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INTRODUCTORY.

WE THANK the public for their generous support of this undertaking to provide for the officers and men of the Trenton Police Department in case of sickness or disability, and their families in case of the decease. By these contributions the efficiency of the service is promoted in a great many ways.        It gives the public the opportunity to express their appreciation of good service, encourages the members of the force to efficiency, increases the mutual good feeling between these servants and their employers, the people, and helps that generous co-operation between the citizens and the force, which is absolutely essential to peace, order and enjoyment of the blessings of out city.        Realizing our obligations to the public for their generous donations, we will carefully devote them to the Police Retirement or Beneficial Association.

TRENTON POLICE DEPARTMENT

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Trenton City Officials.

1911

	Mayor, WALTER MADDEN.
City Clerk, Harry B. Salter.		City Treasurer, Harry E. Evans.
Assistant City Clerk, Albert G. Howell.		Assistant City Treasurer, Stephen Ziegler.
	City Comptroller, Edward W. Lee.
First Assistant Comptroller, Harry R. Bergen Jr.		Second Assistant Comptroller, John L. Parson.
	Receiver of Taxes, Andrew J. Berrien.
Thomas Campbell,	Deputy Receivers of Taxes Harry M. Slack,	Joseph R. Durrell.
City Counsel, Charles E. Bird.		City Engineer, Abram Swan, Jr.
Street Commissioner, William F. Burk.		First Assistant, Alfred C. Gregory.
Assistant Street Commissioner, Thomas McKeag.		Second Assistant, Harry F. Harris.
Crematory Superintendent, John T. McClain.		Building Inspector, E.B.G. Hancock.
Overseer of the Poor, Alfred L. Parker.		Assistant Building Inspector, Augustus A Foreman.
Steward, City Almshouse, Thomas Colclough, Jr.		City Physician, Joseph F. Higgins, M.D.
Sealer of Weights and Measures, J. Frank Fowler.		Assistant City Physician, Charles F. Roupp, M.D.
	Custodian of City Hall, George W. Fagan.
City Marshal, Jeremiah P. Cloward.		Chief of Police, Judson Hiner.
President of Common Council, William J. McClain.		Chief of Fire, Charles S. Allen.

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Walter Madden,
Mayor

Dr. Walter Madden was born in Tuckahoe, N.J., July 10th, 1873. He is the son of Thomas Madden, deputy keeper at the New Jersey State Prison. Mayor Madden comes of Revolutionary war stock. His ancestors came to this country from Holland and settled in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His great grandfather, Hosea Madden, operated a glass works in South Jersey that was the first of its king in America. On his mother’s side Mr. Madden traces his ancestry to the old Birch family of Pennsylvania. In 1875 the Madden family came to Trenton, and Walter received his education at the public schools and the Rider-Moore Business College of Trenton.        He was elected to Common Council from the Third Ward in 1904, and was re-elected in 1906. He served two terms as City Physician. In 1908 he was elected by the Democratic party of Trenton as Mayor. His activity and excellent services resulted in his re-election as Mayor by the highest majority ever given to any candidate for office.

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Jacob L. Kafes,
President Board of Police Commissioners

Jacob L. Kafes was born in Trenton, N.J., November 5th, 1871, and has resided here all his life. He is prominent in politics and was elected to Common Council in 1897, 1900 and 1902. He was appointed Police Commissioner January 1st, 1910, and elected president of the board January 1st, 1911. Mr. Kafes is also engaged in the wholesale and retail butcher business and is regarded as being one of Trenton’s most substantial citizens.

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Sidney M. Oliphant,
Police Commissioner

Sidney M. Oliphant was born in Princeton N.J., in 1867, and moved to Trenton thirty-six years ago. He has been prominently engaged in the iron and steel business for over ten years, and is also associated with the pottery industry, for which Trenton is noted. He was appointed on the Board of Police Commissioners April 1st, 1910, to fill the expired term of Harry Maddock, and succeeded to the presidency. He was again appointed a Commissioner January 2d, 1911, and his services have been exceptionally valuable to the city.

