1916: THE GENESIS OF GREENWOOD SCHOOL

The overcrowding of Farmingdale School back in 1916 spurred Bromley officials to begin solving the problem by building a new school for the area, or expanding Farmingdale School. It is interesting to note that the Hamilton Fire Company hosted classrooms for the overloaded Farmingdale School.

1916: BROMLEY AND THE BROMLEY CIVIC ASSOCIATION

This page has been extracted from a weekly Trenton Times feature under the byline, "WILBUR AND EAST TRENTON." Bromley began to seriously during the first decade of the 20th century. However, the proximity of the new suburb to Trenton' Wilbur section on the west, and East Trenton to the north, the editor failed to change the byline and as a result, news from Wilbur and Bromley were grouped into the Wilbur portion of the feature. I have highlighted the main article dealing with Bromley's early Civic Association.

2009: BROMLEY'S COMMUNITY DAY

Weather was absolutely gorgeous.....low humidity, bright sunshine, and very happy attendees to the first annual Bromley Community Day celebration.

2009: BROMLEY PRIDE DAY: BE THERE

I am a proud "Bromleyite" dating back to 1964 when we purchased our Atlantic Avenue home. At the time, Atlantic Avenue and Massachusetts Avenues were among the prettiest tree-lined streets in the township, even as they are today. But alas, we all age, and age takes a toll on our physical countenance. This applies to neighborhoods as well as our physical appearance. I have come to love the Bromley section of Hamilton, and have seen a gradual decline in the community. One of those negative indications of that decline is found in the numerous sales people who have knocked on my door offering to sell me an alarm system. One wonders if those salesmen and women are plying their trade in Hamilton Square, the Sawmill-southern section of Hamilton, Briar Woods, and other "upscale" township areas. I think not. If I had a wish list, it would be to see the incredibly beautiful Hollywood Drive, Park Lane, Waverly Place area given the attention it deserves. That little "village within the township" known as Bromley Place, along with Bromley Park, were probably among the more attractive neighborhoods in the central Jersey area. Thanks to community minded organizations like the Bromley Civic Center who are making a valiant effort to "Change Bromley," an effort is being made to bring pride back to the wonderful residents of Bromley.

CHARLES FULKERT'S BROMLEY INN

This rare photo of the Bromley Inn came from a glass slide. I date it circa 1912. I have been searching for historical news items on the founding of the inn. The guest list at Mr. and Mrs. Fulkert's 25th anniversary party lists many local notable Bromley pioneers, including Peter Dolan whose Hamilton Hotel was a favorite watering hole for Bromley residents and also visitors to the New Jersey State Fair. John Harter operated a nursery on Nottingham Way behind today's Hamilton Municipal Building. Daniel Klockner operated a cabbage farm in the area of today's Klockner School.

1910: BROMLEY PLACE

The above plat map shows the layout for Bromley Place as developed by Charles Teunon, who was also the developer of Lakeside Park in Yardville. This is a fascinating graphic. The map does not indicate where the "Entrance To Bromley Manor" was located. However, the directions indicate Greenwood and Johnston Avenue. I took "artistic license" in the engraving above showing the entrance to Bromley Place in 1910. The original ad was black and white. I'm sure you will agree that it is much more attractive when "tweaked" with computer image editing software. It is pure speculation on my part that the view could be looking from Greenwood Avenue toward E. State Street on Johnston Avenue. Remember, the area was newly developed and the buildings we see on the corner of Greenwood and Johnston Avenue today were probably not there in the early years of the settlement. Fascinating!

HENRY N. SMITH'S FASHION STUD FARM

One of the more fascinating historical places in Hamilton along with Charles Fulkert's Bromley Inn is the Fashion Stud Farm, once located in the area of Hamilton in the area of the New Jersey State Fair grounds. Newspaper descriptions of Smith's Fashion Stud Farm indicated that it was a sumptuous facility with a grandstand, a race track and the home of the fabled "Goldsmith Maid," whose tomb is now on the Kuser Farm property. General Grant kept his horse at the Fashion Stud Farm. Unfortunately, the farm was involved in a number of destructive fires over the years of its existance. Back then, there was no Bromley fire company, and fires were fought by Trenton fire companies.

1987: OFFICERS ELECTED

Hamilton Volunteer Fire Company
officers for the year 1987.

1987:THE BROMLEY TAX REVOLT

Even then citizens were up in arms about the high taxes. Those folks would tremble with rage if they saw our tax bills today.
(You will note that the graphic is not quite as clear as those I scan in "grayscale." Grayscale is much cleaner, but large text files can take up huge amounts of space. The graphic above has been scanned using the "Black and White" mode, which is a "bare-bones," non-adjustable graphic, but very small in relation to the size of a grayscale graphic.

