‘Trenton's South Trenton
Arthur L. Finkle
‘Jewtown’
was located in South Trenton. It housed most of the recent Eastern European
Jewish immigrants. Its rents were inexpensive and its proximity to consumers
was perfect. It also provided merchants a site to sell their wares. Similar to
Schenectady, NY, (10 sq. miles compared to Trenton’s 7.6 sq. miles) the first
Jews who settled in Schenectady came as peddlers, or small dealers in liquor,
clothing, and groceries. In fact, in synagogues in communities like Albany or
Syracuse one third to one half of the males were initially employed as
peddlers. By the 1870s and 1880s, some had opened small businesses, and some
prospered.
http://schenectadyhist.wordpress.com/page/2/
This
section was an already existing marketplace and had been for some years.
Photo
1860 of Market St. Facing Greene (Broad) St.
Built
as a shtetl, all spoke Yiddish. It counted several kosher meat butchers, a
Talmud Torah, synagogues and a Mikveh (ritual bath). It also housed the social
welfare societies, such as the Free Home Loan Society, Immigrant’s Aid, Sick
Society, etc.
Shtetl
Before
we go further, it would be fruitful to define a shtetl.
Ben Cion Pinchuk characterized the shtetl as a nostalgic and
sentimental symbol of “The Old Country.” If the old country was so good why did
numerous of its Jews move?
Further,
the shtetl has to be demythologized. The
size of a shtetl, depending on your source was anywhere from 1,500 to 10, 000
people, probably half of which were Jews. It served other work towns whose
inhabitants work the ground or in industry as a market.
It
served as a marketplace to exchange goods and services,
There
were shtetlekh (plural of shtetl in Yiddish) where the overwhelming majority of
the Jewish population was engaged in industry, such as Bzhezhin near Lodz,
where 80 percent of the Jewish population, including women and children,
produced cheap pants for half the Russian empire.
Russian
Jews found the shtetl live stifling, with of the governments taxes,
restrictions and oppression. Polish Jewish found the same thing, except to a
lesser extent.
Romanian
Jews were a bit different. Granted citizenship in theory in 1848 and actually
in the 1867 fundamental law, Romanian Jewry thrived. However, they were blamed
for the financial crises 1873.
Although they found for independence in 1887, Romanian Jews were subsequently
restricted by the laws that created government industries. Apparently the
‘native Romanians’ wanted the jobs all to themselves. Indeed, Carl Lueger
became Mayor of Vienna in the 1890s, running on an anti-Semitic campaign. See
Jacob Raison, Haskala Movement in Russia, 1913.
Even
serous Jewish learning was not included in the shtetlach. Yeshiva bokhers went
to schools on the great cities.
The
Bessarabian shtetlekh (Bessarabia was part of the Russian empire from the
beginning of the 19th century until 1918, then part of Rumania until World War
II) were known chiefly for their secular nature.
The
clear exceptions were the German and Hungarian Jews both of whom were citizens
and lived in Western Europe in Western tradition.
Indeed,
a 1908 article in the Times-Advertiser called this section of Trenton a closed
community.
The
Russians are very jealous of their own
interests
and very unwilling to inform outsiders of
their doings. But then, this Russian colony of Trenton,
in contradiction to the law of economics,
is
practically sufficient unto itself. They have their
own factories, their own stores, their own milk dealers,
in fact the whole category of businesses and
trades is represented among them. Those
stores
and factories which are located within the colony
employ only Russians and never fail to observe
the Jewish Sabbath, from sunset Friday to
sunset Saturday, and nothing other than a conflicting city
ordinance prevents them from opening Sundays.
This
‘Trenton Colony’ produced several charitable institutions. Among the early
ones were Wanderers’ Help and Miles
Rescind, a non-denominational poor fund.
In
1929 were approximately 4,100 Jews; some say 7,100 about 3-5% of Trenton ‘s
population. Most of this population resided in the area between South Broad and
Warren streets, and Market Street and the Delaware-Raritan Canal (Now the
Trenton Freeway).
The
area benefited from the infrastructure of a growing industrial Trenton.
