History in Trenton, NJ
The first settlement which would become Trenton was established by Quakers in 1679, in the region then called the Falls of the Delaware, led by Mahlon Stacy from Handsworth, Sheffield, UK. Quakers were being persecuted in England at this time and North America provided the perfect opportunity to exercise their religious freedom.
By 1719, the town adopted the name "Trent-towne", after William Trent, one of its leading landholders who purchased much of the surrounding land from Stacy's family. This name later was shortened to "Trenton".
During the American Revolution, the city was the site of George Washingtons first military victory. On December 26, 1776, Washington and his army, after crossing the icy Delaware River to Trenton, defeated the Hessian troops garrisoned there. After the war, Trenton was briefly the national capital of the United States in November and December of 1784. The city was considered as a permanent capital for the new country, but the southern states favored a location south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Trenton was a major manufacturing center in the late 1800s and early 1900s; one relic of that era is the slogan "Trenton Makes, the World Takes" displayed on the Lower Free Bridge just north of the Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge (the "Trenton Makes Bridge"). The city adopted the slogan in the 1920s to represent Trenton's then-leading role as a major manufacturing center for steel, rubber, wire, rope, linoleum and ceramics.
Some well-known Americans born in Trenton include comedians Jon Stewart & Ernie Kovacs, football Pro Bowlers Troy Vincent, Gary Stills and Pro Football Hall of Famer Elvin Bethea, basketball star Dennis Rodman, Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis, former New York City mayor David Dinkins, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, General Norman Schwarzkopf and former Mobil Oil executive William Granville.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Trenton, NJ".
Links:
- Trenton Historical Society
P.O. Box 1112
Trenton, NJ 08606
Phone: (609) 396-4478
The Trenton Historical Society Website includes extensive information on the history of Trenton, including video clips, complete text of two books and diaries The site also has information of interest to people researching their ancestors, such as high school yearbooks, obituaries and cemetaries.
