Salem City Heritage Trail ��

Salem City Heritage Trail ��

Funding has been made availabe in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State

through the Salem County Cultural & Heritage Commission& Salem County Board of Chosen Freeholders

324 East Broadway

The East Broadway Trail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .WELCOME TO HISTORIC SALEM, NJ – the oldest, per-manent, English-speaking settlement in the Delaware Valley.John Fenwick, an English Quaker, brought the first colonists tothis place in 1675, initiating the settlement of West Jersey, thefirst Quaker colony in North America. He named his colony“Salem,” meaning “peace,” and laid out the first streets of “NewSalem”: Bridge, Fenwick and Wharf Streets, today known asMarket Street and East and West Broadway. Salem City remainsthe county seat of Salem County, and its streetscapes reflect thehistory of this people and place. Both Broadway and MarketStreet are listed as historic districts on the New Jersey State andNational Registers of Historic Places.

All of Salem’s Heritage Trails begin at the OLDSALEM COUNTY COURTHOUSE, located at

the corner of East Broadway and Market Street. JohnFenwick laid out the first Courthouse lot himself, andthe courthouse and jail were constructed on this site by1692. The first part of the present structure was built in

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1735, using brick made here in Salem County. Indeed, most ofthe brick used in Salem’s early buildings were manufacturedlocally. The building was enlarged in 1817. At that time, thefront door faced Market St. and the county jail occupied the cor-ner of Market and Broadway. After the old jail building was

removed, the Courthouse was again enlarged and remodeledin the Colonial Revival style (1908). At that time the entrance

was moved to face Broadway, and the old entrance replacedwith a Palladian window. Throughout these renovations, thedistinctive bell tower remained virtually unchanged and the

original bell is displayed in the courtroom. Among themany stirring events that took place here, none perhaps are

more compelling than the treason trials of 1778.Local Patriots indicted and tried neighborssuspected of aiding the British during theSalem Raid in February and March of thatsame year. Four men were condemned todeath for crimes of high treason; however,they were all pardoned by Governor WilliamLivingston and exiled from New Jersey.

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Salem City Heritage Trail ��

East Broadway Trail . . .

like Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. That Salem had itsown “Birth Night Ball” is an indication of the town’s sophistica-tion, even given its relative geographic isolation.

FINLAW BUILDING (195) is the largest and architec-turally most impressive Victorian commercial building

remaining in downtown Salem. It was built in 1892 by WilliamP. Finlaw as a dry goods and clothing store. Finlaw operated apants factory on the second floor. Finlaw’s was one of severallarge clothing emporiums that flourished in 19th and early 20thcentury Salem. Time has not treated this monumental buildingkindly, however. At present the City of Salem is targeting thiskey building for commercial redevelopment to assure its preser-vation in the future.

UNION FIRE COMPANY NO. 1 FIREHOUSE (164)is located immediately adjacent to the Old Courthouse.

The company is said to have been founded in 1749, thus mak-ing it one of the oldest –if not the oldestcontinuously operating fire company inNew Jersey. Union was officially organizedin 1821 and incorporated in 1825 whenthey built their first engine house calledUnion Hall. Four years later they pur-chased a new engine that was noted to beespecially powerful – it could shoot astream of water over the top of the court-house tower. This building was built toreplace Union Hall in 1869 and continued

to serve as the company’s headquarters until a new building wasconstructed on Walnut Street in 1989.

DUNN BUILDING (168) Another of downtown’simpressive Victorian-style com-

mercial buildings, this Romanesquestructure was built by Thomas G. Dunnin 1904 to replace an earlier woodenbuilding in which he began his shoestore in 1889. The store was operatedby three generations of the Dunn familyuntil it was succeeded by HoffmanShoes in 1963, so that this site was thelocation of a shoe store for almost a cen-tury. An interesting architectural detail

is that the salmon color brick is laid with red mortar to create aseamless appearance.

