Hopewell Valley History Project, Hopewell, NJ (2026)

05/18/2026

We're coming up on Memorial Day weekend in the Hopewell Valley, featuring the Hopewell Borough and Pennington Borough parades on Sunday and Monday, respectively. Local veterans groups also will hold observances throughout Memorial Day weekend. The public is welcome to attend these events.

See the full post for full details and to enjoy our collection of photos - and videos - of past parades, including 1992 in Pennington Borough and 1947 in Hopewell Borough -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/05/18/hopewell-memorial-day-2026-parades-and-veterans-observances/

In addition, the Hopewell American Legion post has again placed flags in the local cemeteries to mark the graves of military veterans. This practice goes back to the beginnings of Memorial Day, begun after the Civil War in 1868 as Decoration Day, a day of remembrance, including visiting and "decorating" the graves of soldiers.

Hopewell Valley Memorial Day events - The public is welcome to attend:

- The Hopewell Borough Memorial Day Parade is at 1 pm on Sunday, along Broad Street.

- The Pennington Borough Memorial Day Parade is at 11 am on Monday, along Main Street.

- The Hopewell Valley Veterans Association will conduct a Memorial Day Ceremony on Saturday afternoon at 11 am to commentate the sacrifices of our men and women in the military. It will be held at the Veterans Memorial at Woolsey Park, 221 Washington Crossing-Pennington Road.

- Hopewell Valley American Legion Post 339 will conduct cemetery and monument services at multiple locations - in Hopewell Township on Saturday morning, and in Hopewell Borough and Pennington Borough before the parades on Sunday and Monday mornings, respectively.

We welcome additional Memorial Day and other event information, photos, and videos to share. The History Project site currently has material from Hopewell, Pennington, and Titusville, including videos of Hopewell parades back to 1946. (See the link to view historical parade photos and videos.)

05/02/2026

Following up on to the previous post asking for help locating the Hopewell Valley WW II Honor Rolls, we have some more information on honor rolls in Pennington. Please contact us if you have additional information on these or other honor rolls in the Hopewell Valley.

See the full post for more photos and details, including links to names of people in service -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/05/02/where-are-the-pennington-honor-rolls/

The original World War II Pennington Honor Roll is discussed and pictured in Margaret J. O’Connell’s 1966 book, Pennington Profile. We have one photo of the 1943 dedication, in front of the bank at the corner of Main Street and Delaware Avenue. A second later photo shows that the Honor Roll was extended with two side panels for additional names of locals who had entered service (as was also done in Hopewell).

O’Connell reports that the Pennington Honor Roll named 205 who served in the military, with seven who were killed. The book also has lists of the names on both the World War I and World War II Honor Rolls.

Courtesy of Kim Ha at the Pennington Public Library, we can share three additional Pennington Honor Rolls, for World War I, World War II, and the Korean Conflict.

These framed lists with beautiful calligraphy are hanging in the meeting room of the Pennington municipal complex (that includes the Pennington Borough Hall, the Police Department, and the Public Library).

In addition, the room also has a framed service flag honoring World War I veterans. This has a white field surrounded by a red frame, with a total of 79 stars. Most of the stars are blue, but there are three silver stars, honoring those who died in service. The stars also are annotated with the name of each veteran.

The Honor Roll for Hopewell Borough was installed in 1943 along with the Service Flag next to the then Hopewell National Bank building on East Broad Street at North Greenwood Avenue. The last known sighting of it was in 1992.

We do not have much more on other local honor rolls, only a photo of a Washington Crossing / Titusville World War II honor roll, and a newspaper reference to a planned Hopewell Township honor roll.

So where are these memorials now? Please contact us if you have more information, photos, or other materials about these or other honor roll / service flag recognition for local veterans.

04/19/2026

Have you seen the Hopewell Borough Honor Roll and Service Flag that were created during World War II to honor residents serving in the armed forces? And what about the Honor Rolls for Hopewell Township or Pennington or Washington Crossing / Titusville ?

See the full post for more photos and details, including links to the sources of names of people in service -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/04/19/where-are-the-hopewell-valley-ww-ii-honor-rolls/

These honor rolls and service flags were commonly created by different groups to honor members who had entered the service. These including large public displays displayed in towns, smaller displays by local groups including at businesses and churches, and also by individual families.