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Samuel Taft,
Police Commissioner

Samuel Taft was born in Staffordshire, England, March 5th, 1870, and come to this country at an early age. He is a potter’s kilnman and has been in the business for twenty-eight years. He is also identified with local labor affairs and in secret order circles. Mr. Taft has served as presiding officer of the Sons of St. George, Knights of Pythias, and also served as District Deputy of the Sons on St. George of Mercer County. He was elected to Common Council on 1907 and was appointed Police Commissioner January 1st, 1910.city.

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Frank H. Hutchins,
Police Commissioner

Frank H. Hutchins was born in Annapolis, Md., and came to Trenton in 1896. He is the eastern representative of the National Brotherhood of Operative Potters and is well known in labor circles. He is a skilled potter by trade and in 1898 was elected president of his local union. He has served two terms as Police Commissioner, during one of which he was elected president of the board.        Mr. Hutchins is a strong advocate of strict discipline and his influence is felt in the mechanism of the department.

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Judson Hiner,
Chief of Police

Judson Hiner, Chief of Police, was born in Hunterdon County, October 13th, 1859, and came to Trenton with his parents during the Civil War. After completing his education in the public schools he learned the trade of a rubber worker and followed that occupation until he was appointed a patrolman on May 12, 1885. After serving four years in this capacity, and frequently being commended for excellent work, he was promoted to the position of sergeant on February 5th, 1889.        While Sergeant it fell to his lot to become prominently identified with the most important cases with which the police have had to deal, and in every instance he acquitted himself in a manner that brought him the most unbounded praise from the department as well as from the public. Few city officials enjoy more complete confidence and good will from the community, especially of those with whom he comes in daily contact. While being a strict disciplinarian, he has always been noted as a just man, and it is a well-known fact that through his untiring efforts the Trenton police department is second to none in the country for efficiency, economy, thoroughness and reliability.

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John J. Cleary,
Captain of Police, First District.

John J. Cleary was born in England, July 22d, 1852, of Irish parentage and came to this country in 1864. The family settled in Trenton and he became a potter’s apprentice. After two years’ application in this field he became dissatisfied and secured employment at the Trenton Iron Works, remaining there until 1881, and in that time he became an expert in the art of refining iron.        Captain Cleary’s early education was received at the Cobridge parochial school, and from youth was recognized as a leader, instinctively taking his place at the head of his classes.        Captain Cleary identified as a patrolman on may 4th, 1881, and served in this capacity until April 16th, 1886, and on account of his excellent record was appointed a lieutenant, where he continued his brilliant work, and on February 22d, 1892, was made a captain, which title and office he held since. He is known throughout this section of the country as an ideal police officer and is a man of great force of character and determination in the pursuance of those principles which he considers right.        Few men in the police service of this country have a better idea of police organization and discipline. Having traveled through Europe and other countries studying the various police methods, he incorporated the present system, which is one of the best in the country.

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First District Police Station

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Second District Police Station

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William Dettmar,
Captain of Police, Second District.

Captain William Dettmar was born in Germany, November 14th, 1857, and was appointed a patrolman in September 1882, in Chambersburg, which was then a suburb of Trenton. He became its Chief after four years’ service, which position he held until consolidation of the borough, when he was made an acting sergeant of the Trenton police, and was elected regularly on the 5th of February 1899, by Common Council. He was afterwards appointed captain of the second district and has figured in a number of sensational arrests and has acquitted himself with credit.

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Main Office, First District Police Station

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Main Office, Second District Police Station

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Charles H. Pilger,
Detective Sergeant.

Detective Sergeant Charles H. Pilger was born in Trenton, July 2d, 1854, and was educated in the public schools. He also received careful private instruction. He was a chainmaker in his early youth and became identified with the police department May 4th, 1881, in the capacity of a patrolman and was made a special officer in citizen’s dress in December 1888, which practically started the present efficient detective system.        February 26th, 1891, the position of city detective was officially created and Mr. Pilger has held the position with exceptional credit ever since. Detective Pilger is a married man of family and is one of the best-known officers in the country.

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John J. Clancy,
Detective Sergeant.