JAMES PATTERSON HOUSE (203) remains as one ofthe earliest structures in the heart of Salem’s business dis-

trict. Built ca. 1795, this building, like the Griscom House(#10), was originally a residence,and later converted to retail usesas expanded commercial activityrequired more space. In the 19thcentury the building housed oneof the city’s premier watch andjewelry firms, conducted for mostof that time by William Patterson,silversmith and watchmaker.Patterson was also an amateur historian and artist and becamethe first president of the Salem County Historical Society in1884. The timber framing of this early building is visible insidethe United Way offices that are currently housed here.

SALEM COMMUNITY COLLEGE – Salem Center(174) is an example of adaptive reuse of downtown

Salem’s architectural resources and the evolving nature ofAmerican Main Streets. A typical example of “modern”American retail architecture of the second quarter of the 20thcentury, the building was originally an F.W. Woolworth Five andTen Cent Store, itself replacing several earlier frame commercialbuildings. In 1996 the building reopened as a satellite campusof Salem Community College, a major addition to downtown.

FENWICK PLAZA combines adaptive reuse of an his-toric building with new retail spaces. Created in 1990,

Fenwick Plaza was an economic development project of StandUp for Salem, the parent organization of Salem Main Street. Theimpressive Victorian structure on the corner of East Broadwayand Walnut Street is the Mecum Building, another reminder ofdowntown Salem’s commercial vitality in the late 19th century.The Mecum Building (1899) occupies the site of one of Salem’searliest taverns operated by James Ridley as early as 1705. It con-tinued to function as a tavern site until 1771, when it was con-veyed to Dr. Samuel Dick, one of Salem’s most prominent patri-ots who helped draft New Jersey’s first state constitution in 1776and was later a member of the Continental Congress in 1783-84.Dick made the old tavern his residence and office. During the

Salem Raid in 1778, British officers commandeered Dick’s homefor officer’s quarters, relegating his wife and daughter to theupper floor and providing them scant provisions throughouttheir occupation. The family is said to have hidden their silverfrom the enemy by burying it in the rear garden.

BENJAMIN GRISCOM HOUSE (192-194) LikeMarket Street, Broadway was also originally a mixed-use

neighborhood, with residential structures predominating in theearly 19th century. As the city grew and prospered, however, anumber of these early homes were converted for commercialuses. The Griscom House was built prior to 1830, and thebuilder’s initials (BRG) can still beseen in iron on the east gable. Ofall the many businesses conduct-ed at his site none was morerenowned in its day than John P.Bruna & Co., one of the state’spremier ice cream and buttermanufacturers in the second halfof the 19th century. Pronounced“Bru-nay”, the company’s factorywas located in a frame structure that stood in the rear of thepresent building. In the 1880’s the firm produced over 3,000quarts of ice cream daily in the summer season, which wasshipped throughout the region, including the resort hotels alongthe Jersey coast. And Bruna’s was but one of several large icecream manufacturers in Salem at that time, making Salemfamous for this perennially popular confection. Bruna also spon-sored day excursions to Atlantic City and Cape May throughoutthe summer that were exceedingly successful.

If you go down Walnut Streetone block you will encounter

WALNUT STREET UNITEDMETHODIST CHURCH. Built in1888, this Gothic Revival structureoccupies a lot used for Methodist serv-ices since the late 18th century. Two ofMethodism’s prominent 18th and early19th century circuit-riding preacherslie buried in the adjacent churchyard:Benjamin Abbott and Thomas Ware.Abbott was particularly famous for hisflamboyant preaching style. It is said

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It should be noted that originally Salem’s streets wereunpaved, meaning that in dry seasons the air was very dusty,and in times of rain, there was a sea of mud to contend with.The condition of the streets, in fact, were so difficult that in the1840’s one local critic claimed that a steamboat was needed toget from the wharf to East Broadway! With paving, however, allthat remains are subtle reminders of the muddy past–bootscrapes located alongside the front steps of some of the olderhouses.

