USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 40
USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 40
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There is also much of historic interest associated with Princeton, calculated to excite some local pride in its name. It was here that two of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton and John Witherspoon, resided. It was here on this affinities seems to have been kept alive in the people | battle-field that the tide of war in the early period of in designating the names of several adjoining places. Thus we have, first, Kingston ; next, Queenston ; then Princeton, and last, Princessville, on the road from Kingston to Trenton. It is quite probable that the first of these names was called Kingston because it was situated on the road called the king's high- way, though it may have been so named directly in honor of England, then the mother-country.
Princeton, being central in the State, and on the southernmost of the highlands between the hilly countries of the extreme north and the alluvial plain of the south, has, as we have seen, a salubrious cli- mate and a medium temperature. It is not, in any proper sense, a business place. There is a large amount of capital invested here, but not in manu- factures, trade, or commerce. There is nothing here to invite the inanufacturer, but inuch to repel him.
It is pre-eminently an educational town, and has been such for more than one hundred and thirty years; and this feature gives it its peculiar charm. Far distant be the day when the pure, bright atmos- phere of Princeton shall be darkened and tainted with the sinoky, dirty exhalations of a manufacturing city. Millions of dollars have been expended here in the erection of handsome public buildings, for literary,
scientific, and theological pursuits, and for endowing professorships in educational institutions. Here have been planted and nourished those two venerable institutions, the College of New Jersey and the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, making it the stronghold of Presbyterianism as well inviting to the speculating capitalist, is nevertheless attractive to wealthy families who have children to educate, and to persons of literary taste and religious sentiments, which may be gratified in the libraries, lecture-rooms, and society of Princeton.
the Revolution was turned and gave hope to the coun- try. Here the Council of Safety held its sessions ; here the first Legislature under the State Constitu- tion met and organized a State government, elected a Governor, adopted the great seal of New Jersey in 1776, and enacted important and appropriate laws. Here the Continental Congress sat for a season, and legislated in the college library, and closed their ses- sion amid festive rejoicings over the aunouncement of pcace.
These events, with the long line of illustrious men who have lived here, and who have shed a halo of glory in war and in peace, in politics, in law, and in theology, in science and in literature, and most of whom lie buried in the Princeton cemetery, may claim without presumption a prominent place in his- tory.
Princeton became incorporated as a borough while it was yet a small village. The charter bears date Feb. 11, 1813. It was asked for because the town lay in two counties; the line between Somerset and Middlesex, following the old road, ran through the middle of the town, and caused some embarrassment in preserving the good order of the village. But the I reason more distinctively alleged in the preamble to
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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
the charter was " the interest of those institutions of learning and piety established within the same."
The good order of the place was affected by the presence of the students, and some special legislation and police force became at times a necessity. The boundaries were nearly the same as they are at the present time. The charter provided for a mayor, re- corder, and three aldermen. all having the powers of a justice of the peace, er-ufficio, and six assistants to be elected by the people yearly. By a supplement in the year 1814 the jails of the two counties were al- lowed to be used for offenders in the respective eonnties.
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In 1822 the charter was renewed, the territorial jurisdiction a little enlarged, embracing the same area which the present charter contains, and exclusive jurisdiction was conferred on Council on the subject of the license and sale of liquors, and power to raise by tax such sum of money yearly as the Common Council might think necessary for the exigencies of the borough.
This charter was extended from time to time, and amendments were added conferring power to open streets, and gradually making all the officers elective by the inhabitants. The council chamber, or town house, as it was ealled, with a jail, was built in the middle of the main street, at the end of the market- honse, opposite where Mercer Hall now stands. In the earlier days of the borough the best citizens of the town took an interest in the borough affairs, and not only attended the elections, but bore their part in the administration of the offices.
Full minutes of the proceedings of the Council have been preserved since the year 1817. The poll- list of the election of that year is recorded, and con- tains the names of seventy-seven voters; among them are the names of the professors of the college and seminary and other leading citizens of the place.
In 1873 a new revised charter was adopted. The same boundaries are retained. The corporate name was changed to " The Mayor and Council of the Bor- ough of Princeton." All the officers are elected by the people except the marshal, surveyor, and solici- tor. These are appointed by Council. The mayor is elected for two. years, and councilmen also, in classes of four each year. The salary of the mayor is fixed by Council, but must not exceed three hundred dollars a year. The Council have the right to raise money by tax without a vote of the people, but not a larger sum than five thousand dollars at one time, and no debt beyond five thousand dollars ean be lawfully contracted by Council. A larger sum may be raised by a vote of the people upon advertising the object.
