First there were cameras, then pictures, and soon after that picture postcards. Now there is an exhibbit, “Plainsboro in Postcards,” that will be presented by Bob Yuell, executive director of the Plainsboro Historical Society on Saturday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Plainsboro Municipal Building.
Most of the cards date from before 1919. “All of the roads were packed dirt and local travel was still by horse or horse and buggy with nary an automobile to be seen,” writes Yuell.
The postcard at the top of this page shows the J.D. Van Doren General Store, which sold sugar, coconuts, bread, oranges, cheese, stamps, envelopes, as well as fencing wire, oil clothes, wall paper and hardware.
Located on the south side of Plainsboro Road, just went of Edgemere Avenue, it was built in the 1880s. “There were two gasoline pumps out front with a Gulf sign,” wrote Paul Kostue in his unpublished book, “Remembrances of Growing Up in Plainsboro. “I remember flour and sugar in barrels and bananas hanging from the ceiling, bread was not either sliced or wrapped at 12 cents a loaf. You could buy almost anything.”
The lower postcard shows the Grange Hall, the original one-room schoolhouse built in 1883. When the larger school was built, the building was moved east and it became the meeting hall for the Plainsboro Grange No. 184. When the larger schoolhouse became crowded, the second floor was once again used for education.
Veterinarian Amos Stults, 94, remembers going to the third and fourth grades on the second floor of the building. Ray Sohl, another lifetime Plainsboro resident, remembers the “orange glow toward the east” when the building burned down in 1928.
Other postcards include the Williamson Shops, where the blacksmith and wheelwright catered to the horse and wagon. Dated 1905, it was located on what is now Route 1 near Plainsboro and Mapleton roads.
Photos from Walker-Gordon Farm include one of the work crew in which Frank Hafenmaier is pictured. The card was donated by his son and historical society member, Matt Hafenmaier of Plainsboro.
The Old Bethel Church (torn down in 1933) and the grave yard were located on Plainsboro Road near Maple Avenue. The cemetery, in which three Civil War soldiers are buried, was donated to the Plainsboro Historical Society in 1989. The church, changed denominations over the years, and was the basis for the First Presbyterian Church of Plainsboro.
The building that is now used for the WW-P School District Special Services was the original two-room Plainsboro School built in 1908. — Lynn Miller
Plainsboro in Postcards. Saturday, March 19, 7:30 p.m. Plainsboro Municipal Building. Free. Donations and membership in the society ($15 annually) are welcome. For information visit www.plainsborohistory.com or call 609-799-9040.
