USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of Trenton, New Jersey : the record of its early settlement and corporate progress. > Part 22
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THE INTER-STATE FAIR.
In July, 1888, ground was first broken on the tract of one hundred and ten acres which is now the property of the Inter-State Fair Association. Since the opening of the fair in September, 1888, when 33,000 people attended, this vast amusement-ground has grown the leading institution of its kind east of the Mississippi river. Located east of the city limits and directly upon the New
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York division of the Pennsylvania railroad, its fame has been carried throughout America and Europe. The movement began through the activity of the President, Hon. John Taylor, and the Secretary, John Guild Muirheid, the former sending a circular letter to one hundred farmers and business men, asking them to attend a meeting to consider the feasibility of starting a fair association. Sixty men replied in June, 1888, and 850,000 was subscribed.
The motto of the fair has been " Bold, Brilliant, Success- ful." The fair ground is, in T .. itself, admirably located, being accessible either by the electric or steam cars. A grand stand, four hundred and fifty feet in length, overlooks the track, whilst on either side of this stand are located the exhibi- tion buildings, ample space being reserved for all products of the farm, for machinery and for the display of art and other objects.
THE INTER STATE FAIR GROUNDS.
Beside the horse and bicycle racing and sight- seeing, popular amusements cover a programme which always lasts for five days.
THE UNION INDUSTRIAL HOME.
Upon Chestnut avenue, near Greenwood avenue, stands the Union Industrial Home. This handsome structure, besides being an ornament to the city, serves a most useful purpose. It was
THE UNION INDUSTRUL HOME
PHOTO ENG. CO. NO
THE UNION INDUSTRIAL HOME.
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erected as a home for destitute children, affording them the advantages of moral, religious and useful training.
The society having this aim in view was organized February, 1859, a small house at 53 Perry street being the first Home building provided. The Home was moved from there to a commodious dwelling, with large grounds, on North Warren street, nearly opposite the Philadelphia and Reading railroad station. This was at the outbreak of the late war.
The present building, on Chestnut avenue, was first occupied October 31st, 1888. The ground upon which it stands was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Stokes. The cost of the building was $40,400, and was freed from debt three years after its completion, thus becoming a noble monument to the kindness and beneficence of the citizens of Trenton.
NEW JERSEY CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY.
Another philanthropie movement of like ereation is to be found in the New Jersey Children's Home Society, which has grown out of the National Children's Home Society, organized in Illinois twelve years sinee. The Society was organized September 11th, 1894, and was incorporated one month later, under the State Superintendency of Rev. Martin T. Lamb, 428 Rutherford avenue. The method of the Society is to so organize the entire State that there may be found every family in it who will receive a child, as well as every child in need of a home. This is based upon the argument that in the State of New Jersey there are three or four times as many families without children as there are children without homes.
The work therefore is-a. To seek out every homeless, neglected and destitute child in the State and find for it a good home in a well-to-do family, placing it there wisely, with the least pos- sible delay and at the least possible expense. b. To make it possible for many persons without children of their own to adopt without fear of future interference. c. To minister in comforting assurances to parents living in fear of leaving their children penniless and homeless. d. Not to antagonize existing "Orphanages" or "Children's Homes," but aid them, wherever desired, in finding homes for their placeable children while very young, thus saving the expense of keeping them for years and doing the best possible thing for said children. e. To empty the almshouses of the State of nearly six hundred little ones, who are now being raised as paupers. f. To prevent one-half or more of the one thousand children in the three large reform schools of the State from entering said schools in the future, by getting them into Christian homes a few years before they would have become juvenile criminals.
Statisties show that five-sevenths of all the criminals in the United States have come from homeless children, and that every homeless child must either (a) become a criminal or pauper, or (b) be placed in an "Orphanage," or (c) be placed in a family home.
In the first case, it will eost the taxpayers an average of $1,000 per child ; in the second case, it will eost the benevolent public an average of $500 per child ; in the last case, under the direction of the "Children's Home Society," it will cost an average of $50 per child.
CITY ALMSHOUSE.