John J. Clancy was born in Trenton, N.J., December 10th, 1856 and has resided here all his life. He is a man of family and is widely known in police circles for his excellent services. He was formerly a potter and was appointed to his present position as detective on July 5th 1899. He served previously as a county detective and his service was excellent. He was educated in the parochial schools and is everywhere conceded to be an ideal detective, having produced results that only a trained man of wide experience and training could equal.

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Dr. William B. Van Duyn,
Police Surgeon.

Dr. Van Duyn was appointed police surgeon January 1st, 1888, and it is his duty to attend professionally citizens brought to the station houses, and attend to those suffering from sudden illness in the public streets. In cases where members of the police force are absent from duty by reason of sickness or injury the surgeon is required to examine in their condition and certify as to the necessity of their absence from such causes to the Board of Police Commissioners.        The present incumbent has held the position for over twenty-three years and has given eminent satisfaction.

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Richard R. Lutes,
Treasurer of the Police Retirement or beneficial Association
and Secretary of the Board of Police
Commissioners.

Richard R. Lutes is a native of Trenton. N.J., and was born November 6th, 1865. He was appointed Secretary of the Police Board January 8th, 1908, and is also the Treasurer of the Police Retirement or Beneficial Association. He was educated in the public schools and the Rider-Moore and Stewart Schools of Business, and commenced business as a stenographer and press telegrapher. He is a man of family and is highly regarded in police circles, having filled his present position with credit to the public and the department.

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Roster of the Trenton Police Department

Chief.
Judson Hiner, May 11, 1885
Captains.
John J. Cleary,	May 3, 1881		William M. Dettmar,	Nov. 8, 1882
Sergeants.
Michael McGowan,	May 3, 1881		William Alcutt,	Nov. 1, 1887
John W. Zenker,	Nov. 10, 1888		James T. Cullington,	March 15, 1883
Charles H. Schanck,	May 11, 1885		William Deck,	Feb. 5, 1889
Detective Sergeants.
Charles Pilger,	May 3, 1881		John J. Clancy,	July 1, 1899
Roundsmen.
Edward Fitzpatrick,	Dec. 12, 1889		Charles H. Smith,	April 1, 1890
Richard Pilger,	Feb. 14, 1890		George H. Clark,	April 16, 1890
Superintendent of Telegraph.
Oliver M. Schafer

Linemen.
W. E. Walton		Edw. H. Leahey
Patrol Drivers.
Wesley Wooley		Frederick J. Henry
Abner B. Braun		Wm. A. Haney

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Sergeants of Police.
William McGowan John W. Zenker James T. Cullington		Charles H. Schanck William Deck William Alcutt

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First District Gymnasium

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Dockets and Files of Letters and Telegrams Pertaining to the Detection of Criminals.

Detectives' Offices and Rouges' Gallery.

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History of the Trenton Police Department.

TRENTON’S police department had its beginning soon after the American Revolution, the governing authorities of the town as then existing having provided in March 1799, for the appointment of a city marshal, requiring him by solemn enactment to “carry in his hand a small staff or wand, similar to those usually carried by the sheriff.”        This early police action was inspired by several fires and several burglaries, occurring in quick succession, to the consternation of the burghers. The first department consisted of one night watchman – a volunteer at that. Then the number was increased, the volunteers taking turns patrolling the streets at night. Assistance was provided by an ancient lantern which the watchman carried in addition to his staff. The volunteers, however, soon tired of their work, and the department went to pieces.        The it was decided the town marshal’s duties should be to walk through the streets at least once a week, hunting for idle and disorderly persons. He was instructed to enforce the laws and ordinances passed to keep swine from running at large, and to report to the Street Commissioner all nuisances and obstructions. In his constabulary capacity the marshal was entitled to legal fees, and ex-officio he received the munificent salary of $20 a year.        As late as 1856, when the city had a population of about 14, 000, Trenton was guarded by a marshal and one watchman for each ward, six of them in all. They were vested with the usual constabulary powers, among other matters to light and extinguish the city’s lamps. The policemen were subject to order by the Mayor, who was a police justice. The Mayor received a salary of $500, the marshal a like sum and the watchmen $400 each. By slow degrees, adding new men and broadening the scope of the police department, the present splendid development was obtained. Present Department        The present police department is governed by a bi-partisan Board of Police Commissioners, composed of two Democrats and two Republicans. One commissioner is appointed each year by the Mayor, the term being four years at an annual salary of $500. The present commissioners are: Frank Hutchins, vice president of the National Brotherhood of Operative Potters; Sidney M. Oliphant, of the Oliphant Steel and Iron Company, Republicans; Jacob L. Kafes, wholesale and retail meat merchant, and Samuel Taft, a potter and former member of Common Council, Democrats.        Richard R. Lutes is secretary of the commission, and clerk to the chief. He is also secretary of the police pension fund. This fund is made up of a percentage of their pay, contributed by the patrolman, and whatever fines may be imposed upon them in the way of penalties. It is used for the support of the sick or incapacitated officers.

