. after it passed to John “Jack” Reynolds. I contacted Allen Reynolds who is a son of Jack’s to see if he could contribute any information. Below is what Allen sent to me.

• Prior to 1947 – Charles T. Woolston was the original owner. My father was  employee.
• Sept 1947 – Woolston and my father went into partnership (Woolston and Reynolds Service Station).
• Sept 1959 – Woolston opted out of partnership. My father bought Woolston out (Reynolds Service Center).
• However, Woolston continued to own the building, leasing it to my father.
• Jan 1980 – My father dies. I keep business. With my father’s death, building lease expires. I have to purchase it to keep business operating.
• 1986 – Business closed. Building sold to Robert S. Moccia Enterprises, Inc.

That was wonderful of Mary to track down this photo and information. I had to look carefully at that photo in case our old Ford Torino was in there as I often dropped off our car there for service on my way to Riverton School.

Regular visitors may recall Mary’s contribution of scans of remarkable family photos and postcards that I have previously used to illustrate website and newsletter articles. She gave us images of some people, things, and places that literally have no other representation in our records, so in that regard they are priceless. Here are three:

• • Best Wishes from the Society
  • Happy New Year…almost
  • Jos. F. Yearly’s photos recall the J.T. Evans Coal & Lumber business

If you persevered to the end, how does viewing the article in this blog format compare to viewing the usual newsletter PDF?

 

James Brandenburger’s JRB Property Group, the owner of the Frederick S. Groves Mansion at 411 Lippincott Avenue, now wants to tear down this 1901 home of a steamboat company president after telling everyone for the past 10 months that he was going to sell it for restoration (without its side yards, on which he wanted to build new houses) and that he had a qualified buyer under agreement.

The Historical Society of Riverton and many neighbors have followed this situation closely and with growing concern, as that qualified buyer seems to have disappeared and the current owner has done no visible maintenance all year. Now it is listed on the Planning Board’s website for a hearing for a “Demolition Permit.”

Anyone can attend the hearing via Zoom here: https://zoom.us/j/99667220214?pwd=egmyc1ncm0tmtwruajb6b29dak9zut09 PASSCODE: 813512

Documents filed so far are available here.

The home is a “contributing resource” to our Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Riverton Zoning Code zones the Mansion for preservation with a solid demolition ordinance. You’ll see that it flatly says you cannot demolish for the purposes of subdivision, and otherwise, the owner must prove that it can’t economically be made “safe for habitation or use” and that costs relating to “normal maintenance” cannot be considered in that calculation.

Brandenburger has not yet revealed what his arguments in favor of demolition might be. It will be interesting to see, considering that we have heard from several folks interested in buying the whole place to restore, not just “make safe for habitation.”

This developer has a history of teardowns, including a similar situation in Haddon Township in 2017. Riverton, though, is a National Register Historic District and has a Master Plan that sets strong public policy against projects such as this.

This article is a follow-up to previously published columns in the May 2021 and August 2021 issues of the Gaslight News as well as in these website posts – A unique Riverton restoration opportunity! April 13, 2021 and Save the Groves Mansion and grounds; Save the neighborhood Aug. 20, 2021

Look closely, you might find great-great grandpop or grandmom in these Riverton School class photos for kindergarten, first, and second grades from 1921.

Don’t imagine that Riverton School has class photos going back to 1910.

The Historical Society doesn’t either but we have a few that people have either donated to us or loaned and scanned.

Added 11/9/2021: A question across the miles from Mary Pat (Laverty) Peters prompted me to look for more 1921 pix. I found this one I scanned in 2007, on loan from Mrs. Mabel Kloos. It’s her father’s 3rd grade class.

One more – it is a low-resolution scan that was sent to me by the Yearly family.

If you have any old Riverton photos to give or loan please contact us. If you scan any yourself, please scan at 600dpi or better and send it to rivertonhistory@gmail.com. Names and dates are always a bonus. -JMc

 

 

Regular readers of this website know that we are a bit obsessive-compulsive about finding lost history and completing collections.  Ok, really a lot of OCD.

Many hundreds, perhaps a few thousand, of folks have attended the Candlelight House Tours sponsored by Friends of the Riverton Library over the years. If you have a booklet for a year that we are missing, please either give it to us, send us scans, or lend it so we could scan it for our files.