An examination of the city records shows that as early as 1844, Trenton had a poor-farm, which was under the control of a committee of Common Council, who also directed the official actions of a Steward and Matron for said farm. The Steward was directed to procure good and sufficient clothes and food for the pauper inmates, who performed such services in and about the premises as they were able. In 1849 Common Couneil provided for the "repair of the old building and for the eree- tion of a wing at the east end thereof." This poor-farm was the plantation of John Roach, and was located on the Seots and old Ferry roads.
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The present almshouse was built in the year 1869, and is a commodious building situate upon Princeton avenue. In that year the paupers of Trenton were moved from the old poor-house farm to the present location.
Louis F. Baker, Keeper of the Almshouse, was born in Germany, September 17th, 1829, where he received his education. When nearly twenty years old he emigrated to Long Island. Thence he went South. At one period he was steward on the sailing ship " Kalamazoo." He came to Trenton about 1854, and obtained employment in the mills of the New Jersey Steel and Iron Company, where he learned the trade of puddler, working at that occupation until the commencement of the late war. Mr. Baker enlisted in Company E, Thirty-fourth New Jersey Volunteers. He served through the Rebellion, and was wounded in the left eye while doing picket duty. At the elose of the war he returned to Trenton and worked in the rolling mill. He then established a commission busi- ness at the corner of Bridge and Warren streets, and also kept a restaurant. Later he removed to Wash- ington Market, remaining there until April, 1888, when he was appointed Superintendent of the City Almshouse. Legislation brought about his severanee with that institution, but in 1893 he was reinstated. Mrs. Baker, his wife, was the first city official of her LOUIS F. BAKER. sex ever elected to a position in Trenton, receiving, at the hands of Common Council, the position of Matron at the almshouse. Mr. Baker is a Repub- liean, and is always found taking an active interest in the doings of his party.
CHAPTER XXIII.
TRENTON'S CHURCHES.
THE BEGINNINGS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LIFE-THE PRESBYTERIAN, EPISCOPALIAN CHURCHES AND THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS THE PIONEERS IN THE FIELD -- THE ROMAN CATHOLICS-THE METHODISTS -THE LUTHERANS-THE BAPTISTS AND THEIR CHURCHES-OTHER RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
T HAS already been noted that the two elements which led to the settlement of Tren- ton as "Ye ffalles" were economic and religious. Trenton was the meeting-place of the early faiths of West New Jersey. Here came the Quaker from the plantations below the Assanpink, the Presbyterian immigrant from Monmouth shore, Elizabeth- Town and Newark, and the Church of England man, who was usually allied with the Royal Governor or his aristocratic suite. Of all these, the members of the Society of Friends were the first to occupy the site of the city of Trenton. The advent of Mahlon Stacy and other Yorkshire people is convincing proof that "meet- ings" of the society were frequently held at his own and near-by houses. In Bucks county, Pennsylvania, through the Fallsington region, the Quakers by 1695 had become thoroughly established and were in close sympathy with their brethren upon the Jersey side of the Delaware. The Trenton members of the society were wont to cross the river to the First Day meetings of their associates, and all the members attended the yearly meeting at Burlington city.
It is a curious fact that the history of the churches in the city of Trenton may be traced to a Union meeting-house, where the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians worshiped side by side. Among the records of the early part of the eighteenth century, in the Secretary of State's office, in Trenton, is a deed from John Hutchinson, of Hopewell, county of Burlington, &c., to Andrew Heath, Richard Eayre, Abiel Davis and Zebulon Haston, of the same county, &c., for a piece of land on the easterly side of the highway leading between the houses of the said John Hutchinson and Andrew Heath, &c., containing two acres, in trust for the inhabitants of the said township of Hopewell and their successors, inhabiting and dwelling within the said township, forever, for the public and common use and benefit of the whole township, for the erecting and building a public meeting-house thereon, and also for a place of burial, and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever.
Of the persons named in this grant, all are well known as the ancestors of people in the vicinity of Trenton. Richard Eayre was the founder of Eayrestown, on the Rancocas, and the progenitor of a family whose name has nearly become extinct. The others have representatives of their names in modern Trenton.
THE PRESBYTERIANS.