East Broadway’s previous name–Fenwick Street–commem-orated the town’s founder. Like Market Street, East Broadwayextended away from the town center to the surrounding farms,which in the 17th and 18th century could be found within thepresent city limits. In fact, some of the oldest homes that remainalong the street where originally farmhouses. Also, like Market,East Broadway boasts a rich array of buildings from a variety ofperiods, as well as some of the city’s most impressive 19th cen-tury commercial buildings. The even street numbers are locat-ed along the north side of the street–the same side as the OldCourthouse–the odd numbers on the south.

WASHINGTON HALL (181) was new in 1848, built bythe firm of Stoughton & Belden, a tin and stove establish-

ment. Stoughton & Belden sold stoves, hardware, tin ware,copper and brassware, provided roofing with tin or zinc, andmade tin ware to order. One of Salem’s many fraternallodges –Odd Fellows–originally occupied the fourth floor. InJune of 1849, John P. Bruna installed a “range of shower baths”in Washington Hall for the public to enjoy at 12-1/2 cents eachor 10 for $1. This service supplemented his popular Shavingand Hair Cutting Salon and was the first such amenity in Salem.The ghost of the original signage proclaiming the building’sname can still be discerned between the second and thirdfloors.

NELSON HOUSE (187) is the second oldest tavern andhotel building remaining in Salem. Built in 1848 by

William W. Nelson, the building occupies the site of a mucholder tavern built as early as the 1740’s. Originally known asSherron’s Tavern, this ancient building was later operated as theUnion Hotel during and after the War of 1812. It was here inthe 1820’s that Salem’s social elite held an annual “Birth NightBall” on February 22nd celebrating the birth of GeorgeWashington. Similar events were more common in large cities

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that a group of young people banded together to burlesqueAbbott and his worshippers, holding revels outside the oldbuilding while services were being conducted within. At one ofthe group’s meetings a young women climbed on to a chair andstarted to imitate the minister, shouting that she had foundpeace and was ready to die, whereupon she fell to the floor -and died! The group is said to have disbanded thereafter, neverto harass Abbott or the worshippers again.

SALEM FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE stands as theoldest house of worship in Salem, built in 1772. This

meeting also holds the distinction of being the oldest religiousorganization in Salem County, founded in 1676, shortly afterFenwick’s arrival here. This is the Friends third meetinghouse,

the two previous buildings were located on West Broadway inthe shade of the famous Salem Oak. The present structure wasdesigned by Philadelphia architect William Ellis, beginning along tradition of engaging Philadelphia architects to designimportant Salem buildings. At the time of its erection it wascertainly the largest public building in the vicinity, probablyexplaining why some sessions of the Revolutionary WarTreason Trials were held here. The walls are 18 inches thick atthe first floor level, and the windows are said to contain panesof glass made at nearby Wistarburg, the first successful glass-works in America located outside of Alloway. The date of thebuilding’s construction is worked into the brick design in thewestern gable, a rare example of Salem County’s well known“patterned-brick work” within the city of Salem. The exteriorappearance of this handsome building remains visuallyunchanged since its construction. Also of note - the cast ironfence surrounding the meetinghouse was made in Salem at theActon Foundry (formerly located at 4th and Griffith St.) andinstalled in 1859.

MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH was built in1870, and described shortly thereafter as “large and ele-

gant in appearance, and an addition to that part of the town.” Itsorigin can be traced to one of the largest Baptist revivals ever heldin Salem County (1868), resulting in so many converts that itwas deemed necessary to form another congregation apart fromFirst Baptist on West Broadway. The present imposing buildingis a slightly plainer version of Broadway Methodist Church onWest Broadway, constructed some twelve years earlier.