This charter contains ample powers for city im- provements, as well as for police purposes.
The borough jail is a small stone building in Hull- fish Street.
sioner, appointed by Council, and he has the support of a committee of Council on streets.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT .- There was a perma- nent organization of a fire company in Princeton formed Jan. 11, 1788. It was well maintained for more than thirty years. The best men in the town belonged to the company. Among its original men- bers were such men as Enos Kelsey, James Hamil- ton, Christopher Stryker, Stephen Morford, James Moore, Samuel S. Smith, Robert Stockton, John Beatty, Thomas Wiggins, John Little, Andrew Mc- Mackin, and very soon after its formation Dr. Walto Minto, Dr. Ebenezer Stockton, Daniel Agnew, John MeClellan, John Morgan, Thomas P. Johnson, Rieh- ard Stockton, Josiah Skelton, Col. Erkuries Beatty, Dr. Ferguson, John N. Simpson, Joseph Olden, Dr. Van Cleve, Job Stockton, Andrew Hunter, William Napron, John S. Wilson, John Passage, John Joline, 'Samuel Bayard, Perez Rowley, Ralph Sansbury, Peter Bogart, John Maclean, George Follet, James S. Green, Samuel R. Hamilton, Charles Steadman, Thomas White, and many others. These prominent men were not only enrolled members, but were at- tending active members, sharing in the duties and offices of the company.
In the years 1825 and 1833 there were distinct fire companies incorporated, with a capital of one tlrousand dollars each. There was in college before 1788 a fire company of students organized, with an engine and apparatus to extinguish fires.
Under the revised charter a fire department has been created by Council, and one hook-and-ladder and two fire-engine companies have been well equipped and furnished with houses and fire-bells. Cisterns have been built throughout the town, and the niemi- bers of the fire companies are exempt by law from military and jury duty. The chief engineer is ap- pointed by Council. Water is now being introduced into the town by the water company.
POST-OFFICE AND MAILS .- We cannot state when a post-office was first established at Princeton. There was one at Trenton as early as 1734, and for many years after that letters addressed to persons living at Princeton, Kingston, Rocky Hill, Hopewell, and Maidenhead were sent to the post-office at Trenton. In 1791 it is stated that there were then only six post- offices in New Jersey, viz. : at Newark, Elizabethtown, ! Bridgetown (now Rahway), Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton. From 1720 to 1754 the post was carried from , New York to Philadelphia through Princeton once every week in summer, and once in two weeks in win- ter. Then Dr. Franklin became superintendent of the post-office system, and the post left cach city three times a week, and in 1764 it began to run every other day, making the trip in twenty-four hours, till the Revolution interfered with its regularity.
The presence of the institutions of learning gives The streets are thirty and upwards in number. peculiar importance to such an office in Princeton. They are under the supervision of a street commis- "The salary of the postmaster now amounts to about
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PRINCETON.
two thousand dollars a year. There have been two mails daily, both north and south, for the last fifty years, and at the present time there are daily four northward and four southward, except Sundays.
Maj. Stephen Morford kept the post-oflice for many years. At his death he was succeeded by his daughter, Miss Fanny Morford, then followed John A. Perrine, Robert E. Hornor, Dr. A. J. Berry, Abram Stryker, William R. Murphy, Robert Clow, John T. Robinson, Isaac Baker, Ebeuezer W. Wright, and William C. Van Dewater, the present incumbent.
The telegraph-office was first opened iu Princeton in the year 1863.
THE PRINCETON GAS-LIGIIT COMPANY was incor- porated in 1849. The corporators were Jolm F. Hage- man, Peter V. De Graw, Alpheus C. Dunn, Isaac Baker, and John T. Robinson, with a capital of twenty- five thousand dollars. The company organized with Richard S. Field, president. The works were con- THE ROBBINS WOOD-PRESERVING COMPANY, New Jersey, was incorporated in 1868 as a joint-stock com- pany, with a capital of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. It originated in Princeton, under the Robbins patent. Its works were constructed at the structed by Messrs. Hoey, Potts, and Perdicaris, of Trenton, on a lot of land purchased of James Van Deventer from the old Wiggins parsonage property in Witherspoon Street. The company is managed by five directors with a treasurer and superintendent. Princeton Basin. It met with several disasters. Mar- The capital and works have since been enlarged, and : tin Voorhees was the leading man and officer in the the consumption of gas has so increased as to reduce the price to a reasonable rate and afford dividends.