We already have these booklets: 1976; 1978; 1980; 1984; 1986; 1988; 1990; 1992; 1994; 1996; 1998; 2001; 2003; 2005; 2007; 2009; 2011; 2013

So you’re wondering if they were held every other year, why did years switch from even to odd after 1998. And, was 1976 the first House Tour?

Inquiring minds want to know. Please comment below if you can help bring this bit of Riverton history up to date.

William C. Probsting, a valued member of the HSR Board, passed away at his home in Riverton on Monday, September 20, 2021.  A life-long resident of Riverton, Bill Probsting lived in the house on Howard Street that has been in his family for three generations. Bill was headmaster of Westfield Friends School from 1974 to 2013. After his retirement,  Bill continued to serve his community through membership on the board of the Riverton Historical Society and through involvement with other non-profit organizations in the area. Donations in his honor can be made to the Riverton Historical Society and to Westfield Friends School. We will miss him.

The HSR needs your help. We have been invited to publish a History of Riverton book with Arcadia Publishing Company and we are searching for special images that showcase our amazing town history. We are looking for photographs that show the uniqueness of Riverton in the years 1851 – 1971.

That’s 50 years and older material going back to Riverton’s founding in 1851.

Have you seen these books for other communities and wondered why Riverton wasn’t represented? See some other New Jersey-themed books here on Arcadia’s website. You can even look inside some of them.

Three ways to share:

You can scan the image(s) to 300dpi or above in jpg or tiff format and send it to the Society at rivertonhistory@gmail.com.

Or mail them to us. Our mailing address is:

Historical Society of Riverton
PO Box 112
Riverton, NJ 08077

If you live in the area, and need help with scanning or photographing, please use the contact form below so we can make arrangements to pick up and return your originals.

Please include any description that might give context to your image which will be considered as a caption with your name as a donator.

Deadline is November 1, 2021.

The book will be available for sale on July 4, 2022.

By donating, you agree to allow us to use these images within this book and we will credit the donator appropriately. Final decisions of inclusion will be made by the publishing editors.

All proceeds of this book will be used to improve the way in which we preserve and display our amazing history and we hope you will be a part of this great project.

Thank you for your generosity in all the things that make Riverton the great town that it is.

So please check your attic and garage, look in photo boxes, scrapbooks, and albums, and send us images that will tell Riverton’s unique story.

The following links show some representative times that our understanding of Riverton’s history has benefited from donations by the public.

Keating’s Drugstore mementos…
Just in – over 30 new vintage images of Riverton
Trains, Boats, Planes, and Fire Engines photographed by Jos. F. Yearly
…past May Days
When in doubt… DON’T throw it out
More “lost” Riverton history surfaces
A deep dive into our archives

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

Judging by the dozens of comments, sad face emojis, and wow emojis on Facebook, folks really miss Erin Cleaners at Broad and Fulton since the owner retired at the end of June.

 

As Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher famously said, “Change is the only constant in life.”

It seems that change has always been the norm for the property at 608 Main.

In the last 90-odd years, that address has served as the site of at least a dozen business concerns. Prior to that, it was an undeveloped lot.

The property on the corner of Broad and Fulton Streets has a long history of owners.  Patricia Smith Solin completed an online search of the Deeds at the Burlington County Public Records Electronic Search System for Archival Deeds and found that among the owners was E. Ogden Steedle, a family with a long history in Palmyra and Riverton.

In 1917 Steedle purchased the property for $750 from the estate of Hanna M. Bickley and subsequently built a “one-story frame garage.”

Sidebar #1: This next bit of Riverton history comes from Borough Historian Roger Prichard: Of note is that the oldest owner, Hannah Bickley, was the daughter of our ubiquitous first-among-equals Founder Daniel Leeds Miller, Jr.  She lived 1846-1911 and likely lived at 201 Fulton for some of her teen years before her marriage at 17 to Lloyd Wharton-Bickley, Jr. who was 11 years her elder and a physician. They lived for many years right down the block from Erin Cleaners in the mansard roof house at 400 Fulton.

An examination of old editions of The New Era reveals advertisements for Steedle’s Garage and Express owned by George Steedle from about 1920 until 1922.

Steedle sold the property to James W. B. Taylor and his wife, Eleanor, in 1922 for $10,000.