Although in Trenton proper before the advent of William Trent the dominant ecclesiastical organization was undoubtedly that of the Society of Friends, the Presbyterian communities of Hopewell and Maidenhead had both become possessors of church buildings before 1713. To one
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or the other of these congregations the Presbyterians of the early years of the eighteenth century were attached. In fact the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton traces its history directly to the Hopewell (Ewing) Church of 1712. In 1726, however, the members of the congregation at Trenton had grown of a size sufficient to warrant them in the erection of a new church, and in that year a house was built on the ground which in 1727 was conveyed by Enoch Andrus to John Porterfield, Daniel Howell, Richard Seudder, Alexander Lockhard, William Yard, William Hoff, John Severns and Joseph Yard. This, with a later addition, is the present church site and graveyard on State street. The First Presbyterian Church was incorporated in 1756, upon the eighth day of September. The corporators were Rev. David Cowell (1786-60), with Alexander Chambers, Charles Clark, Andrew Reed, Joseph Yard, Arthur Howell and William Green. The first church, erected in 1727, was of stone, a typical edifice of its time, which remained until April, 1805, when a new church was erected. Throughout the colonial and Revolutionary periods the association among the Trenton, Hopewell and Maidenhead churches was of a most intimate character. Although in 1762 a par- sonage on Hanover street, in the rear of the church, had been purchased, the ministers supplied both Trenton and "the country." In 1788, on May 4th, the charter of George II. was superseded by the action of the congregation of Trenton's first Presbyterian church, who accepted the provisions of the general aet providing for the incorporation of religious societies. It was then resolved to admit such of the inhabitants of Lamberton who desired to join with them. It was not until about 1810 that the Trenton church occupied a posi- tion in any sense independent of her associates in what is now Ewingville and Lawrenceville. Upon the seventeenth of August, 1806, the dedication of a new building was had, which edifice cost over $10,000. During the erection of this house of worship, the Presbyterians once more held service with the Episcopalians.
The present First Church of the Presby- terian denomination was used for its initial service in January, 1840, and for nearly half a century was inseparably connected with the name of John Hall, D. D., pastor emeritus, and one of the most distinguished figures in national ecclesiastical records of recent times. First Presbyterian Church Among his works his "History of the First Presbyterian Church," with its wealth of mat- ter relating to men and times almost forgotten, is a standard contribution to the annals of New Jersey, His treatment of the subject was so broad that from his printed leaves, should everything else be lost, a history of colonial Trenton could easily be written.
The present pastor of the church is the Rev. John Dixon, like his predecessor, an eminent theologian.
The Second Presbyterian Church dates from a mission established in 1837. In 1842 the "First Presbyterian Church of South Trenton" was established on Union street, in the edifice occupied by the seceding members once of the congregation of the Trenton and Lamberton Baptist Church. The original list of members contains nineteen names. The rapid growth of the church led to an addition to the building in 1851, and in 1852, after the dissolution of the borough of South Trenton, the church changed its name to the "Second Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N. J." The church has since been enlarged and beautified. Rev. William S. Voorhees is the present pastor.
The Third Presbyterian Church, which is situated on North Warren street, grew out of an agi- tation for a new house of worship, which lasted from 1846 to 1849. In May of the latter year seventeen persons organized this new congregation and on the seventh of November, 1850, the building was dedicated. Until this time the congregation had worshiped in the Odd Fellows' Hall and the City Hall. A serious loss occurred to this church on the fourth of July, 1879, when the building was destroyed by fire from a rocket which alighted upon the roof. The church, which was immediately rebuilt, is a handsome structure. Its pastor is the Rev. Samuel M. Studdiford, who has served the congregation since 1866.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ERECTED IN 1840.
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The Fourth Presbyterian Church, on the corner of State street and Clinton avenue, was formed by members of the First and Third churches. The edifice, which is of particular architectural beauty, was dedicated October 10th, 1860, one year after the corner-stone was laid. Complete in its appointments, the church has a congregation drawn largely from citizens resident in the eastern portion of the city. Ere the church was completed, the members worshiped in the City Hall.
The Fifth Presbyterian Church, which is located on Princeton avenue, was organized in 1874, and was the outgrowth of a chapel mission of the First Presbyterian Church, the "mother of Presbyterianism in Trenton." Its carly history was associated with the latter part of the life of the Rev. A. S. White, who died on his knees whilst praying for this church. The pastor is the Rev. George H1. Ingram.