THE PRINCETON BANKS .- In 1834 a charter to in- corporate "The President, Directors, and Company of the Princeton Bank" was obtained with a capital of ninety thousand dollars, paid in for the term of twenty years. Corporators were Robert Voorhees, William Cruser, William Gulick, Robert Bayles, John Gulick, Abram Cruser, and John S. Van Dike. The presi- dent was Robert Voorhees, and the cashier Louis P. Smith. In 1838 Mr. Voorhecs died, and R. S. Field was elected in his place as president. Cashier Smith resigned as cashier in 1851, and George T. Olmsted was appointed in his place. The bulk of the stock was owned by the directors and officers and their per- sonal friends. The stock maintained its value only little below par, and dividends were paid till the char- ter expired in 1855, when the stockholders were in- formed by the directors that the capital was all lost, and the assets were only enough to redeem its out- standing circulation of bills.
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In 1854 a new bank was organized under the gen- eral banking law of the State, with the saine officers and directors as had charge of the old bank, and in ' 1855 this association received a special charter from the Legislature, under which it carried on its business for eiglit or ten years. It became a national bank and assumed the name of
The Princeton National Bank, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars; now has its banking-office in the beautiful rooms in the east end of the Univer- sity Hotel, with Edward Howe, president ; S. Thomp- son Seger, cashier; and John S. Stout, teller. It is in good repute, and pays good dividends.
The Princeton Savings-Bank was chartered in 1873, and organized with Joseph H. Bruerc, president, and Crowell Marsh, treasurer, with a board of directors, and is now in operation, with its banking-house in the Burke building.
The Princeton Mutual Fire Insurance Company was incorporated in 1865, and has continued in busi- ness since that time. Henry D. Johnson, its first president, was succeeded upon his death in 1878 by Andrew L. Rowland, and George O. Vanderbilt is secretary, and William D. Jewell treasurer.
THE PRINCETON LUMBER AND IMPROVEMENT COMPANY was incorporated in 1868 as a joint-stock company. Its office and centre of business was at the Princeton Basin. Its business was chiefly traffic in coal, lumber, building material, and fertilizers. John W. Fielder, president. It carried on a large business for several years.
company, and his life was sacrificed by an explosion of gas in the prosecution of the enterprise at Brook- lyn, N. Y.
THE NEW JERSEY IRONCLAD ROOFING, PAINT, AND MASTIC COMPANY was incorporated by special charter in 1868, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, for manufacturing ironclad roofing and paints, and organized a company at the Princeton Basin, where the work was carried on.
MILITARY COMPANIES .- A military company of some kind has almost always been maintained in Princeton. As early as 1743, Governor Lewis Morris commissioned William Fish, Esq., captain of a com- pany for "Princetown in a Somerset County regi- ment" of foot militia. An infantry company was or- ganized in 1796, which continued until about 1820. A new company was organized in 1824 to serve in the reception of Gen. Lafayette, and was known as the " Princeton Blues," commanded by Capt. John Lowrey. This company continued for upwards of twenty-five years with a good reputation. During the civil war new companies, both infantry and light- horse, were formed, and the only one now surviving is that of the "Continentals," formed in 1876 for centennial celebration, under cominand of Capt. A. L. Green.
PRINCETON WATER COMPANY. - There was a special charter granted to such a company in 1872, but nothing was done under it; but a company has recently been organized under the general law of the State to introduce water into the town from the Stony Brook meadows by the use of wells. This is a stock company, with a paid-up capital of about seventy thousand dollars. The stock has been taken
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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
chiefly by the college, the University Hotel. and the Theological Seminary, the latter subscribing ten ; a tavern in Princeton," and addressed him as the Rev. Mr. Rowland, mistaking him for the latter on account of personal resemblance, which had a re- markable sequel in the legal courts of the State.
thousand dollars, and the citizens about fifteen thou- sand dollars. The company has purchased forty acres of meadow-land of Charles H. Olden, on Stony Brook. ; south of Princeton Basin, where experiments have been made by experienced engincers, who have cer- tified to a full supply of pure water in a sand lake of several milcs' extent, about ten feet below the surface of an impervious clay soil. The pipes are being laid, and the water will be supplied before another year. It is a grand enterprise for Princeton and its institutions.
BOARD OF HEALTH .- There is a regularly consti- tuted board of health organized in Princeton.
THE ORDER OF MASONS .- The Masonic order has not been without representation in Princeton from a very early period in its history. A lodge bearing the name of St. John was instituted as early as 1763. It became extinct, and a warrant for a new one was is- sued upon the petition of Thomas P. Johnson and others, which was organized in the early part of the : present century as "Princeton Lodge, No. 30." This | John Gifford, 1800; Christopher H. Stryker, 1803; lodge failing after a few years to respond to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, was for such neglect stricken from the list of lodges, and also became extinct.