J.C. Taylor announced in the July 7, 1922 New Era that he had purchased Steedle’s Garage and would do business as Taylor’s Garage.

A 1925 Sanborn Map shows on that lot a large frame garage with a capacity for 20 cars, but it was not the same building that is located there today.

Our historical archive yields this photo of that original automobile showroom. It is a frame capture from The Romance of Riverton, a silent 1926 film commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce as a civic advertisement.

Sidebar #2: The Romance of Riverton was a silent film made in 1926 and shown for many years at the Broadway Theater at Broad & Leconey Streets in Palmyra.

The theater closed in 1967 and the film was given to the HSR in 1978. Through the efforts of the HSR, the Porch Club, Palmyra-Riverton Rotary Club, and concerned individuals, the silent film was transferred to safety film in 1980 and was shown locally many times.

The Society later sold a conversion to VHS videotape in 1989.

John McCormick later produced a DVD version that added chapters and titles and a soundtrack with effects and various public domain music accompaniments. In 2009, the Burlington Board of Chosen Freeholders recognized Betty Hahle and John McCormick for their work in preserving the Romance of Riverton and making it accessible to modern audiences.

Wait – it gets better.

In January 2021, the HSR Board decided to examine the possibility of getting a professional video lab to extract a higher quality digital file from the 1979 16mm negative of The Romance of Riverton. In April 2021, HSR Board Member Roger Prichard delivered the negative to George Blood, LP in Fort Washington, and by early May we had a high-resolution digital copy of the film as well as high-resolution TIFFs of each frame on a hard disk drive. (Your dues dollars at work!)

We are currently investigating options on how to share this new version with the public.

These two shots of Taylor’s Garage are frame grabs from this newest version albeit they are posted here in a manageable screen resolution.

Betty Hahle‘s description of Taylor’s Garage as it appeared in the booklet that accompanied the 1989 videotape gives further context.

James W. B. Taylor‘s Motor Co., at Broad/Fulton, sold “United States Tires.” Pumping gas by hand is his son, Allan, who grew up to marry Elizabeth Toy, of Palmyra. The garage was destroyed by fire two years after the movie.

Some Taylor’s Garage newspaper ads:

Roger Prichard reminds us that, of course, our former HSR President, Gaslight News Editor, and Borough Historian Betty B. Hahle plumbed these depths of Riverton history before, as shown in this excerpt from the May 1997 Gaslight News:

James Taylor’s earlier service station had burned shortly after the “Romance of Riverton” movie was made in 1926. His new building, designed and erected by Eichner and Weber of Palmyra, opened on March 22, 1929. Constructed of concrete blocks with a brick front, there was a large showroom, with a balcony office at the back of it, and space for 3 cars on the floor. It cost $10,000.

At some point around 1928, Taylor’s Garage underwent a name change to James W.B. Taylor, and that, in turn, morphed into Taylor Motor Co. around mid-1929.

In 1929, ownership was transferred from James W.B. Taylor to Palmyra Machine (John Metague and Frank Waters, with their wives Grace W. Metague and Elsie D. Waters).

The Taylor reign ended around 1934 when Moorestown Motors used the building as a satellite showroom for its main place of business.

By the Summer of 1936, Moorestown Motors closed its short-lived Riverton branch.

 

The building was not idle for long.

With great fanfare, the Askew Motor Co. opened in September 1936 in a completely renovated building “…prepared to render a thoroughly up-to-date Chevrolet Service and Reconditioned Used Car Service to its customers.”

Look closely at this newspaper photo of Askew Motors below and note the one detail that reveals its ancestry to the former Erin Cleaner building at Broad and Fulton in 2021.

608 Broad Street must have had a revolving door because just two years later Askew Motor Company ceased operation, having also been known for a time in 1938 as Bill Hay.

ADP Motors makes an appearance in the fall of 1938 only to be succeeded a few months later by Frank I. Lloyd who specialized in Dodge and Plymouth automobiles.

Again, only months later, the Frank Lloyd operation disappeared, and by October 1939 brothers Floyd and Blair Koppenhaver opened their Dodge-Plymouth dealership with Frank Lloyd as their service manager in time to introduce the 1940 lineup.

A full-page ad in the November 2, 1939 New Era invited readers to visit their showroom.

Although the street address in the ad is 600 Broad, the building is clearly the same one seen earlier in the Askew Motor Company’s Chevrolet ad.