We have some information on the Hopewell Borough memorials, but only references and a few images for the others. So please do contact us if you have more information or materials.

The Hopewell Borough Honor Roll and Service Flag were installed in 1943 at a town dedication event, next to the then Hopewell National Bank building on East Broad Street at North Greenwood Avenue. We also have a video clip of the 1943 dedication, including the large crowd, the Princeton High School Band performing, and a view of the Service Flag hanging above.

The Honor Roll originally was about four by six feet, with six panels of names. In 1945 it was expanded with two additional panels on the sides to add more names. The Service Flag was eight by twelve feet, with a white field surrounded with a red border, with stars representing locals in service.

Dean Ashton's 1947 book, Be It Ever So Humble, reports that in total Hopewell Borough provided more than 200 men and women for the Armed Forces, and provides a list of 206 names in the book, with four who had died in service. It also provides a second list of 140 more people in service who lived nearby, with three who had died in service.

The Honor Roll then was displayed on floats at the Hopewell Memorial Day parades, including around 1959. In 1951, the veterans memorial plaque was installed on a large stone at the then Hopewell Borough Hall at South Greenwood and Columbia (now the firehouse). The Honor Roll then was given to the American Legion Post to install at its new building on Mercer Street. The Hopewell Museum also has a photo from 1992 showing the Honor Roll on the Museum float for Memorial Day, and installed in front of the Museum building. But that is the last known sighting.

The Pennington Honor Roll is discussed and pictured in Margaret J. O’Connell’s 1966 book, Pennington Profile. O’Connell reports that the Pennington Honor Roll named 205 who served in the military, with seven who were killed. The book also has lists of both the World War I and World War II Honor Rolls.

However, we only have a couple photos of the Honor Rolls for Pennington and for Washington Crossing / Titusville, and only references to one for a Hopewell Township.

So where are these memorials now? Please contact us if you have more information, photos, or other materials about these or other honor roll / service flag recognition for local veterans.

And thanks to the contributors of the materials that helped to inform and illustrate this project (as credited in the image captions).

04/04/2026

We have a new collection of twenty early Mercer County area farming and school photos from the 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties, including farm scenes with different animals and crops, ranging from horse-drawn plows to more "modern" equipment and techniques.

See the full post for the complete set of these photos, also including scenes of local schools and school children, plus more on the book, area farms and businesses, and local road maps -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/04/04/1914-mercer-county-farm-and-school-photos/

Several photos illustrate the beginnings of the mechanization of farming operations, from a traditional horse-drawn plow ("good stock") to more "modern" equipment, including plowing ("eight furrows at one time"), and cultivating for fruit crops ("the work of a modern tractor").

For apple farming, there are illustrations of apple trees blossoming, hand picking an apple crop with ladders, and a horse-drawn improvised system ("The Apple King of New Jersey").

For field crops, there are examples of using a hand-driven wheel barrow to spray potatoes, and then hand-picked harvesting for potatoes, compared to the use of mechanical equipment for harvesting wheat.

A few of the photos also celebrate local livestock: "blooded Holstein cattle" (e.g., purebred or registered), plus two cows with records of 117 and 118 pounds of milk a day.

To illustrate the down-home charm of farming, there is a view of a Spottswood poultry farm with free-range chickens, and a wonderful scene with two men who do not appear very enthusiastic about "picking broilers for market." There appear to be chickens hanging in the background, at least one barrel for soaking the chickens, and perhaps a temperature gauge - plus a profusion of feathers.

Two photos show the Trenton Inter-State Fair. In addition to horse racing and other amusements, the Fair included exhibitions of “products of the farm, agricultural implements, farm stock and many other objects of educational interest to the agriculturist and the urbanite.” The Fair was held at the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds, now the site of Grounds For Sculpture.

Follow the link for more on the full set of photographs, and photos of four local schools and schoolchildren.

Thanks to Bob Lawless for discovering and sharing the book. Please contact us if you have other additions of this or other similar references - or other local Hopewell material that we can share.

03/21/2026

It's hard to imagine what life was like a century ago in the early 1900s, but this classified ad could not make the contrast clearer - at the time, there were so many large animals as part of your daily lives that there was a good steady place in the "Dead Animals Removed" business.

This comes from another amazing reference source that gives us a view into the lives of people in the Hopewell Valley in 1914, through data on farming, and lists of the people and the businesses of the time.

