Jackson Street Bridge – Trenton Made

The historic Jackson Street Bridge over the Assunpink Creek is a central feature of Mill Hill Park in downtown Trenton. Thanks to a New Jersey Historic Trust grant, this pin-connected, Pratt, through-truss structure, fabricated in 1888 by Trenton’s own New Jersey Steel & Iron Company (NJS&IC), is now receiving needed repairs and a paint job that should last it at least another quarter century Over the past several years, Hunter Research has assisted the City of Trenton in fulfilling the terms of the grant with tasks related to preserving and interpreting the bridge, as well as other resources in Mill Hill Park.

The Jackson Street Bridge is thought to be one of just four examples of NJS&IC truss bridges surviving in the United States. One of the other three is located on East Ward Street in Hightstown, New Jersey, and curiously the other two are in Texas. Hunter Research’s Principal Historian/Architectural Historian Patrick Harshbarger offered remarks on the bridge’s significance at a groundbreaking ceremony in September 2020. He noted how bridges like this one, designed as a kit of parts akin to a large erector set, represented a pinnacle of American ingenuity and were shipped all over the world. An interpretive sign, developed by Hunter Research, is located on a walkway near the bridge’s southern approach. It describes the role of NJS&IC in hot rolling the steel shapes, like I-beams, plates, channels and angles, which made this bridge technology possible.

Passaic County - Making History Accessible

Hunter Research recently teamed with Dorothy Hartman of History in the Making to complete an innovative interpretive plan for historic sites, museums and parks throughout Passaic County in northern New Jersey.  Geographically and demographically diverse, the county challenges any attempts to distill its story into a single perspective. From its populous communities on the I-80 corridor to sparsely developed northern highlands, Passaic County brings together a metropolitan worldview, based on generations of immigrants from all over the world, yet, in places, still rests on a bedrock of small towns and closely knit neighborhoods.

The interpretive plan fulfills one of the recommendations of the Heritage Tourism Element of the Passaic County Master Plan, which set the goal of promoting high-quality countywide history and culture. The interpretive plan anticipates a new “core” exhibit at the historic Lambert Castle, which is undergoing restoration and scheduled to reopen in 2023. The core exhibit will explore the full breadth of the county’s heritage and culture, threading together the three themes of Nature’s All Around You, a Culturally Diverse and Creative People, and the Freedom to Think, Invent and Innovate. Satellite exhibits will be placed strategically, encouraging visitors to explore interpretive programming throughout the county. The plan collected data from 55 locations, of which about half currently have interpretive programs, and the remainder having the potential to offer high-quality interpretation with further investment. The project was made possible through a grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust to the Friends of Passaic County Parks, and was developed under the direction of Kelly Ruffel, Director of the Passaic County Department of Cultural and Historic Affairs.

Trent House Reveals

Throughout the challenging year of 2020 Hunter Research staff have continued working at the William Trent House, Trenton’s founding National Historic Landmark property at the Falls of the Delaware.  Back in the spring, working with Monmouth University faculty and students, we completed an interim report on the 2019 field school which produced exceptionally promising Native American, Contact period and early colonial remains in a well-preserved and surprisingly deep soil sequence.  In July, with the assistance of soil scientist John Stiteler, we conducted a systematic program of soil augering over the 1.59-acre core of the property, the informative results of which will help us plan for future field investigations.  Toward the end of the year, the Trent House Association learned that it had been successful in gaining a New Jersey Historic Trust grant to support another summer field school for undergraduate and graduate students in 2021, to be run by our staff and Monmouth University professors Richard Veit and Adam Heinrich.

Concurrently, Hunter Research has been partnering all year with Trenton-based architecture and landscape consultants Clarke Caton Hintz in producing an updated buildings and site preservation plan for the Trent House property.  Our charge has been to write a new history of the site and provide a reasoned assessment of its archaeological potential based on a quarter century of archaeological explorations.  This document, also funded by the New Jersey Historic Trust, is in the final stages of completion, and will guide the preservation and interpretation of this superior historic property well into the future.