Imagine the emotions of the townsfolk of Riverton, Palmyra, and Cinnaminson as they gathered in the Parish House of Christ Church at this December 17, 1941 meeting, ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The purpose of the meeting was to prepare the community for an air raid drill to be held the next night at 11:30 pm.
In September, 1944, The New Era, Riverton’s hometown newspaper published a list of persons serving in the conflict that still had a year to go.
WWII Honor Roll Veterans List from The New Era, Sept 14, 1944
I see the names of Carl McDermott and his two brothers about a third down the second column.
The New Era of August 16, 1945 issue records the jubilant celebration over the war’s conclusion and gave a sober reminder of the supreme sacrifice given by those “so that this Nation might live.”
We sincerely thank Kate Washington Hickey for gifting the Society the air raid fliers seen above as well as many other items, some of which we will show here another time.
postcard scan courtesy of Mrs. Betty Hahle
We are proud to be caretakers of Riverton history and invite you to join the conversation with your recollections and remarks. This archive is made richer every time another part of local history emerges and readers can simply learn from it or even contribute more to it.
While we enjoy getting likes and comments on Facebook, your thoughts are more likely to become part of the record here. If you think the history of our community is work keeping, scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on the link – Leave a comment. – JMc
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
vintage Bell telephone ad from May 1939 Popular Science Thanks to http://blog.modernmechanix.comRiverton-Palmyra phone book cover, c 1928-1929
I promised two weeks ago to post a scan of Carl McDermott’s c.1928-1929 Riverton-Palmyra telephone book, but I knew that I’d better do my homework first. When I speak to Carl, it reminds me of that Kevin Bacon game—Six Degrees of Separation— because, like so many Rivertonians, he can probably be connected to someone you know in just a few steps, or degrees.
Carl’s mother gave birth to him at 721 Cinnaminson Street—on Riverton’s own Irish Row—90 years ago this past October. His mother, Mary McDermott, worked for the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company as one of Riverton’s switchboard operators for 35 years.
Mary McDermott, 2nd from left, 1926
Here are Mrs. McDermott and some co-workers as they appeared in the 1926 film, The Romance of Riverton, which Town Historian Betty B. Hahle helped preserve some years ago. Click here to view a 33 second clip from the 43 minute video that was made from the rescued film. The following description of that scene appears in the booklet that accompanies the DVD:
The Price building, on Broad between Church Lane and Main on Broad, was erected in 1891, on the former site of the Episcopal Church and churchyard. Many businesses started here. The Telephone Exchange moved to the 2nd floor soon after the turn of the century, and soon occupied both the 2nd and 3rd floors. Four young ladies shown near Church Lane are: Mary Bell, Mary McDermott (who identified both groups), ( ? ) Hanson, and Betty Steinbach. The telephone operators are: Hazel Woolford, Ethel Hanson, Mrs. Radcliffe (supervisor), Ruth Hanson, Oc1ey Ebert, and Frances Reidenbaker.
As a lad during the late 1920s, Carl spent several evenings at his mother’s side one summer on the third floor of the Price Building, now the upper level of Zena’s dining rooms at Broad and Main. Working evenings alone, she had been alarmed by someone trying the locked door at the back door to the fire escape, so Carl and his two brothers took turns at guard duty and slept on a cot.
vintage Bell telephone ad from Oct. 1927 Popular Science Thanks to http://blog.modernmechanix.comvintage Bell Telephone ad from Feb. 1929 National Geographic Thanks to http://blog.modernmechanix.com
While safeguarding his mom from midnight prowlers, young Carl picked up some on-the-job operator training. She showed him how she listened through her headset for the caller’s request for a number, and then manually matched a cord to a jack in order to connect the parties. She also recorded times for some calls on yellow slips of paper.
This story all unfolded because I remarked to Carl about the short phone numbers of only 2-4 digits and I asked how the caller dialed the number.
Here’s the listing for Schwering’s Hardware Store, an establishment which has served the region since 1922.
listing for Schwering’s Hardware in Palmyra, NJ
“Dial! They didn’t dial,” Carl explained. The caller rang for the operator and they told her the number of whom they were calling. I won’t even try to explain a party-line and a world without call-waiting, voice-mail, and texting to the smart-phone generation.
For others like me who may need a refresher on the state of communication technology of the late 1920s/1930s I included these great old telephone print ads from periodicals of the day, courtesy of modernmechanix.com.
Click here to download the Riverton-Palmyra phone book , c. 1928-1929. Two pages/one sheet on Palmyra are missing. Thanks so much to Carl for letting me borrow his phone book so that it could become part of our website. (revised 12/5/11 some viewers reported difficulty with original link)
Now, who will you look up in the pages of this old phone book? – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor
J.T. Evans truck - detail from undated Broad and Garfield photo
I always learn something new about Riverton every time I speak to Carl McDermott. An expatriate of Cinnaminson Street, Riverton’s own Irish Row (Mar. 2010 GN ), Carl celebrated in October his 90th birthday at Riverton Country Club with 123 friends and relatives.
He and his wife Doris now live in Palmyra, and from time to time he leaves a comment on something that he finds here. On the post about the construction of Riverton’s War Memorial he pointed out that he had installed the electric for its illumination. Shortly afterwards he provided me with photos of himself and his two brothers, now passed, for display in our Veterans Photo Album. It was Carl who gave me the idea to interview his friend Franny Cole on the subject of Cole Dairy ( Feb. 2011 GN )which once operated at Fifth and Main Streets.
On a recent day the topic of our conversation was the pictures of the J.T. Evans Coal & Lumber Building from Joseph F. Yearly’s photo album that he was looking at on this website. He invited me to see a couple of photos and an old Riverton telephone book in which he thought I would be interested. Would I?
The photos are apparently of a funeral for a political or military figure which took place in Palmyra, date unknown. Writing on the back of one (not Carl’s) indicates that Palmyra mayor George W. Wimer is walking beside the band wearing a bow-tie and hat, and that the location is Broad and Garfield Streets.
Broad & Garfield - - Post # 136 - Mayor George Wimer bottom right with bow-tie and hat
Ray Fichter, the last man in the band on the right, married Marg McDermott, which is the reason that someone gave the photo to Carl. As with other artifacts of uncertain provenance which have appeared here, we could use a little help from our readers on this one.
A George N. Wimer served as Palmyra’s mayor 1928-1931, so the “W” must be an error. Inspecting more closely, I discovered a J.T. Evans delivery truck which I have also posted with the other Evans images sent in by Mary Flanagan.
Once I confessed to my friend Harlan, a fellow postcard collector, of losing myself in these old scenes. He said that he was finally glad to know that he wasn’t the only one.
Broad and Garfield
I post these two high-resolution scans made from the original 8x10s so that any others with such an inclination may do so. If you have an observation to share, please leave a comment. Kindly contact us if you have anything that you wish to give to our archives or loan for documenting and scanning.
I’ll save the scans of the Riverton-Palmyra phone book, c.1928-1929, for a future post and there are also more photos from the Joseph F. Yearly photo album in store. Be sure to come back again. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor
Rev.11/17 My friend Will Valentino of the Palmyra Historical and Cultural Society writes: “I wish I had some info on the funeral. William Morgan died in 1929 and it was a pretty big deal. He was considered the emblematic Father of Palmyra at that time and Wimer was at the funeral .” You can read his award-winning local history column, “Back in Time” now published in the monthly community newspaper, The Positive Press. – JMc