See the full post for more from the book, plus links to a scan of the Mercer County content and a separate Extract of local business listings -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/03/21/1914-hopewell-area-farms-businesses/

The source for this information is the 1914 Farm & Business Directory of Mercer and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey. The major portion of the book has two separate directories for each county, a directory of people, and a classified business directory including numerous display ads.

It also includes statistics on farms and farming in each county, lists of county officials and postmasters, and even a section with Handy Things to Know for farmers. The book also includes wonderfully evocative photos of schools and school children, and farm scenes with different animals and crops, ranging from horse-drawn plows to more "modern" equipment and techniques.

In a statistical comparison to today, Mercer County has tripled in population density from 1914 to 2022. In that time, the number of farms decreased from 1,573 to 298, and the average farm size decreased from 78 to 64 acres.

The Mercer County Classified Business Directory section of the book is 164 pages, including listings and display ads. The two longest listings are for the categories of Grocers and Saloons.

The Hopewell Valley Extract document reorganizes the local listings by town and then business type, with a total of 111 listings: Hopewell 50, Pennington 34, Titusville 21, Woodsville 3, and Glenmoore 3.

For example, the 21 Titusville listings are:
- Agricultural Implements - Vanartsdalen, Howard W.
- Blacksmiths And Wheelwrights - Harbourt, James R.; Hunt, Farley D.
- Butter and Eggs - Pagels, Chas. G.
- Carpenters - Harbourt, Wm. H.
- Coal - McKean, Aubrey, Scudders & Hunt, Van Artsdalen, H. W.
- Dry Goods and Notions - Shade & Weilman
- Fertilizers - Van Artsdalen, H. W.
- Fish and Oysters - Edge, J. D.
- Florists and Nurserymen - Blackwell, Alstyn
- Fruits - Blackwell, Wm. H
- General Stores - Phillips & Drake
- Grocers - Snook, Harry
- Hardware - Swift, C. H.
- Hotels - Stewart, Douglas P.
- Masons - Harbourt, Enoch A.
- Newspapers - The Pennington Post News
- Nurses - Knowles, Miss Mae Scarborough; Miss Florence Lee
- Paints and Painters - Drake, Benjamin Q.; Tice, A. H.
- Physicians - Simpson, M. S.
- Real Estate and Insurance - Trimmer, E. G. Rubber Companies- Raymond Rubber Co

The Mercer County Directory section of the book includes an 89-page directory of residents of Mercer County, farmers, businesses, and landowners. Searching the Mercer County section shows the following number of references to local towns: Hopewell 513, Pennington 424, Titusville 170, Glenmoore 20, and Woodsville 18.

The listings include names (husband & wife), number of children (ch), occupation, owner/tenant status (O/T), acres (s), phone company (Bell tel), House & Lot (H&L), rural route, and township/town.

For example, the first listings are:
- Aaronson, George R4 Trenton.
- Abbott, John H. (Susan E .) 2 ch farmer O 103a B tel R2 Lambertville Hope 96.
- Aaronson, John (Emma) 3 ch carpenter T H&L Mercerville.
- Abbott, T. C. (Mary) 1 ch ret farmer O H&L Yardville Ham 77.
- Abbott, Z. S. (Mary A.) farmer O 30a B tel R1 Hopewell Hope 1.
- Abott, Harry G. trucker bds Yardville Ham 77.
- Ackley, Ralph C. R3 Trenton.
- Ackors, Mattie F. (dau of Wm.) bds B tel R1 Pennington Hope 78.
- Ackors, Wm. H. (Nellie B.) farmer O 126a B tel R1 Pennington Hope 78.

Thanks to Bob Lawless for discovering and sharing another wonderful resource.

Please contact us if you have comments or information on this document, or other related local materials that you can share.

03/09/2026

Construction work at the new Hopewell Inn building (at Broad Street and Seminary Avenue in Hopewell Borough) uncovered two old stone cisterns hidden under the parking lot. They had metal covers, and the shafts were approximately 8 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep. The walls were constructed from stone, with shale on the bottom. There was a clay pipe running between the two shafts, and metal pipes presumably to access the water.

See the full post for more photos and more on local cisterns and water supplies -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/03/09/historical-cisterns-found-at-the-hopewell-inn/

It appears that these cisterns that installed to collect run-off rainwater, and then were simply covered over later when the parking lot was constructed and paved.