If you are keeping score, that makes at least ten business operations there in less than twenty years.

Floyd Koppenhaver passed in January 1941.

The last advertisements for Koppenhaver Motor Company that we found were for May 1942.

We can’t account for the more than two-year gap until Riverton Machine Company placed this series of June-Dec 1944 wartime ads in which Riverton Machine Co. and other Riverton businesses urged its readers to “Back the attack – BUY MORE THAN BEFORE.”

The tool and die designers and makers attempted to solicit trade and hire help as late as September 1945, but only one month later the company was selling off a turret lathe that “…has had very little use. Less than 2 yrs. old.”

In 1946 Riverton Machine transferred ownership to Hunter Industries (Blaine & Anne Hunter) for $1. The token dollar transfer may suggest that the parties just didn’t want to disclose the sale price.

 

As Hunter Industries was selling off machine tools in August 1949, a trio of investors was looking into establishing a retail cleaning plant in the building formerly occupied by Hunter Industries at Broad and Fulton Streets.

Winifred Holroyd paid Hunter Industries (Blaine & Anne Hunter) $14,000 for the property in 1949, a few months before these classified ads for help at Erin Cleaners appeared in 1950.

Then, in 1952, Winifred Holroyd sold the property to partners George Holroyd, Robert Holroyd, and Raymond Conover for $1.

Except for more classified ads, Erin Cleaners received not much mention from the 1950-1970s except for this March 1956 news article of partners George and Robert Holroyd and Raymond Conover examining their smashed safe after a $9,000 robbery.

A summary description of 608 Broad Street from Riverton’s 1999 Historic District Application lists Mok Hwan and Yeo S. Ahn as owners of Erin Cleaners.

What is in store for that prime location is open to speculation. And what will that corner property go for in today’s overheated real estate market?

Let’s hear your wish for the next incarnation of 608 Broad. -JMc

 

It’s August and you see on Facebook all the fun your friends are having on vacations at the Jersey Shore. Before Facebook, folks turned to the pages of their hometown newspaper to check out their friends’ status.

One vacation spot favored by local residents in the early 1900s was Stone Harbor, a resort that, like Riverton, would also boast of a yacht club and a country club.

Some Riverton sailors were drawn to Stone Harbor to compete in regattas and by all accounts, they had their share of successes.

This is a story of Stone Harbor Yacht Club and Country Club illustrated in vintage postcards.

All the Pleasures of Country and Seashore Combined
by Harlan B. Radford, Jr.

To celebrate and recognize the first anniversary of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club, in 1912 the South Jersey Realty Company published a very special and colorful postcard expressing, “Greetings from Stone Harbor.”

It proudly announces two new amenities: the Stone Harbor Golf Clubhouse and the Stone Harbor Yacht Club and shrewdly but subtlety tempts the viewer by depicting several recreational opportunities offered at Stone Harbor.

A fish hawk’s nest atop a tall pole and a flagpole trimmed with the American Flag and the yacht club’s unique red and blue burgee frame the layout. Seven vignettes in the encircling rope boast of many activities offered at Stone Harbor including golfing, fishing, racing motor cars on the beach, yacht and a racing motorboat, sunbathing on the beach, and racing sailboats. A Wright Flyer biplane overflies the yacht club. Stone Harbor’s entrepreneurs saw the inclusion of these two facilities as critical to the growth of their enterprise and they were right!

Many shore vacationers today and indeed some Stone Harbor residents are probably unaware that during 1908-1909, the developers placed pilings and bulkheads to create more land for housing and other expansion and dredged the natural basin to enlarge and deepen Snug Harbor.

As a result, both boating and fishing activities increased significantly. In 1909, a group of boating enthusiasts formed the Stone Harbor Yacht Club (SHYC) and incorporated it in January 1910 to foster an interest in sailing and powerboating. Situated on the bay at the point where Snug Harbor basin and the Great Channel converged, it became the focal point for the fledgling resort.

By early 1910, preparations were already underway to erect a handsome clubhouse on Snug Harbor Yacht Basin in the spring by the John Larsen Contracting Company.

It officially opened on July 4, 1910, and its success coincided with some other improvements to the resort including Stone Harbor Water Co., a new boardwalk, an electric plant, and a new hotel.