The Prospect Street Presbyterian Church-the sixth in order of foundation-developed from a Sunday-school movement in the then rural sections of West Trenton. This school met in dwelling- houses and in a barn until the sentiment arose that a Presbyterian church should be established in
PROSPECT STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-BUILT IN 1874-75.
that portion of the town. A donation of land led to the completion of a most tasteful brownstone church edifice in February, 1875. The constituent members number thirty-five. During the history of this church, it has had but one pastor, the Rev. Walter A. Brooks.
Bethany Presbyterian Church-the seventh in point of age-is on the corner of Hamilton and Chestnut avenues. The demands for active church life in that portion of the old borough of Chambersburg led to the erection of this influential church. Its congregation has grown from a mission movement, and is now under the pastorate of the Rev. Daniel R. Foster.
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.
The Society of Friends were the founders of all that portion of Trenton lying upon the Assan- pink and the valley at its mouth. Their early meeting-places, at private houses, and later in Chesterfield and elsewhere, proving inconvenient, a meeting-house was erected in Trenton in 1739, which building is located on the corner of Hanover and Montgomery streets. It has been occupied for the same purpose since its erection up to the present time. The door of the entrance to this meeting-house was on the south side of it, facing Hanover street.
At the time of the "separation " of the followers of Elias Hicks from the Orthodox members, the latter left this house, and for several years held their meetings in the building at the northeast corner of Broad and Academy streets, this church formerly belonging to the Methodists. In 1858,
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the Orthodox Friends built their place of worship in Mercer street, near Livingston. The meeting- house in Broad street stood a few feet back from the street, and they ereeted a brick wall about ten feet high in front of it.
THE EPISCOPALIANS.
Trenton, the seat of the Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey, has long been associated with the history of the Protestant Episcopal Church. By the John Hutchinson grant of April, 1703, already alluded to in the history of the Presbyterian churches, a church of the Episcopal denomi- nation was built in this township, but for years, after 1704 and 1705, lacked a resident rector. This edifice accommodated the members of the then Church of England living in Trenton and vicinity. In 1736, the Rev. Mr. Lindsay, an itinerant missionary, states that Trenton was the center where there were "several of the communion." Saint Michael's Church, the first edifiee of the Protestant Episcopal faith in the city of Trenton, was organized about the year 1755, with the celebrated Michael Houdin, as Rector ; Daniel Coxe, Robert Lettice Hooper, as Wardens ; Joseph Warrell, William Pidgeon, John Allen, Elijah Bond, John Dagworthy, Charles Axford, as Vestry- men. The attitude of the Church of England toward the struggle for national independence retarded the growth of every mission in the Colony of New Jersey and, in fact, along the Atlantic seaboard. The Church was, at best, in New Jersey, expressing a negative sympathy toward the popular movement, and, as a result, many of her most influential members were driven to other communions. In fact, Saint Michael's Church was purely in "suspended animation " during the Revolution, and the church building was used as a stable by the British soldiery during the early winter of 1776. After the elose of the War for Independence and the dissolution of the bonds between English and American Episcopalians, Saint Michael's Church slowly regained her lost prestige. In 1818, the old building was taken down and a new structure of the Gothic style of architecture erected. In November, 1819, the church was consecrated. The congregation now grew rapidly. The causes of popular opposition to the Episcopal Church, which were so potent in this vicinity during and immediately after the Revolution, lessened year by year. In 1843, Saint Michael's Church was remodeled and enlarged, and later the Perry street chapel was erected. In 1870, the church was again enlarged, and within the past few years handsome additions have improved the property. To further the cause of Episcopalianism in the region near Millham, a chapel has been erected on the corner of North Clinton and Sheridan avenues. The rector of Saint Michael's Church is the Rev. Oscar S. Bunting, whilst the rector of the chapel is the Rev. Milton A. Craft.
RT. REV. JOHN SCARBOROUGH.