1963: HAMILTON VOLUNTEER FIRE CO.

With this graphic, I am beginning a completely new departure from posting HUGE grayscale articles. Thanks to Mr. George Conwell, Director of the Hamilton Township Public Library, a full size tabloid scanner has been added to the arsenal of the Local History Collection. Add to this the fact that the Director has also updated my equipment with an incredible 17 inch Dell laptop, which will be used for my many outreach programs here in Hamilton, and we are well on our way to 21st century technology. It is truly gratifying that our Director has in interest in local history,

(If this graphic were to have been posted in "Grayscale" Jpeg format, it would be a huge 8 megabytes in size, versus the "Black and White" scan above of 970 Kilobytes.)

2009: COME SING WITH ME!

A case of bad planning, along with a lack of publicity will probably result in a dismal turnout for my Wednesday night May 13th musical program at the Kuser Mansion. Unfortunately, the dates available did not coincide with the appearance of my "Sentimental Journey" column in the Times of Trenton. However, the program will go on, and perhaps a visitor or visitors to this website will be interested in participating in our journey back to the years of good music.

Here's the advertising poster for another of my very popular Kuser Mansion music programs. If you have two hours available next Wednesday evening from 6:30 to 8:30, come on over to Kuser Mansion on Newkirk Avenue and Cedar Lane and join those of us who love the music we grew up with. We'll be remembering all those great 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's vocalists that sang the music we loved. Remember Tony Orlando and Dawn?....Barry Manilow?.....Englebert Humperdinck? Perry Como? Bobby Goldsboro? There's music with a melody and understandable lyrics....music for all ages from World War II right up to the recent past, when the music died, vocals turned to spoken words or screams, and instrumentals that puncture the ear drums.

2009: WELCOME SWEET SPRINGTIME!

Join us tomorrow (Sunday, March 22) from 1 to 3 PM as I bring the program, "Welcome Sweet Springtime" to those of us who remember the golden years. The program will be presented in the main dining room-theater of Kuser Farm Mansion on Newkirk and Leonard Avenue in Hamilton. I will be recalling those wonderful years of our youth as we played sandlot baseball, the first girlfriend, the story of the old boiler, and of course, the main feature of our program, singing along to the songs we all loved. Come on out; based on past programs, I can assure you that you will spend a very happy two hours.

1941: ENTERPRISE HOSTS "TMA LOCAL 62"

The Trenton Musical "get together" included numerous names with which I am familiar. Among them, William Groom (Bill's Dad?), Kirkham, Giedlin, Radice and Cook.

1914: BROMLEY AREA EXPANDING

1914: DENNIS FRAWLEY : HAMILTON'S WYATT EARP

Detective-Constable-Policeman Dennis Frawley was a very well known individual in the Hamilton area. Along with Constable Ceaser from the Broad Street Park area, rural Hamilton was under the watchful eyes of these lawmen. Early 20th century newspapers have many articles of the roving bands of Gypsies that wandered around the area and getting into all sorts of trouble. The article above shows how Frawley drove 'em out of town.

1914: BROMLEY COMMUNITY NEWS

Back in the first decade of the 29th century, the local press always included Bromley news under the "Wilbur" area community news. Bromley had not yet earned a reputation as being a viable neighborhood, when compared with Wilbur, which bordered Bromley eastward from North and South Logan Avenue.

1914: The Copes of Bromley

I went to school with all kinds of "Copes." Richard, who went on to be a Hamilton Fire Co. legend, was in my class of '51. Another Richard Cope, whom we dubbed "Dick,"(in order not to confuse the two Richards), was also in my class of '51, and indeed, he dated my dear wife of 55 years, Judy Britton while we were in Kuser Annex. Then there was Edward Cope, also an HHS '51 classmate, and his "little brother" Alan Cope who was also part of my high school years. Did I confuse you? Join the club! Believe me, it was very difficult to cope with all the Copes!

1950's: Cook's Deli

I can't begin to recall how many bucks I spent at Cook's. The largest collection of magazines were neatly displayed an one wall, and it was a very complete assortment from Aardvarks to Zanzibar. Cooks was also a great place to stop for a bit of socializing with the locals.

BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF BROMLEY

This beautiful aerial photo of the Bromely area from Greenwood Cemetery to a point just short of Johnston Avenue is one of my favorites. My long time friend and fellow HHS '51 classmate Bob Shinkle has identified "who lived where" when he was a Dickenson Avenue resident.