According to the Aug. 14, 1910, Philadelphia Inquirer, many yachtsmen pronounced the location, the waterfront, and the racing course “…the best on the Jersey coast,” and its bungalow-type clubhouse was reported to be “…the most artistic in build of any of the yacht clubs along the coast…”

Despite these early accolades, the SHYC encountered financial difficulties at the time of World War I owing to “…a great number of its men in the service, and those engaged in war work,” and, burdened by heavy debt, the club closed its doors in 1918 for several years.

A search of periodicals yielded no reports of regattas, dances, or events at SHYC for the years 1919-1927 and only one outboard race in 1928.

In 1929, on the threshold of the Great Depression, a new group of investors intervened, purchased the property, reorganized, and renovated the clubhouse.

They renamed it “The Yacht Club of Stone Harbor” (YCSH), the name used today, and opened for business with a regatta and a dance on August 3, 1929. Dancing in the Grand Ballroom and fine dining at the restaurant were popular mainstays of the club.

The following fifteen vintage postcards illustrate some milestones in the early history of Stone Harbor Yacht Club.

A crowd of people assembled for the ceremonial flag raising at the Stone Harbor Yacht Club on Memorial Day, 1910.

A handsome visiting yacht at the flag-raising and first annual reunion of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club on Memorial Day, 1910, Stone Harbor, N. J. One reference source indicated this yacht belonged to John Gilmore.

A colorful artist’s rendering of the proposed Stone Harbor Yacht Club.

Second annual rally of members and friends of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club at Stone Harbor, Memorial Day, 1911. Officers are grouped to the left. Postmarked July 17, 1914.

The sender writes: “Dear Father, this is quite a large place. The channel at our back door is very pretty and there is always a strong, cool breeze. Your affec. daughter, Pearl”.

A view of the Eighty-fifth Street yacht basin. Postmarked September 4, 1913. Later renamed the South Basin, it is the smallest one of a chain of seven beautiful artificial basins along the Great Channel at Stone Harbor.

Commodore James Thompson’s ‘Albatross,’ flagship of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club, located on Great Channel, Stone Harbor, N.J.

Stone Harbor Yacht Club and basin with visiting racing craft during Gala Week, July 1 to 5, 1911. The two central launches are the famous “Sand Burr” and the “Vanish.”

Stone Harbor Yacht Club, Stone Harbor, N.J. captures both the front door and the overhanging porte-cochere passageway to let vehicles pass under for access to the clubhouse. Most other postcard images show the clubhouse with water in front from the more picturesque Snug Harbor perspective. This view was part of a very scarce folio, or souvenir folder, consisting of multiple early black and white views of Stone Harbor.

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One postcard postmarked on August 31, 1914, bears the following hand-written message: “This is a peach of a place. I’m picking out our lot today, tell Pa I’m staying with the Riters’ & having a very nice time. Paul.” Two of the images are examples of rare real photo postcards or RPPCs.

Stone Harbor Country Club was located on the mainland just minutes away from the town of Stone Harbor. These last four circa 1912-15 era postcards feature the Country Club that boasted having a 45-acre 9-hole golf course.

Here is a frontal view of the wooden shingle-sided Stone Harbor Country Club featuring a sizable open front porch.

Atop the tall pole immediately to the right of the clubhouse is a fish hawk’s nest. Such pole-mounted nests like this were rather common and visible throughout parts of the South Jersey seashore and the coastal waterway.

People enjoy a game of golf at the Country Club. The advent of the new trolley line between Stone Harbor and Cape May Court House made the Country Club especially convenient according to the caption on the back of this very old card.

In this view of the Country Club, we see several individuals relaxing and seated on the front steps and in the shade on the front porch. Once more, there’s that pole with the fish hawk’s nest.

The caption on the reverse side of this postcard promotes all the various sports activities that were available then, including golf, along with tennis, and even trapshooting.

This full-color 1918 postmarked card depicts some very special occasion with a throng of well-dressed people and an abundance of American flags, possibly taken during the official opening of the Country Club or the much-celebrated Gala Week activities that took place in early July of 1911.

Both the Yacht Club and the Country Club figured in the early development and ongoing success of the community now referred to as “The Seashore At Its Best,” namely Stone Harbor!

We urge anyone with information, photos, mementos, etc. about Riverton sailors’ exploits that are 50 years old or more to contact us.