The Rt. Rev. John Scarborough, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey, was born in Ireland on April 25th, 1831, and in infaney was baptized in the chapel of the Earl of Roden, in Bryantford. In childhood the Bishop was brought to this country, and received his early education in a country school at Queensbury, New York. He was fitted for college by the Rev. Edward F. Edwards, a graduate of Oxford, and graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, in 1854. His theo- logical education he obtained in the General Theological Seminary of New York City. He was ordained Deacon in Trinity Church, New York, June 28th, 1857. He went at once to be assistant in St. Paul's Church, Troy, New York, where he was ordained Priest the following year, by the late Bishop Horatio Potter.
After three years he became rector of The Church of the Holy Comforter, Poughkeepsie, New York, where on May 23d, 1865, he was married to Catherine Elizabeth, the youngest child of Theo- dore and Catherine Elizabeth Trivett and great-granddaughter of the late Rev. Dr. Benhaus, a well- known minister of the Episcopal Church. In 1867 he was called to the rectorship of Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then the largest parish west of the Alleghanies. In 1875, Feb- ruary 2d, he was consecrated Bishop by the same hands which had ordained him Deaeon and Priest and married him.
The feudal name of Scarborough originated in Yorkshire, England, where the occupant of a sharp, sea-jutting promontory was intrenched with his retainers in his fortified castle. The first castle was destroyed by the troopers of Cromwell but was rebuilt, and is still used as a barraeks for troops. The family of Bishop Scarborough, of New Jersey, was resident for many generations in and near the beautiful watering-place of the same name.
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Of this family in the households of Charles I. and his son, Charles II., Sir Charles Scarborough was the Chief Physician. The father of Bishop Scarborough held an appointment in the Internal Revenue Department, and was resident at Castlewellan, in the north of Ireland. The episcopal residence is located on Greenwood, near Clinton avenue.
The growth of South Trenton led to the establish- ment of Saint Paul's, which was erected on Centre street in 1848. This is a stone edifice in the Gothic style of architecture. In 1880, this church was entirely remod- eled, and additions have since been made thereto. The rector is the Rev. J. McAlpine Harding.
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Trinity Church was or- ganized upon the twenty- third of September, 1858, with seventeen members. After holding services in TRINITY P. E. CHURCH AND RECTORY - CHURCH ERECTED IN 1860. various buildings, the con- gregation occupied its present edifice upon Academy street on the thirteenth of December, 1860. The building is a large and handsome edifice, and has a rectory attached, which was purchased in 1877. The parish building was occupied Christmas day, 1881, and has since been enlarged. In 1885, the chancel was enlarged, and in 1894 the structure was thoroughly renovated, and is now, with its various buildings, one of the finest churches in the State of New Jersey. Its rector is the Rev. Joseph C. Hall.
Christ Church was built to meet the wants of the people of Chambersburg. This is also a tasteful edifice, and is located on Hamilton avenue, on the corner of Whittaker. Its rector is the Rev. Edward J. Knight.
THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.
The services of the Roman Catholic Church in Trenton were first held in 1804, from which time until 1814 missionaries frequently visited the city. The residence of John D. Sartori, on Federal street, was frequently used for this purpose. In 1814, a brick church was erected upon the corner of Lamberton and Market streets. The number of Roman Catholics in Trenton by 1846 had increased to the extent that Saint John's, now the Church of the Saered Heart, was erected on Broad street. In 1853, the church was further enlarged, and in 1890 the present beautiful edifiee was built, with a priests' house on the north side of the church. In 1874, the Lamberton street school was erected, which had grown out of the parochial school of the Church of the Sacred Heart. The FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SCHOOL. Rev. Father Thaddeus Hogan is the rector.
On January, 1871, Saint Mary's parish, being all that portion north of the creek, was set off from Saint John's parish, upon which day Saint Mary's Church was consecrated. Ten years thereafter, this church became the cathedral of the Diocese of Trenton, which embraces all of New Jersey south of the Raritan river, including Warren and Somerset counties. The first Bishop was the late Michael J. O'Farrell, who has since been
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succeeded by the Rt. Rev. James A. MeFaul. This magnificent church, which cost $100,000, is a monument to the untiring industry of the Rev. Anthony Smith. Attached to Saint Mary's is the parochial school, which was built in 1870, and the priests' house erected soon after Saint Mary's became the cathedral. The rector of Saint Mary's is the Very Rev. Father Fox.
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