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    Ewing Township
    Ewing Township
    Ewing Township
    Ebook185 pages1 hour

    Ewing Township

    By Jo Ann Tesauro

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    About this ebook

    Take a fascinating journey through the history of Ewing Township, New Jersey with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.


    The origin of Ewing Township is directly attributed to Thomas Hutchinson, an English Quaker who purchased property c. 1676 to help colonize America. By 1687, Hutchinson owned almost thirty percent of today's Ewing Township.

    In the early days, many settlers were drawn to the area because of its proximity to the Delaware River and its untouched landscape. Once industry arrived, bringing the trolleys and railroads, Ewing began to grow. The vintage photographs Ewing Township depict the progress from the community's early history of dairies, taverns, and a railroad station to its more recent history, which boasts three fire stations, General Motors, and the Trenton-Mercer Airport. Ewing Township will delight the reader with little-known historical facts about the area. Included are the route of Washington's troops on the way to the Battle of Trenton and the Revolutionary War soldiers still lurking around West Trenton two hundred years after the battle. Explored are historic buildings, such as the Ewing Presbyterian Church, which was originally built using logs in 1712.

    This history also glances at the various people who made Ewing Township unique, including Dorothea Dix, who built and later lived in the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 10, 2002
    ISBN9781439611579
    Ewing Township
    Author

    Jo Ann Tesauro

    Jo Ann Tesauro is a lifelong Ewing Township resident, having grown up in the Mountain View area. She is a member of the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society, the Ewing Township American Legion Auxiliary Post No. 314, the Mid-Jersey Research and Recovery Club, and the Federation of Metal Detector and Archeological Clubs. Along with researching Mercer County history, she has recovered many Colonial and Civil War-era artifacts over the years in Ewing Township.

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      Book preview

      Ewing Township - Jo Ann Tesauro

      township.

      INTRODUCTION

      Ewing Township is made up of all of the land in Ewing, New Jersey. Trenton was always the mailing address for all of the townships in Mercer County, with only the zip codes differentiating one from the other. In many instances, you will view business signs in Ewing reading Trenton, New Jersey. The above is the reason why. Today, the townships that make up Mercer County are individualized by their township name, although Trenton is still sometimes used.

      Ewing Township was named for Charles Ewing. Ewing was admitted to the bar and became licensed to practice law in 1802. In 1812, he was appointed to the office of sergeant at arms, and he was recorder of the city of Trenton. He actively served on a commission, in 1819, created to rewrite old-fashioned laws in New Jersey. Later appointed chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Ewing was said to be well respected, fair minded, thorough, and quite appropriate for judicial business. He passed away two years before the formation of Ewing Township, a victim of Asiatic cholera.

      In 1697, the Supreme Court of West Jersey created Hopewell. Ewing lands, lands to the south adjoining Ewing, and half of Trenton were part of this transaction. In 1714, Hopewell shifted from Burlington County to Hunterdon County; most of today’s Mercer County was included in this move, and it remained that way for the next century. When Trenton Township was formed in 1719, it took all of Ewing away from Hopewell. Today, the Ewing and Hopewell borders remain the same. By an act of the New Jersey State Legislature, Ewing Township was formed on February 22, 1834, out of Trenton Township. Named after Hugh Mercer, who was killed at the Battle of Princeton, Mercer County was formed next, in 1838. Ewing Township then sat in Mercer County, as it does today. In 1858, Ewing received a portion of Trenton and Lawrence. In 1894 and 1900, the city of Trenton annexed parts of the extreme southern section of Ewing, which consisted of the Brookville or Asylum Station area and most of the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital property. Today that boundary remains the same.

      Ewing Township was made up of rich farmland, taking its main water supply from the east and west branches of the Shabakunk Creek, which flows into the Assunpink Creek, and the Ewing Creek flowing into Jacobs Creek, which in turn empties into the Delaware River. The Lenni Lenape were the first inhabitants along those waterways. White settlers began to steadfastly occupy the Ewing area at the end of the 1600s. The main origins of these settlers were England, Scotland, Holland, and France. They were Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers, and Baptists.