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Chief Judson Hiner is at the head of the department. The city is divided into two districts, the dividing line being the Assanpink creek. Each district has a captain of police at its head, who is answerable to the chief. Captain John J. Cleary is over the First District, north of the creek, and Captain William Dettmar presides in the Second District, south of the creek. There are two detective sergeants, Charles Pilger and John J. Clancy, whose special duties are to ferret out crime and “spot” criminals. There is also one police surgeon, Dr. William B. Van Duyn, who looks after the health of the members of the department. A certificate from the surgeon is required for every absence from duty on account of illness.        Under the two captains are six sergeants, who are directly in charge of the men on the force. There are four roundsmen and ninety-five patrolmen, who are the real guardians of the peace and property in the city. The remainder of the department is made up of four patrol drivers, three electricians and two janitors. Thus the force numbers one hundred and twenty-one men. Duties of the Patrolmen.        As soon as the tours of duty are ended, that is to say 7 A.M. and 3 and 11 P.M. each day, the patrolmen all report to their respective station houses. The requirements are that each patrolman must keep a record of all unusual events on his beat. Note books are carried for this purpose, and these are turned over to the sergeant. Thus noticed of accidents, fights, fires, burglaries, violations of the law and similar matters are quickly given to the chief for whatever action may be required.        The duties of the roundsmen are to make regular rounds of the city to see that the patrolmen are attending strictly to duty. They are required to report to the sergeant any neglect, the sergeant in turn reporting to the captain.        Under the bi-partisan Board of Commissioners an officer cannot be removed except under charges preferred. Charges are taken up by the board, upon report from the chief, after investigation by the captain, and the accused officer is given a hearing. If found guilty he may be dismissed, suspended without pay, or reduced in rank.        On the night tour of duty, from 11 o’clock P.M. to 7 A.M., the number of police on duty is double that of the other two tours, owing to the fact that most crimes are committed at night. A fourth of the day men are also required to return to the station houses each evening to do reserve duty from 7 P.M. to 11 P.M. Recently two patrolmen have been mounted and patrol with horses the section of the city from Cadwalader Place to the State Hospital for the Insane.

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Each patrolman while on duty must cover regularly his beat, and that his superior officers may be certain that he is doing so, he is required to report by means of the police telegraph to his station house every two hours. These reports are made through the telegraph boxes that are scattered all over the city. The boxes are so located that to reach them each patrolman must cover his entire beat. Coming to a box the patrolman opens it and pulls a lever.        Automatically the number of the box pulled and the hour are registered on a paper tape in the station house. As the registering mechanism operates, it rings a bell so the sergeant on duty has his attention called to the report. The sergeant replies to the report by pushing an electric button on his desk and instantly the reporting officer receives an answering ring through his box, hence he knows he is getting credit for attention to duty.        The Trenton police telegraph batteries and switchboards are at the station houses and the wires, more than two hundred and sixty-three miles of them, are run underground, so no storm can interfere with the operation of the system. There is also telephonic connection with each police box, and besides, the red light system. The red lights are on arms extending above the telegraph boxes, and when they are lighted by pushing a button in the station house they signal to the patrolman to answer immediately at their boxes. When the patrolman does see the red light he hurries to the box and calls his station house on the telephone. His sergeant then tells him of some special duty required.        Chief Hiner states that by the means of the telegraph and red light system it is possible to get in communication with every patrolman on duty at anytime within fifteen minutes.        Chief Hiner, since becoming head of the department some eleven years ago, has inaugurated a number of reforms, among them the abolition of the “raid” system. “Get your evidence quietly,” said the chief to his men, in making this change, “get enough of it to convince the grand jury, and stop these parades from the ‘red light’ district to police headquarters. What’s the use of disgracing innocent relatives of the victims. Work quietly and it will be just as effective.”        The orders were carried out and the social evil was practically eliminated from the city. There were threats and interference, of course, but the patrolman soon came to know that they were answerable only to their own superiors. Once or twice politicians tried to interfere. They met with no consideration and soon they saw the light. Then there was no more interference. With the social evil went gambling and then the chief turned his attention to the Sunday closing of saloons. His captains carried out his orders and in a few weeks Trenton was as dry on Sunday as