Providing trolley service along Broad St, having sidewalk, water (1859) and
sewerage (beginning in 1903), outdoor lighting. Finally furnished with indoor
plumbing with its toilet, bathtub and wash area, all ceramics made in Trenton
and electricity, this area brimmed with activity. Further it had bright
electric street lights in 1887 (Its first electric lights made their Trenton
appearance in 1881). See Harry J. Podmore, Trenton – Old and New, Trenton
Historical society, 1929. See 1903 Trenton Ordinance.
Indeed,
The City Railway Company was incorporated under the general law in 1875, with
an authorized capital of $50,000. In February 1876, Common Council authorized
the construction of a horse-car line through Clinton Street, from the city
limits to Perry Street, to Broad, terminating at the Chambersburg borough line.
The track was to be a double one. Work on the road began and was open to
traffic in At this time the borough of Chambersburg authorized the company to
extend its tracks from the canal to the southeasterly borough limits, along
South Broad Street, bordering what was to become the Hungarian Jewish area..
Further,
the City Railway Company extend its line from Perry Street to Warren and thence
to Ferry Street, up Bridge and into Centre Street down as far as Riverview
Cemetery (Jewtown)
In
October 1885, an ordinance permitted the company to extend its tracks from
South Broad Street along Bridge Street, into Centre as far south as Lalor
Street, and along Lalor to the canal.
The
next year, The City Railway Company again extended its line along Hamilton
Avenue. In this year the borough of Chambersburg extended the City Railway
Company’s franchise to Jennie Street, Hudson Street, Elmer Street, Chestnut
Avenue, Cummings Avenue and Coleman Street, with a spur through Cummings Avenue
to Division Street, to the car sheds and stables.
The
Trenton Horse Railroad Company passed into the hands of Colonel Lewis Perrine
at about this time. In 1891 he acquired control of the City Railway Company and
consolidated the two roads on September 30, 1891, under the name of the Trenton
Passenger Railway Company. The very next year, Colonel Perrine had the roads
electrified and on May 22, 1891, the first experimental trip by electricity was
made.
The
Jewish area also utilized the Delaware and Raritan Canal for inexpensive
portage. And the Pennsylvania railroad was on three blocks away.
The
first settlers came to South Trenton because the rents were inexpensive. The
area was relatively undeveloped and was not near a major factory.
Ozzie
Zuckerman took us to series of first in South Trenton. 1881, Jacob Barker came
to Trenton with his wife and seven children. In 1888, Joseph Movshovich opened
the first bank on Decatur St. There were twelve kosher butchers. In 1895, Harry
Alexander opened the first kosher deli. Alex Cohen was a boxing promoter and
cut man.
Other
early South Trenton residents included Isaac Berman, Solomon Goldstein, David
Lavine, Max Feinberg, Harry Haveson, Israel Silverstein, Isaac Levy, Israel
Kohn, Gabriel Lavinson, Louis Levy, Solomon Urken, Daniel Levine and Abraham
Moskowitz.
Below
is a scheme of most of this area with names of occupants and stores.
From
the visual map, counted on Market Street were:
3-Deli’s;
a Drug Store; a Restaurants; 3-Bakers; a Gas Station, a Physician (Dr. Bloom);
3-Butchers; a Furniture store; a Mikveh (Religious Ritual Bath)
On
Union St., were counted: 3-Shuls; a Hotel; a Social Club (Liberty Club); 3-
Bakeries; 2-Chicken stores; 2-Fish Markets; 5-Butchers; a Hardware store; 3-Dry
Goods Stores; a Tire Store; a Clothing ship; and a Print shop.
The
aggregate totals were 6-bakers, 8-butchers, 3 dry goods stores; 3-Deli’s, 3-
Dry Goods Stores, 3-shuks, 2 Fish stores, 2-chicken stores. We found one Mikveh
(Ritual Bath), Hotel, a saddle shop, a cooperage (barrels) Restaurant, Gas
station, Tire Store, Print shop, Hardware store, barber and social club.
Unlike
Eastern Europe, these little stores were not monopolized by women. Rather, in
fast becoming Americans, they played the role ascribed to them in the ‘new’ country
as keepers of the household and their households were large. See Hyman.