EDWIN CHEW HOUSE AND OFFICE (214)Edwin Chew was Salem’s foremost dentist in the 19th

century and was engaged not only in tooth extraction, but also themanufacture of artificial teeth. His office was described in 1882 as“furnished with all the improved appliances for extracting theteeth in a painless manner and also has a model operating chairwhich places the patient in the most comfortable position possi-ble.” Chew’s dental laboratory was located in the basement of thisbuilding, where he experimented with a number of novel materi-als to create realistic false teeth. Most unusual were the teeth hemade using “Cape May Diamonds,” quartz pebbles found on theDelaware Bay beach at Cape May Point. So realistic looking werethese remarkable creations that they won the prize for best artifi-cial teeth at the Salem County Fair in the mid-19th century. Theysurvive in the collections of the Salem County Historical Society.Needless to say, Dr. Chew lived up to his name. The Chew Houseis part of a series 19th century row houses that befits Salem’surban streetscape developing at that time.

DR. GEORGE LIPPINCOTT HOUSE (271) Theoriginal portion of this house was built in 1840, but

later radically remodeled into its present picturesque QueenAnne style in the late 19th century by Dr. George Lippincott.Dr. Lippincott was a colorful character and part of Ulysses S.Grant’s entourage when he visited the Mediterranean and Egyptin 1875. Lippincott lived in this house from 1858 when he was8 years old to his death in 1951at age 101.

E B E N E Z E R S M I T HHOUSE (277) Smith was a

prominent builder in Salem prior tothe Civil War. He built this home ashis personal residence in 1842. It istypical of a popular style of residencesbuilt throughout the city in the mid-19th century, with examples found onmany of the secondary streets. The

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16CONTRIBUTORS

WriterDr. James Turk

Additional WritersDonna RobinsonChris Davenport

Donald PierceJanet SheridanRonald Magill

Dianne Wolhrab

Site SelectionKen Lewis

Donna RobinsonRonald Magill

Chris DavenportDonald Pierce

James WaddingtonDiane Wolhrab

Brochure DesignKathy Cavallero

PhotographyRoberta Murphy, Today’s Sunbeam

Thanks toSalem County Historic Society

Ceil SmithToday’s Sunbeam

Salem Main Street Promotion Committee

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main block of this house remains virtually unchanged since itsconstruction, with the exception of the side porch that wasadded by Dr. Lippincott (who also owned this building) in thelate 19th century. It is said that Smith’s daughter, EmmalineSmith Sheppard, conducted a school in the basement of thishouse in 1850.

KEASBEY HOUSE (279)This handsome five-bay

Federal house was built in 1824and is associated with another ofSalem’s early families, theKeasbeys, who settled here in1694. This building is reminiscentof similarly elegant townhouses of the same period that areclustered on the south side of West Broadway and remind us ofthe town’s growing prosperity in the early 19th century.

SALTBOX HOUSE (305 & 307) stands in stark con-trast to the Keasbey House just a few doors away. This

was housing for Salem’s working class in the early 19th century.The style, which is commonthroughout the Northeast isnamed for the long, slopingrear roof, creating a profileresembling containers thatwere once used in kitchens tostore salt. Two other Saltboxhouses can be seen at 16 & 18

Market Street. All are notable for retaining their original appear-ance, preserving a part of the history of the city’s working class.

If you go just around the corner at 1 Johnson Street youwill find GUILFORD HALL, the ancestral home of

the Johnson family. When Richard Johnson built the first por-tion of this house in 1687, hisproperty encompassed nearlyone-half of the present-daycity of Salem, stretching allthe way west to Market St. Hecalled his estate GuilfordManor, portions of whichremained in the hands ofJohnson’s heirs until the

1920’s. The home took on its presence configuration in 1840when it was radically enlarged and altered such that little evi-dence remained of the 17th century structure. Nonetheless,Guilford Hall can still lay claim to being–at least in part – oneof the oldest houses in Salem County. Johnson Street is thewestern boundary of a residential neighborhood known as“The Avenues” that was developed on the Johnson estate begin-ning in the 1920’s.