Joseph Mutinsky, Hopewell Inn project construction manager for Sherute, LLC, suggests that these cisterns were dug not as wells for drinking water, but to collect water to use for watering the garden, boiling water for washing clothes, and for washing the building exterior. They were probably hand dug and used field stone/shale to line the walls. In the spring rains, the cisterns would probably fill up at least half way, and the owners may have used hand pumps to raise the water out of the cisterns. This may explain the lead pipes visible in the photos, and the clay pipe connection between the two cisterns, since there may only have been one hand pump to extract the water. These cisterns could go back to the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Unfortunately, these days it is no longer acceptable practice to have holes in the middle of parking lots, so these shafts at the Hopewell Inn needed to be immediately filled in and capped. We were able to preserve these and other photos of the scene and the cisterns.

Thanks to Joseph Mutinsky for information and photos. Joe also kindly preserved and shared some sample stones from the shafts. Thanks also to Percy Keith for reporting and filming this discovery.

Meanwhile, construction is moving along at the site. The top two residential floors are nearly complete, with work now focusing on the restaurant on the first floor, looking to completion in June.

Please contact us if you have information on this discovery, or related local items.

02/21/2026

What kind of fundraiser can you run for elementary school kids? There’s selling candy or books, or school hats or shirts, or discount cards for local businesses, or simply holding a raffle. Instead, it really would be better to have some kind of event involving the kids, but they’re a bit young for a school dance or talent show.

The answer in for Hopewell Elementary School in 1941 was to hold a Tom Thumb Wedding, a theatrical mock marriage performed by the children, with over 100 kids taking part.

See the full post for more on the story of Tom Thumb and the Tom Thumb Weddings -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/02/21/tom-thumb-wedding-in-1941-hopewell/

This popular tradition of Tom Thumb Weddings involved children dressed in elaborate wedding attire, performing the wedding ceremony plus a following reception. It also provided the children with the experience of being part of a performance, and maybe showed them a bit about formal fashion and wedding etiquette.

The idea still was quite popular in New Jersey in the 1940s, including another event in Woodbury the same year, and then more after World War II with Bridgeton (1948), the Trenton Florists’ Association (1948), Mercerville (1948), and Hightstown (1949).

As described by NPR, this idea was based on the wedding of the original Tom Thumb in 1863, and “ultra-diminutive 19th century actor, Charles Stratton — whose stage name was Gen. Tom Thumb. Under the management of sideshow impresario P.T. Barnum, Stratton became a national celebrity and a wealthy man. When he married super-tiny Lavinia Warren in New York in 1863, the little couple received wedding presents from wealthy Americans ... Barnum sold tickets to the wedding reception ... and the newlyweds were invited to the White House by President Abraham Lincoln.”

The Tom Thumb Wedding event in Hopewell was held on Friday evening, October 24, 1941, in the auditorium of the Hopewell Grammar School (now called the Hopewell Elementary School). The wedding ceremony was followed by a “picturesque” wedding reception held in the Kindergarten room, with ice cream and cake.

The event was organized by the Parent-Teachers Association to raise money to provide hot lunches for the school children during the winter months. It was a huge effort including over 100 children: “one of the largest events scheduled for the year.”

Miss Bertha I. Scott, principal of the school, was general chairman of the event. Miss Margaret Bond and Mrs. Ruth M. Wort trained the children. The other teachers helped with details of the wedding and the reception, including Mrs. Albert Benson. Mrs. Theodore Houpt, Miss Norma R. Livingston, Miss Velda Thompson, Ed Malesky and Paul Stryker. The P.T.A. parents also helped with the costumes.

Over 20 children participated in the wedding party: Bride. Claire Ann Righter; groom, Teddy Hill; flower girls, Arlette Lewis, Virginia Lewis, Rose Marie Ravello, Barbara Jane Wyckoff; maid of honor, Joan Allen; best man, Dan Pullen; ring bearer, Jimmie Di Iorio; bridesmaids, Betsy Ann Bland, Sally Ann Spurdle, Joan Price, Patty Smith; minister, Louis Heavener; ushers, Clayton Little, John Terrault; soloist, Josephine Sommovigo; bride’s parents, Clarice Allen, Billy Swertfeger; groom’s parents, Martha Schmeiss and Peter Voorhees.

