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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
Trenton was chosen as the State capital in 1790 and two years later,
still nothing more than a village, was incorporated as a city. The residents'
earlier hopes of bringing the national capital to the bank of the Delaware,
defeated by the opposition of southern States, were temporarily fulfilled
when recurring epidemics of yellow fever caused the removal of national
offices from Philadelphia. In 1794 and 1798 Trenton had several Federal
offices, and in 1799 practically all of the departments were represented;
even President Adams and his wife were temporary residents.
A covered bridge 1,000 feet long was built across Delaware River in
1806, described by the historians, Barber and Howe, as "one of the finest
specimens of bridge architecture, of wood, in the world." Perpendicular
iron rods, hung from arches, provided such sturdy support for the floor
that the structure was used later by railroad trains.
Development of water power by the Delaware Falls Company, construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and building of the Camden and Amboy Railroad resulted in industrial activity that made Trenton a city
in fact as well as in name. John A. Roebling moved his wire mill from
Pennsylvania in 1848 and continued the manufacture of steel cable. The
erection of Brooklyn Bridge a generation later publicized Roebling and
Trenton throughout the world.
Pottery making, a Colonial industry, began to thrive after 1850. Craftsmen were imported from England and Ireland to teach local apprentices
the art of producing wares that, by 1880, made Trenton known as the Staffordshire of America. The Ott and Brewer Company made in 1882 the
first piece of American Beleek. Walter Lenox, one of the young apprentices, later laid the foundations for the Lenox Pottery. From Trenton potteries came, in 1873, the first porcelain sanitary ware in the United States.
Trenton workers had formed trade unions as early as 1835, and in that
year conducted a largely successful strike for a 10-hour day.
Growth of industry had by 1860 eliminated much of the city s quiet
charm. Factories and houses for workers claimed terrain once dominated
by Colonial dwellings. Down the center of North Broad Street (then
Greene Street) ran the Street Market, two buildings stretching from State
Street out to Academy Street.
In this period Trenton's most prolific writer-now largely forgotten-
began his career. He was Edward S. Ellis, a school teacher who was one of
the originators of the dime novel. At the age of 20 he wrote Seth Jones,
or The Captive of the Frontier, which was published in 186o by Beadle
Brothers, New York, and sold 600,000 copies. Ellis produced about one
hundred novels afterward.
In the early 1880's, the potters of Trenton were victimized by the blacklist. By agreement among the manufacturers, no worker could change employers without a written release from his last employer. The Sunday Advertiser, in an article headed "Local Fugitive Slave Law," reported in
May 1883 the suit of Mary E. Slattery against the American Crockery Company for damages because of the girl's inability to get work elsewhere in
Trenton. A judgment for $72 was finally given in 1884.
The city's greatest expansion occurred between 1880 and 1920, when
the population increased by 90,379 as foreign labor poured in to man factories and mills. During this period the adjacent boroughs of Chambersburg and Wilbur, Millham Township, and parts of Ewing Township were
annexed. Growth has perceptibly slowed since 1920. A number of industries have gone to other regions and many Trenton workers have moved
to suburbs.
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