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the desert of Sahara. When plain clothes men were urged upon the chief he said that two of them were plenty, declaring that he preferred to have the men in uniform and doing patrol duty. And so two plain clothes men, Pilger and Clancy, do all the work of this character there is to do. Fine System of Records.        After inaugurating these reforms the chief decided to get busy on the inside of the department and the result was the establishment of a system of records that is unexcelled. The chief can turn in an instant to the records of hundreds of noted criminals, can pick out their photographs at a glance and can produce proof of any crimes that they may have committed. This has proved valuable on many occasions.        For instance, a pickpocket may be arrested here at the time of the inauguration of a Governor or something of that kind. Without definite charge against him he is in position to demand his release, or at least an immediate hearing. If he does he usually subsides and consents to wait the pleasure of the authorities when he is confronted with evidence of his past rascality. Police officials from all parts of the country have examined the records of the department, and all of them have pronounced them practically perfect.        It is interesting to note how the police keep “tabs” on matters happening in the city. They reported last year three hundred and two accidents, sixteen attempted suicides, five suicides, twenty-eight buildings found open, while two thousand three hundred and twenty-four complaints were noted by the department, thirty-two dead bodies founds, forty-eight sudden deaths reported, one hundred and thirteen lost children found on the street, sixty stray teams taken up, one hundred and eighty-six obstructions reported and one hundred and fifteen persons reported missing.        The cost of running the department for the year ending February 28, 1910, was $126,500. This money was appropriated by the Common Council, was expended by the Police Board as follows: Salaries, $112,219.21; station houses account, $6,511.72; police telegraph account, $2,017.10; patrol account, $1,811.29; auto patrol account, $1,184.63; printing account, $532.24; clothing account, $2,023.54; and the detective account, $200.27. Two Efficient Captains.        Part of Chief Hiner’s success as head of the department is due to the efficiency of his subordinates, particularly his two captains. Both of the has come up from the ranks and each is a fighter. Neither of them goes after an evil doer unless he gets him – and gets him with the goods.        Captain Cleary was a patrolman twenty-seven years ago when the force consisted of four men and when kerosene lamps were used to illumi-