Sixty other kids from the kindergarten and the first three primary grades also took part as wedding guests, to “add to the interest and amusement of the affair by representing the various businesses and professional people of this community.”

The event was reported as a great success in local papers: “Success attended the presentation of the Tom Thumb wedding Friday evening last in the grammar school auditorium, an unusually large audience enthusiastically greeting the juvenile performers. Many business and professional men and townspeople were imitated in a splendid manner.”

Thanks to Virginia Lewis, a participant in the Hopewell event, for explaining this cultural phenomena.

Please contact us if you have other school stories or materials to share.

02/07/2026

Since we've been having so much fun with snow and ice and sub-freezing weather, you'll really appreciate these scenes from a couple decades ago - the blizzard of Feb 17, 2003. These are scrapbook pages kindly donated by Edie and Roger Labaw, showing cold-looking views around their home on Columbia Avenue near Seminary Avenue.

See the full post for more snowy images, back to the 1910s -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/02/07/more-snow-the-blizzard-of-february-2003/

The first page, "Blizzard of Feb 17, 2003," shows scenes around the houses, with huge snowdrifts, cars piled with snow, and a ruler showing 26 inches of accumulation.

The second page with three photos shows the beginning process of digging out, with the snowblower, a view of accumulation along the sidewalk down Columbia Avenue, and hand-shoveling along the sidewalk.

The third page shows views in each direction along what looks like a partially-plowed Columbia Avenue - east to the stop sign at Princeton Avenue, and west down to the post office building. (Note the "No Parking When Road Is Snow Covered" sign was being respected.) The remaining photos on the page then show the amount of work still to be done, with snow drifts measuring up to 26 inches.

Please contact us if you have other snowy – or other – materials to share.

01/23/2026

Here's a distraction for a snow-bound weekend - The Hopewell Elementary School is celebrating its centennial in 2026, one hundred years after it opened in 1926 as the Hopewell Grammar School.

In that time the Elementary School at 35 Princeton Avenue has expanded with two additions to accommodate population growth, from 200-some students in kindergarten through 8th grade in the 1940s, to a capacity of 350 students up to 6th grade in 1968, and finally expanding to 500 students up to 5th grade in 1997.

See the full post for more details and images -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/01/20/hopewell-elementary-school-centennial/

The original portion of the Hopewell Elementary building fronts Princeton Avenue: a two-story brick structure with 14 rooms, with a basement, short wings on each side, and the original gym tucked behind. The construction contract was for $97,128.

In 1965, voters authorized regionalization of the local schools and the formation of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. The Timberlane Middle School was constructed in 1966, and Hopewell Elementary changed to house grades K to 6.

But more classrooms were still needed, which led in 1968 to the construction of the North addition to the Elementary School. This was a one-story extension along East Prospect Street towards Seminary Avenue, with 15 classrooms.

Additional renovations from the $520,252 construction project included a new heating and ventilation system, a new cafeteria and library, and updating the gymnasium (nestled behind the main building) as an auditorium with new lighting and fixtures. The project also included the purchase of 16.5 acres for possible future expansion south of the original school and playground, at an estimated cost of $2,500 an acre.

By 1993, a district report described conditions at Hopewell Elementary School as "substandard" and "disgraceful." Meanwhile, the School Board began proposing plans for major upgrades across the Hopewell Valley schools, especially due to the expected influx of additional students from the 1200-unit Brandon Farms development, which also would require the construction of a new elementary school.

The key element of the plan was expanding the Timberlane Middle School from 360 students in 7th and 8th grade to 1000 students from 6th to 8th grade. The elementary schools would then change to K to 5th grade. Hopewell Valley voters did approve a $22.5 million bond issue in early 1995.

In 1997, Hopewell Elementary then added the South addition to expand its capacity from 350 to more than 500 students. It was built in brick similar to the original building, with multiple sections of one and two stories as the ground drops away along the playground area. The addition includes classrooms, plus larger spaces for a gymnasium and cafeteria / auditorium.

In addition, the $5 million expansion included renovations to change the gymnasium / multipurpose room (behind the original building) into the media center, the old media center (along the front of the original building) into administrative office space, and the basement space (the former cafeteria) for storage and faculty use.

