1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Trenton (New Jersey)

​TRENTON, the capital of New Jersey, U.S.A., and the county seatof Mercer county, on the eastern bank of the Delawareriver, about 33 m. N.E. of Philadelphia, and about 59 m. S.W.of New York. Pop. (1890), 57,458; (1900), 73,307, of whom16,793 were foreign-born (including 4114 Germans, 3621 English,3292 Irish, and 1494 Hungarians), and 32,879 were of foreignparentage (both parents foreign-born), including 8873 ofGerman parentage, 8324 of Irish parentage, 5513 of Englishparentage, and 2243 of Hungarian parentage; (1910census), 96,815. Area, 9 sq. m. Trenton is served bythe Pennsylvania (main line and Belvidere division) and thePhiladelphia & Reading railway systems, by inter-urban electricrailways, and by small freight and passenger steamers on theDelaware river; the Delaware & Raritan Canal connects with ​the Raritan river at New Brunswick. Trenton is at the headof navigation on the Delaware river, which falls 8 ft. here.Riverside park extends along its water front for about 3 m.,and on the outskirts of the city lies Cadwalader park (100acres), containing a zoological garden. In the centre of thecity, marking the spot where Washington planted his guns atthe battle of Trenton, stands the Battle monument, a Roman-Doriccolumn of granite, 150 ft. high, hollow and fluted, itscap forming an observatory, with a statue of Washington byWilliam R. O'Donovan (b. 1844). In Perry Street, mounted ona granite pedestal, is the “Swamp Angel,” the great gun usedby Federal troops in the marshes near Charleston, South Carolina,during their attack on that city in August 1863. There aremany buildings in the city which are rich in historic associations.Chief among these is the barracks, erected by the colony in1758 to mitigate the evils of billeting, and occupied by Britishtroops during the Seven Years' War, and at different times byBritish, Hessian and American troops during the War ofIndependence. Other interesting landmarks are “Woodland”(formerly called “Bloomsbury Court”), built early in the18th century by William Trent, and said to have sheltered, atvarious times, Washington, Lafayette and Rochambeau; the“Hermitage,” erected some time before the War of Independence;and “Bow Hill,” in the suburbs of the city, aquaint old colonial mansion which for some time before 1822was a home of Joseph Bonaparte. Among the public buildingsare the state capitol, the post office building, the countycourt house, the city hall, the second regiment armoury,public library (containing about 42,000 volumes in 1909),and the building (1910) given by Henry C. Kelsey to the cityfor the school of industrial arts (founded in 1898). Here alsoare the state normal and model schools (1855), the statelibrary, housed in the capitol, the state school for deaf mutes,the state home for girls, one of the two state hospitals for theinsane (opened in 1848), the state arsenal—the building beingthe old state prison—the state prison (1836), St Francishospital (1874), Mercer hospital (1892), the William McKinleymemorial hospital (1887), the city hospital, two children'sday nurseries, the Friends' home, the Union industrial home(for destitute children), the Florence Crittenton home (1895),the indigent widows' and single women's home (1854), theHar Sinai charity society, the home for friendless children,and the society of St Vincent de Paul. Trenton, is the see ofProtestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic bishops.

Trenton is an important industrial centre. Its proximityto the coal fields of Pennsylvania and to the great markets ofNew York and Philadelphia, and its excellent transportationfacilities by rail and by water, have promoted the developmentof its manufactures. The city is the greatest centre for thepottery industry in the United States. In 1905 there were40 establishments for the manufacture of pottery and terra-cotta,employing 4571 labourers; and their total product wasvalued at $5,882,701—or 9.2% of the value of the potteryproduct of the United States, and 18% of the value of all thecity's factory products, in this year. The chief varieties of thisware are vitrified china, belleek china, semi-porcelain, whitegranite and c. c. ware, vitrified porcelain for electrical supplies,porcelain bath tubs and tiles, and terra-cotta. Clay for the“saggers,” or cases in which the wares are fired, is mined inthe vicinity, but the raw materials for the fine grades of potteryare obtained elsewhere. Some pottery was made in Trentonby crude and primitive methods near the beginning of the19th century, but the modern methods were not introduceduntil 1852, when yellow and Rockingham wares were first madehere. In 1859 the manufacture of white granite and cream colouredware was successfully established. The fine exhibitsfrom the Trenton potteries at the Centennial Exhibition inPhiladelphia in 1876 greatly stimulated the demand for thesewares and increased the competition among the manufacturers;and since that date there has been a marked development inboth the quantity and the quality of the product. In Trenton,also, are manufactured iron, steel and copper wire, rope, cablesand rods—the John A. Roebling's Sons Company has an immensewire and cable manufactory here—iron and steel bridge buildingmaterials and other structural work, plumbers' supplies (manufacturedby the T. L. Mott Company), and machinery of almostevery character, much of it being exported to foreign countries.Much rubber ware is also manufactured. In 1905 Trentoncontained 312 factories, employing 14,252 labourers, and thetotal value of the factory products was $32,719,945.

The charter, as amended, provides for a mayor elected fortwo years and a common council of two members from eachward elected for two years. Other elected officers are: cityclerk, comptroller, treasurer, counsel, receiver of taxes, engineer,inspector of buildings, overseer of poor, street commissioner andsealer of weights and measures. The municipality owns thewater works and the sewer system; the water supply is obtainedfrom the Delaware and is stored in a reservoir having a capacityof about 110,000,000 gallons.

The settlement of Trenton began in 1680 with the erectionby Mahlon Stacy, a Quaker colonist of Burlington, of a millat the junction of the Assanpink creek^[1] with the Delaware river.By 1685 a number of colonists had settled at this point,which became known as “The Falls ” on account of therapids in the Delaware here. In 1714 Stacy sold his plantationat “The Falls” to William Trent (c. 1655–1724), speaker ofthe New Jersey Assembly (1723) and chief justice of the colony(1723–1724), in whose honour the place came to be called Trenttownor Trenton. In 1745 Trenton received a royal charterincorporating it as a borough, but in 1750 the inhabitantsvoluntarily surrendered this privilege, deeming it “very prejudicialto the interest and trade ” of the community. In 1783the New Jersey delegates in Congress proposed that Trentonbe made the seat of the general government, but as this measurewas opposed by the Southern delegates, it was agreed thatCongress, pending a final decision, should sit alternately atAnnapolis and Trenton. Congress accordingly met in Trentonin November 1784, but soon afterwards removed to New York,where better accommodation could be obtained. Trentonbecame the capital of the state in 1790, was chartered as a cityin 1792, and received new charters in 1837, 1866, and 1874.The borough of South Trenton was annexed in 1850; theborough of Chambersburg and the township of Millham in1888; the borough of Wilbur in 1898; and parts of the townshipsof Ewing and Hamilton in 1900.