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nate the streets. One of his most remarkable feats was the capturing of a roomful of men who were playing the ponies, including a lot of out of town sports. He tried it once or twice by ordinary methods and gathered in only empty apartments for his pains. Then he loaded twenty-five patrolmen into a furniture van, closed the doors and drove slowly up to the place. The pickets were thrown completely off their guard and so many prisoners were taken that there was not half room enough in the police station to hold them.        One of the principle feats of Captain Dettmar was the handling of the big strike at the Roebling plant about a year ago. With a mere handful of men he guarded millions of dollars’ worth of property from the fury of a foreign colony, and kept the streets open for traffic at all hours.        Trenton has the first combination auto patrol and ambulance in the country. It is a White steamer type of vehicle, equipped with electric lights and other modern improvements. Ordinarily it is used to transport prisoners to the station house, but in one minute it may be changed into an ambulance for accident cases by making the necessary changes in the interior. Its rapid and noiseless flights through the city’s streets form one of the many evidences of the thorough up-to-dateness of Trenton’s Police Department.        Detectives Pilger and Clancy have one of the most important branches of the department in their hands. It is their duty to uncover crime which does not appear on the surface. They have to ferret out wrongdoing upon whatever clues the criminals may have left behind. They have their office at police headquarters on Chancery street. Two Courts.        There are two police courts, one in each district, which mete out justice to those arrested.        Police Justice Harry J. Harris presides in the First District, which sits at 8 o’clock A.M. Frederick P. Rees is judge of the Second District Court, which sits at 7 o’clock P.M. Frederick L. Hulme is clerk of the Second District Court, and William E. Blackman is clerk of the First District.        Each judge is paid a salary of $2,000 per year and the clerks receive an annual salary of $1,200.        It is our desire to express appreciation of the successful efforts of Messrs. G.D.W. Vroom, (Ex-President of Common Council) John W. Brooke, James H. Mulheron and Josiah Jones in removing the Police Department from under the ban politics. They have well earned the gratitude of the public as well as the men comprising the Department for, in great measure, making possible the efficiency on which these pages treat.

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Roundsmen.
Edward Fitzpatrick George H. Clark		Richard Pilger Charles H. Smith

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Automobile Patrol

Type of Mounted Policeman.

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John H. Hutchinson August F. Kulp Samuel B. Stout William A. Cleary

Charles A. Connor Charles J. Walsh John H. Sanders Wilson D. Cox

Antony Alcutt Harry R. Tindall Frank S. Higbee Michael J. Foley

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James Smith William P. Walters Charles Cook Joseph T. Farley

Charles Stanton Peter P. McLaughlin John Kelty Harry J. Anglum

Wm. J. Fitzgerald Wm. R. Bently James A. Maguire John W. Paul

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Samuel M. Myers Wm. H. Goodwin Jacob J. Walters James O'Rourke

Christian Nahr Martin McDonald Edgar H. Goodwin Frederick Schuman

Edward Kelly Wm. J. Mullen Charles W. Irving John H. Wilson

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Chas. H. Caminade Wm. Clow William B. Malone John J. Kelly

George Fox Francis J. Hoffman John McDonough Stephen A. Hulse

Wm. A. Kucker John Hebner John Hoffman John Moody

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Walter Blauth John J. Kennedy Maurace J. Murphy John L. De Veney

Oliver G. Cockram James Dewar Williard H. Kelly John W. Murphy

John Butterer Chas. T. Mullen Irvins H. Budd Walter Green

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Cornelius McDonough Thomas McDonough Henry R. Hartmann William Sandhoff

Wm. Lythgoe Adward Schnorbus Antonio Pege Francis McDermott

John Fulkert George Matheis Henry Siebers Theodore Weigand

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james J. Fay William V. Adams Harry D. Girton Cornelius P. Carrigan

William N. Hibbs John Coonan James Feenane Virginius Fox

Johnson B. Konover James Kelly John Ryan Charles Opperman

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Patrol Drivers.
Frederick J. Henry Wesley Wooley		Abner Braun William A. Haney

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New Municipal Building.

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History of Trenton, New Jersey.