A third lodge was chartered in 1856, known as Princeton Lodge, No. 38. This lodge, now a quar- ter of a century old. is said to number seventy-five members. The lodge-room is in Mercer Hall build- ing on Nassau Street.
Inns and Inn-keepers .- The public inn often be- comes, from age and association, an interesting land- mark in local history. The history of Princeton hotels, from the first rude structure raised by the first settlers down to the present magnificent University : Nassau Hotel, and that he was succeeded by John Hotel, would make an interesting little volume. It . Joline, the two covering nearly fifty consecutive years. would carry us back to colonial times before the war, Col. Jacob Hyer was the most prominent inn-keeper and bring us through the exciting scenes of the . in Princeton before and during the Revolutionary Revolutionary period, while the provincial and State war. He was an active citizen. His name frequently sitting in Princeton, as helping the cause of independ- ence. He was a man of responsibility, and yet of generosity. He was a popular man, and much re- spected by his fellow-citizens, including the Quakers, some of the landlords, so widely known in their day , and often became bail for his neighbors when they were arrested for not taking the oath of abjuration and allegiance. Legislatures and the American Congress were sitting : appears in the minutes of the Council of Safety, while here. It would describe the days of stage-coaches, when the constant arrival and departure of passen- gers by day and night kept the whole village astir. And then there would be the character and history of for their wit and humor, and always ready to tell a good story and sing a good song. But scanty are the records which perpetuate the history of the stranger's home. We meet the names of tavern signs, such as "Hudibras," " Confederation," " Washington House," "College Hotel," " Red Lion," " City Ho- tel," " Nassau Hotel," and the "Mansion House," none of which now exist except the Nassau Hotel. The nanies of Jacob Hyer, John Gifford, George Fol- let, and Jolin Joline stand out as prominent and historic landlords, and these have passed into the history of Princeton. -
when John Stockton met the notorious Tom Bell "at
In 1774, John Adams, on his way to Congress at Philadelphia, spent a Sabbath at Princeton. In his diary he says, " August 27, 1774. About 12 o'clock we arrived at the tavern in Princeton which holds out the sign of 'Hudibras,' near Nassau Hall Col- lege. The tavern-keeper's name is Hirc" (Hyer). This house was afterwards known as the Red Lion, and lastly as the City Hotel by the market.
After the Revolutionary war, among a large number of inn-keepers in Princeton, we find the following names of persons licensed, and the years when we first find them in the business, viz .: Christopher Beekman, prior to 1781 ; Jacob G. Bergen, 1788 ; John Lane, 1788; Adam Shaw, 1789; David Hamilton, 1793; Joseph Crane, 1796; Capt. William Jones, 1797; Josias Ferguson, 1798; David Godwin, 1798; Jacob C. Ten Eyck, 1804; Mrs. Ruth Stryker, 1806; John Joline, 1810; Perez Rowley, 1810; George Follet, 1812. After this the names of Gilbert Taylor, Aaron Bergen, Samuel Pollock, Levi Howell, John Napton, Zebulon Morford, and Joseph J. Thompson appear as inn-keepers, the latter in 1826.
It is certain that Col. Jacob Hyer kept the South Side house, opposite the market, during the Revolu- tionary war, and known as the "Hudibras" Hotel when he first took it, and that Follet afterwards kept it with the sigu of the "Red Lion." It is also cer- tain that John Gifford kept the College House, now
George Follet was an Englishman, widely known as an excellent landlord. He came to Princeton in or about the year 1812, and took the tavern on the corner of Nassau Street and College Lane, formerly kept by Col. Hyer, but by John Joline the two pre- ceding years. As was his custom, he put up the sign of the "Red Lion." He was a good caterer, and knew how to please his guests. The first town-meet- ing to elect officers under the borough charter, in 1813, was held at his house. He subsequently kept the City Hotel, in Albany Street, New Brunswick. Mr. Joseph
We are not able to give the date of the first licensed tavern in Princeton. It was about the year 1750 . J. Thompson, who had kept the City Tavern in Tren-
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PRINCETON.
ton, took this house in 1826 as the successor of Zebu- lon Morford. Hle fitted up the house in good style, and called it the City Hotel. After he left it it was occupied by numerous persons from year to year until it was torn down to give place to college improve- ments.