      Five early villages originally made up Ewing Township. They were Greensburg, known as the Wilburtha area today; Birmingham, which was Trenton Junction and then West Trenton; Brookville, or the Asylum Station area by Trenton Psychiatric hospital; Carleton, then renamed Ewing and now known as the Ewing Presbyterian Church area; and Cross Keys, today’s Ewingville.

      The Greensburg/Wilburtha section was built up after the Delaware and Raritan Canal was built in 1834. The village contained 30 homesteads, a general store, a post office, a tavern, a railroad station on the Belvidere-Delaware (Bel-Del) line, and numerous quarries. Along with the canals, the quarries used the railroad to transport their product known as Greensburg Stone or Trenton Brown Stone. Greensburg was renamed Wilburtha in 1883.

      Birmingham/Trenton Junction/West Trenton was a village whose main intersection was located at today’s Bear Tavern and West Upper Ferry Roads. It contained a blacksmith shop, a cobbler, and several homesteads. Birmingham was renamed Trenton Junction in 1882. The Trenton Junction Station was built in the late 1880s, and c. 1930 it was renamed West Trenton Railroad Station. By the end of the 19th century, Grand Avenue had become one of the most distinguished places to live in Ewing Township.

      The Brookville/Asylum Station/Trenton Psychiatric area is in the southern-most portion of Ewing, on today’s Sullivan Way. Thomas Hutchinson, Ewing Township’s first settler, was deeded land here in 1687. The first church and burial ground was founded in 1704. The village contained 12 homesteads, a woolen mill, and two gristmills. In 1845, Dorothea Dix appealed to the senate to build a much-needed mental hospital in New Jersey. The senate agreed, and Old River Road (today’s Sullivan Way) was the chosen site. On May 15, 1848, the hospital opened under the name State Lunatic Asylum. Today, it is the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.

      The Carleton/Ewing/Ewing Presbyterian Church area was a small village at the intersection of today’s Upper Ferry and Scotch Roads and the land north, where the railroad crosses Scotch Road. It contained nine homesteads, a blacksmith, a wheelwright shop, a church, and a flour mill. From 1832 to 1838, a female seminary was found here.

      Cross Keys/Ewingville was a village with its main intersection at today’s Pennington, Ewingville, and Upper Ferry Roads. This bustling town was named after William Green’s Cross Keys Inn, located on the northeast corner of the intersection in the 1700s. The inn served as a stagecoach stopover, hotel, restaurant, post office, general store, and location for various other businesses over the years. In addition, Cross Keys had approximately 20 homesteads, two wheelwright shops, a cobbler, two blacksmiths, and later, a racetrack called the Ewingville Driving Park.

      Ewing Township has expanded into many small neighborhoods branching off of the original main roads. Some of them will be covered in chapter six. Neighborhoods such as Mountain View, Parkway Avenue, North Olden Avenue Extension, Prospect Heights, and the Pennington Road south area. My apologies to neighborhoods not included, especially the Ewing Park neighborhood, due to a lack of photographs in past years.

      Ewing Township is based largely on taped interviews with the local residents recalling the past. It is a walk through Ewing Township’s historical town, and it is my intension to relate little-known facts that will pleasantly surprise and delight the reader.

      CHARLES EWING’S FINAL RESTING PLACE. New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Charles Ewing, for whom Ewing Township was named, was born on June 8, 1780, to James and Martha Boyd Ewing. He married Eleanor Graeme Armstrong. They had two sons, Francis and James, and three daughters, Emily, Susan, and Eleanor. Emily married Henry W. Green, and after her death, Susan became Green’s wife. Eleanor married Green’s brother, Caldeb S. Green, a judge. Charles Ewing died on August 5, 1832. He was one of the earliest victims of Asiatic cholera in New Jersey. He is buried at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton.

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      THE WILBURTHA AREA

      THE LONG GONE DEFEO STORE. The DeFeo

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