THE TELLING of the story of Trenton’s history carries us to times so remote that no living man knew the first-framers of community or life or even the grandsons of the settlers. At least two hundred and thirty years have elapsed since Mahlon Stacy erected his mill near the mouth of the Assunpink Creek, and gave to Trenton its first permanent industry, that of grinding corn for the newcomers.        During a time of which neither record nor tradition remain, when the mouth of the Delaware was at the Crosswicks meadows and glacial ice floated over the farm lands and pine barrens of South Jersey, a group of scientists would have us believe that Man lived in Trenton. Portions of human skeletons have been found near the city, buried deep in the gravels. How long ago? Ten, fifteen, twenty thousand years, mayhap, even vastly longer periods have elapsed since Man fought Nature and left nothing but his bones to prove that he existed.        Aeons elapsed. Then historic light shines through the clouds of conjecture. The Swedes had occupied the lower Delaware valley, the Dutch had established their trading posts and forts in New York and Albany. In search of adventure, but particularly to extend trade, bartering blankets, beads, rum and other foibles dear to the aboriginal heart, the Swedes and Dutch came to Sanikan town, the “place of stones,” commemorated in “Assunpink” that they might secure maize and furs. The Scandinavians and the Hollanders were rival claimants to the soil of New Jersey, these nations representing the ambitions of Old World trading companies, which hoped the either the Delaware or Hudson would furnish a northwest or west passage to the South Sea and thence to India or China.        It is difficult to fix the exact date of the settlement of Trenton. Between 1677 and 1680, a small colony of settlers occupied the low land along the river, but the adventurous spirits were driven out by the Indians. There were those who took up plantations in and around Morrisville and “the Falls,” a generic place name given to both sides of the river, soon had sufficient people to attract Mahlon Stacy, the Quaker miller, who erected the second mill in West Jersey. This mill was in active about 1681-1682, and may be said to be Trenton’s first public building.        Trenton, at this time, was cover with forests, except where Indians had made their “corn clearings.” But ere long the axe and torch of the settlers had laid low the timber and Civilization claimed the Assunpink valley for its own. It was the English Quaker that settled what is now the built-up portion of Trenton. Few, if any of the mystical German sectaries, who followed Penn to Pennsylvania, drifted into West Jersey. Naturally the beginnings were agricultural. Fertile land was cheap, taxes were low, Indians were friendly and fish and game were abundant. A mild

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form of Indian and Negro slavery was permitted, while “redemptioners” and “free willers” worked out their on the fields. The mass of the settlers all spoke the same language and held the same faith. This was a highly important consideration in early colonial times when nations in the old home were at war and doctrinal controversy was a phase of popular recreation.        Between 1690 and 1700, what is now Trenton, received a new impulse. Into the Hopewell valley and in the vicinity of Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville, cam a permanent settlement of Holland Dutch from the Raritan valley, with Old and New England Congregationalists from Newark and the Monmouth Shore settlements. There were some Scotch and a sprinkling of French Huguenot blood. A settlement of these was made in what is now Ewing township. A ‘union’ meeting house was built, which, of course, did not meet the good purposes intended, and thence sprung the Presbyterian and Church of England religious societies, represent today in Trenton by the First Presbyterian and St. Michael’s congregations.        It will be noticed that by 1700, Trenton was settled by English Quakers and Presbyterians, or Congregationalists, as well as by French and Scotch Calvinists. It must be remembered that differences in creed then made men further apart than diverse nationalities would separate them to-day. Trenton was one of the early “melting pots,” to use a modern expression, where fusion of creed and race took place and gave an industrial character to the town, such as is always produced by the presence of mixed peoples.        For seventy-five years before the Revolution, Trenton was a place of importance. To the south a great road crossing the Assunpink at Broad street, led to Burlington, a branch leading to the “Pines.” Front, Willow, Quarry alley and portions of West State street led to the ‘up river’ settlements, while the ‘King’s Highway” curved and twisted through Lawrence, Princeton and New Brunswick to Elizabethtown and Newark. Sloops and shallops came up the river, while canoes and rowboats were using in voyages to the “Forks” at Easton, and beyond.        Of this seventy-five years, during which Trenton grew to a population of about 800, some marked conditions are to be noted. As early as 1713 Hunterdon county was set off from Burlington, its southern boundary being the Assunpink, its northern boundary being as far as the settlements extended. Trenton was soon selected as the shire town, and the jail was located where the building of the Trenton Banking Company now stands. From being a farming outpost to the capital at Burlington, Trenton became somewhat industrially self-conscious. True, the place was still called, “The Falls,” and was so called until Chief Justice Trent about 1719 stamped his individuality upon the village, and “Trent’s Town” appeared upon the map. Hither came the farmers with corn, wheat, beeves on the hoof and venison to trade on market days. A few years passed and the Durham

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State Normal and Model Schools