John Gifford was a son of Archer Gifford, a noted hotel-kecper in Newark, N. J. He came to Princeton prior to the year 1800, and kept the Nassau Hote! from twelve to fifteen years. He was an intelligent and respectable citizen, and raised a respectable family. One of his daughters married a son of Thomas P. Johnson, the distinguished lawyer of .Princeton ;
ler, brother of the late United States Senator Miller, of New Jersey. Archer Gifford, a prominent lawyer of Newark, now deceased, was his son ; and his oldest daughter, Mary Gifford, recently died in Newark, leaving, it is said, some gift to the college in this place. Mr. Gifford removed with his family to New- ; ark when he gave up the hotel.
John Joline kept the Hudibras House from 1810 to 1812, and then took charge of the Nassau Hotel, and kept it from 1812 to 1835-36. He had the college painted on the sign after he took possession of the house. He was one of the most notable of all the landlords. He was jovial and obliging ; he set a good table, kept good horses, and was a favorite with the students, giving them clandestine suppers and sleigh- rides.
The public travel through Princeton grew into an immense business while Mr. Joline kept the Nassau Hotel, and he became interested in the stage lines. As many as fifteen stages together would start from his house each way at the same time. A hun- dred horses would stand waiting to take the place of the wearied ones as they arrived. There were several competing lines of stages on the road. The business was brisk and remunerative. Like his predecessor, Mr. Gifford, he raised and educated a large family of sons and daughters. His son, Dr. J. Van Dyke ; Joline, kept the same house for several years, and removed from Princeton to Trenton, where he kept the " American" for many years. He obtained much of the reputation of his father as a good landlord. John Joline died in Princeton in 1835 or 1836. The house was subsequently kept by Daniel Brown, Abram C. Schanck, Dr. J. V. D. Joline, and others.
The Mansion House, adjoining the Nassau Hotel, was built by Elijah Blackwell in 1836. It was a three-story brick honse, commodions and, sometimes, well kept. It ceased to be a public inn in 1873. It was kept several years by John De Graw, Adam Danbury, and others.
The Eagle Hotel is a small licensed inn in Wither- spoon Street of ten years' standing, and kept by O'Brien.
In former years there was a hotel kept at Queens- ton, the east end of Princeton. The old building on
the north side of the street, then used for a hotel, was kept over fifty years ago by - Treblecock, and before him by Ager Thorn and others. It has disappeared, and a hotel was kept for a few years there on the cor- ner of Nassau and Harrison Streets by Capt. Bergen and others, but none is kept there now.
The licensing of hotels has been conferred upon the Common Council since the borough was incor- porated.
The Nassau Hotel is the only one of the ancient taverns that is still maintained. This house was built sonie years before the Revolutionary war by Judge Thomas Leonard for his own private residence, and another married the brilliant lawyer, William W. Mil- : it was regarded when first built as the finest house in Princeton. It has been enlarged since, and has passed through many hands since it was converted into a hotel. It is now owned by Leigh & Cook, and kept under their supervision. It is well furnished and well kept.
The earliest hotel, and probably the one which was known as the Washington House in the Revolution, was the old brick stuccoed house now owned and occupied by Streeper Waite, in Nassau Street.
THE UNIVERSITY HOTEL was built by a joint-stock company chartered March 11, 1874, as the "Prince- ton Hotel Company." It has five directors. The principal stock was taken by friends of the college in New York. The situation is on the corner of Nassau Street and Railroad Avenue, a very eligible one as to the depot, the college, the seminary, the centre and west end of the town. The house is an elegant one, built of red pressed brick with brownstone trimmings, in the order of architecture called the Victoria Gothic. It extends one hundred and forty-two feet, fronting on Nassau Street, and about the same distance on Railroad Avenue, with a broad piazza along the whole front, except the east end, which is occupied by the bank, and also along the length of the wing on the avenue. The main entrance is on Nassau Street. i There is also a convenient one on the avenue. The style of interior finish of the whole building is East- lake, and the furniture and upholstery are of the best quality and style in harmony with it. The parlors, dining-rooms, office, smoking-room, billiard-room, ball- and concert-room, on the first floor, are finished and furnished in exquisite taste and are ample in size, impressing every one who enters the house with the luxurious comfort and elegance of the establishment. There is an air of neatness and refinement perceptible upon entering the house. The rooms on the upper stories are equally attractive in their furniture and convenience. There are about one hundred of them, and fifteen are parlors connecting with sleeping apart- ments. The building is four stories high, with a base- inent, and is heated with steam and lighted with gas. The rear end along Railroad Avenue was originally -- adapted to the use of students, having a large separate dining-room which can seat five hundred persons, and in the npper stories there are beautiful rooms for
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