‘Trenton's South Trenton

‘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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