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Boats, the ungainly, mastless, poled scows, ladened with iron from the Durham forge, floated down the Delaware to exchange “up country” products for English goods, displayed on the shelves of Trenton and Philadelphia stores. New roads were opened, and by 1750, “stage waggons,” springless, slow moving and nerve wracking, crawled from Philadelphia to Morrisville, and after a ferriage of passengers, went on through dust, mud or snow to Amboy or New Brunswick. Deputy Postmaster Benjamin Franklin established a post-office, and great was the excitement in Trenton when the occasional mails from Boston or from Frederick arrived.        The shire town of Trenton was well situated for trade, if one may believe the petitioners, in a mid-century application that Trenton be granted a charter as a borough. This petition His Majesty, King George, was pleased to grant in 1750, for five years, with Dr. Cadwalader of Philadelphia as Chief Burgess, Trenton was known as a “market town,” its boundaries including practically all of what is now Mercer county. Of course there were taverns a plenty, stores for the sale of all kinds of colonial merchandise, as the advertisements in New York and Philadelphia newspapers of the day show, with accounts of “hold-ups” by highwaymen, lottery drawings, lots for sale, drownings, deaths, by lightning, meetings of the legislature and courts, warnings concerning counterfeit money in circulation, prominent burials, marriages, and only prominent ones, and a host of other things in which our ancestors were, as well as we are, interested.        In that long struggle between France and England for the control of the Mississippi valley, and the attempts to secure the partisanship of the Indians, Trenton appears as a military post. There was much recruiting to fill the newly organized provincial regiments. The completion of the Barracks, the oldest public structure in Trenton, indicates the town was of strategic importance, both as a base of military supplies and for the quartering of troops during the operations in Sussex county at the close of the struggle.        From an industrial standpoint it may be said that Trenton, during the first three-quarters of the eighteenth century, ranked as a post-town of importance, and as a distributing station for the upper Delaware valley. It was a market town for much of Bucks and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania, and for what is now Mercer, upper Burlington, eastern Monmouth, lower Somerset and all of Hunterdon counties, New Jersey, as well as points as far as Port Jervis.        In 1790 the state capital, after a struggle, was located in Trenton, and in 1792 the city received its first charter.        One now approaches the present day, the period of electric light, heat and power, of splendid train service that only takes minutes in place of hours to do a task, of gigantic machinery, of paved streets, of skyscrapers, of widespread activity in all municipal functions, of concentrated wealth and organized labor, of the uplift of a city sprung from a village.

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To-day Trenton has a population of over 96,000 and nine square miles of area, with an assessed valuation of $66,656,728 and a personal valuation of $10,769,541. Its real estate is valued at $57,365,650 and the tax rate is $1.96. The public debt is $1,823,976.08. Trenton has one hundred and sixty miles of streets, of which forty miles are paved, seventy-five miles of sewers, and consists of fourteen wards. The municipal water plant is valued at 3,000,000, while the new city hall property is assessed at $750,000.        Trenton has one hundred fifty acres of public parks and a public library consisting of 50,000 volumes, with an annual circulation of 215,000 and 23,000 registered readers. The library is valued at $175,000 and receives an annual appropriation of $22,000 for its support. This city is particularly well equipped with educational institutions, having thirty two public schools, including the high school, with 352 teachers and $20,000 pupils, and the city appropriates $125,000 annually for their support. There is also an appropriation of $20,000 made yearly for the support of a school of industrial arts, which is valued at $125,000 and accommodates 500 pupils. The New Jersey State Normal and Model Schools are located in Trenton, and receive an appropriation of $61,000, employ fifty-seven teachers, and have 1,103 pupils enrolled. There are eleven private and parochial schools; a New Jersey School for the Deaf, which employs eleven teachers, has 178 pupils, and receives an appropriation of $45,000. Besides these there are two business colleges, and within a few miles is located the magnificent University of Princeton.        There is $30,000,000 invested in 600 mills, factories and workshops which give employment to more than 15,000 hands, and the value of their finished products is over $32,000,000. The foremost industries consist of pottery and sanitary ware, iron and steel, rubber and oil cloth.        Trenton has seven banks, capitalized at $2,050,000, and deposits amounting to $21,842,000.        Besides all this Trenton has three hospitals, ninety churches, eight newspapers, three steam railroads, eight electric railroads, one steamboat line and numerous other small industries.

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