Each
owner’s family lived atop the store. Another interesting fact was that,
although was an enormous presence of potteries (60), rubber manufacturers and
wire and cable (Roebling had its plant on more than 35 acres), Jews did not
compete with others for these factory jobs.
Stores in ‘Jewtown’
Bakers
Kohn’s
Kunes’s
Kramer’s
Kosher
Butchers
Cattle dealer – Isaac Dohen
Wholesale – Myron Cohen
Cow Dealer – Sharky Rosenthal
Hafetz - David Hafetz passed on his
store to his son(s) Joseph and Frank Hafetz
Katzeff and Weiner
Morris Stern
Butcher
– Kalman
Horowitz
Liberty
Meat Mkt
Eremyi
Hayfetz in front of Hayfetz Meat
Produce
Fish and Produce – Solomon Cohen
Grocer – David Cohen
Meat and Produce – Maurice Finkle
Grocery
Stores
George Levie
Jacob Levie
Samuel Levin
Feldman’s
Wineberg
Fish
(including live carp)
Smitty’s – Sam Smith
Barker’s
- Fish Mkt
Chickens
Balitz
Chickens
Feigman’s
chickens
Tires
United Tires - Irving Cohen
Izzy Richmond
Junk
Dealers
Jacob Albert
Phil albert
Harvey Cohen
David and Jack Introlligator
Sam Saperstein
Restaurants
Charles Levie
Benn Hock
Café – Heifel Cohen
Spiegel’s
Furniture
Mercer Paint and Paper Company
Marcus-Nitzburg family, owned
Palat’s Furs
Small Department Stores
Normal Department Store – Swamp Angel (Isaac Finkle)
Finkle’s
Dry Good’s – Willow and Spring (Sam
Finkle)
Store
Owners
Klempner’s
Max
Nabotovsky
Sadie
Cohen
Kravitz
Saga of the Jewish Peddler
Many
Jews were peddlers because they could celebrate the Sabbath without business
pressures. Others were junkyard dealers for the same reason.
In the
early days, in fact, ‘Jewtown’ was silent of the Jewish Sabbath because all the
stores were closed. They reopened on Sunday with the wink and the nod of the
Police Department because Blue Laws prohibited most commerce on Sunday.
Peddlers earned about five dollars a week and rarely grossed a
profit, often depending on the wives and children to peddle alongside of them.
The peddler lifestyle marked a profound loss of status for many of the
immigrants. Marcus
Ravage, a famous writer during the time, couldn’t believe his eyes
when he witnessed a man, “who had been the chairman of the hospital committee
in Vaslui and a prominent grain merchant . . .dispensing soda-water and selling
lollypops on the corner of Essex Street in New York.”
Along with status issues, newly arrived Jews experienced profound
culture shock. The new American workday was no longer circumscribed by meals
shared with family, prayer, or Jewish holidays and the Sabbath. They agonized
about having to abandon the structured and religious traditions of their
homogenous village life.
The Eastern European Jewish immigrants may have been poor, but
mostpossessed skills as merchants from the Russian shtetls. Since the
Russian government prevented Jews from owning land or raw materials, Eastern
European Jews possessed a skill set different from other immigrants. Ashley L.
Koch.
The five Finkle brothers became door-to door peddlers traversing a
weekly route from Trenton to Lambertville, to Flemington, to Somerville back to
Trenton for the Sabbath. When one earned sufficient money, he sent for the
second brother ad seriatim. Eventually, with enough capital, they settled in
Trenton and environs to establish dry goods stores. In Lambertville, Finkle’s Hardware Store is still operating,
more than 100 years later.
Harry Gerofsky also commented on the coming together of Trenton.
It received a charter in 1792 (population 1, 2500). In 1837, its population was
4,000. In 1838, it became the county seat of a new county (Mercer). In 1847, it
authorized streets and alleys. In 1851, it annexed the Borough of South
Trenton, then known as Mill Hill and Bloomburg (3rd and 4th wards which later
would house ‘Jewtown’).
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