The Elementary School property has been used for a variety of community activities over the past hundred years, including baseball fields, fireworks, Memorial Day observances, and the Hopewell Harvest Fair. The monument in front of the school with a large bronze winged eagle, and was erected in 1925 by the American Legion Hopewell Post 273 to honor local veterans. It originally was installed in the middle of the intersection at Broad Street and Greenwood Avenue, but then was moved to its present location in 1933 - after too many traffic accidents with cars impacting the large stone barrier in the middle of the road.

The Elementary School mascot, “Freddy” the Frog, was selected by a competition in 1979. It recalls the infamous 1876 “Frog War,” when two competing rail lines fought to control a railroad crossing (the “frog”) just west of Hopewell Borough. (The mascot has been variously spelled “Freddy” or “Freddie” over the years, but the kids voted on Election Day 2025, and the name now is officially “Freddy.”)

Please contact us if you have photos, documents, or other materials to share on the history of the Hopewell Valley schools and the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.

01/10/2026

Trade cards provide fascinating views of local Hopewell businesses in the late 1800s. These cards with their colorful artwork were a popular method of promotion to clients and customers. And they are helpful historical artifacts for us, as they provide information on the owners and businesses.

Thanks to three new contributions, we now have a card that is the first known artifact from Mrs. M. A. Carter’s Millinery store, a mystery card for the unknown "T. A. Puison & Bro.", and a card with new information for J. Thomas Gandy, a well-known druggist.

See the full post for more details and more images -> https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2026/01/10/1880s-hopewell-trade-cards/

Mrs. M. A. Carter - Millinery

This 1880s trade card, illustrated with two little children and lily of the valley flowers, is the only known artifact from the store of Mrs. M. A. Carter, that featured Millinery, Dress Making, and Fancy Goods. Her services included Millinery, Dressmaking, and Fine Stationary departments, plus a variety of Ladies’ Garments and accessories.

Mrs. Carter’s store operated from 1883 to around 1889 in the building that became the Hopewell Inn on East Broad Street at Seminary Avenue.

“T. A. Puison & Bro.” - Humphreys’ Witch Hazel Oil

This c. 1890s trade card is a two-sided advertisement for Humphreys’ Witch Hazel Oil (“Trial Size 25 cts.”).

The front has an illustration of maiden in red dress frolicking with fanciful witch hazel branches in a meadow by a stream. The back has dense advertising copy extoling the product as a “Pile Ointment” for irritated and damaged skin (“Infallible” … “Invaluable” … “The relief is immediate – the cure certain”).

The business listed at the bottom of the card is “T. A. Puison & Bro.” of Hopewell. This is a typo for “T. A. Pierson,” apparently because a handwritten “Pier” became “Pui” - as these cards were presumably printed by Humphreys for distribution to area drug stores that carried their product.

Dr. Theodore A. Pierson (1870-1948) came to Hopewell in 1893 and opened a drug store in the Cook’s Block building on East Broad Street at the corner of North Greenwood Avenue. His brother, George E. Pierson (1872–1946), joined him in the business, which became the T. A. Pierson & Bro. drug store. Dr. Theodore Pierson then focused on medicine as a town doctor in Hopewell for over 50 years, while George Pierson continued the drug store for 30 years in the current Hopewell Pharmacy building.

J. Thomas Gandy - Druggist and Seedsman

The third card is for J. Thomas Gandy, who ran an earlier drug store in Hopewell from the mid-1880s until 1888. It was located in a complex of buildings that were located at the entrance to South Greenwood Avenue off Broad Street (i.e., along the current location of the Hopewell Pharmacy buildings, before South Greenwood was opened up as a street).

This front of this additional card features a pensive lady with flowers at a red table with vase - but no writing. The back then describes Gandy's business as "Druggist and Seedsman, Dealer in Pure Drugs and Medicines," with distinctive curly cue letter forms.

The card then details Gandy's important products, including "Syringes, Breast Pumps, Ni**le Shields, Patent Medicines, Perfumery, Fancy Articles, etc., etc." In addition to the drugstore products, Gandy also featured "Landreth's Celebrated Garden Seeds."

Thanks to Bob Gantz for sharing the original set of Gandy trade cards, and George Wagner and Rich Sauers for sharing the new set of cards.

Do you have trade cards or other materials like these to help share the history of the Hopewell Valley?

Hopewell Valley History Project

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