PENNY HILL (316) Also known as the MorrisHancock House, this resi-

dence was built in 1823 on thehighest point on East Broadway.The origin of the name is not cer-tain, although one tradition statesthat it is a corruption of a namemore suitable to the geogra-phy– “puny hill.” The slight rise inelevation, however, provided thebuilders with the opportunity toconstruct a street level basement inwhich a business could be established. In the late 19th centurya bakery was operated at this location.

Penny Hill’s real claim to historic significance, however, isconnected with an oral tradition that it served as a station onthe Underground Railroad. Unlike the Goodwin Sisters House(47 Market St.), the history of the UGRR activities here isshrouded, although it is believed that the Hancock family wereQuakers and sympathetic to the cause of abolition. Salemplayed an important role in the movement of fugitives north tofreedom. Indeed, one of the “conductors” along this route wasa Salem native - African-American Thomas Clement Oliver.

DANIEL HUDDY HOUSE(335) is another of the earliest

houses remaining in the city. Believedto have been constructed in the early1700’s, it may have originally served asa tenant house for Guilford Manor, theJohnson plantation. As Salem expand-ed in the 19th century, the demand forbuilding lots–both residential andcommercial–along East Broadwaygrew as well.

A descendent of Salem’s Huddy family, who moved toMonmouth County, NJ, became a Revolutionary War hero, andwhose hanging by Loyalists at Toms River in 1782 was consid-ered such a heinous act that it came to the attention of noneother than George Washington. Washington and his officersdetermined that retaliation was required, and one of the Britishofficers captured at Yorktown was selected by lot for execution.Only through appeals from the French Court to the Americangovernment was the execution averted.

SAMUEL WRIGHT HOUSE (351) is without ques-tion the grandest 18th century house remaining on

East Broadway. Built in 1726, the house originally displayed apattern brick design– an architectural style that is especiallydistinctive in southwestern New Jersey in which dark glazed, or“vitrified brick” are laid in distinctive patterns, such as can beobserved at the Alexander Grant House (79-83 Market St.).Here the date of construction were worked into the westerngable. All of this, however, was obscured with stucco in the19th century in an effort to make the then unfashionable build-ing look more up-to-date.

The Wright House is currently under restoration by theSalem Old House Foundation, a project designed to promoteresidential restoration along East Broadway.

M O U N T H O P E U N I T E D M E T H O D I S TCHURCH The present congregation traces its history

back to 1801, when Robert Gibbon Johnson deeded this lotoff his plantation–Guilford Manor–to Salem’s first African-American congregation. As such, this is the oldest piece ofproperty owned by an African-American organization inSalem County, and one of the oldest in the United States. Theadjacent churchyard is among the oldest African-Americancemeteries in the county. The pres-ent church building was built in1919, incorporating withinits walls an earlier meeting-house built in 1867.

Continuingeast to the

intersection of EastBroadway andYorke St., turn rightand you will cometo MOUNT PISGAH AFRICAN METHODISTEPISCOPAL CHURCH, which traces its beginnings to meet-ings held just outside on Salem in the late 18th century.Founded in 1800, Mt. Pisgah stands as the oldest African-American congregation in New Jersey and among the ten old-est in the United States. It owes its existence to the preachingof Reuben Cuff, a native son who joined with the Rev. RichardAllen of Philadelphia in founding the African MethodistEpiscopal Church in 1816 in Philadelphia. Some of Cuff’sdescendants remain active in this church to this day.

The present building was completed in 1878 and is remi-niscent in style with several other 19th century churches inSalem in which the sanctuary is located on the second floor, thefirst floor level used for Sunday school rooms.

Salem’s African-American community is one of the oldestand most distinguished in New Jersey, with many residents ableto trace their family history back to the first settlement of SalemCounty in the late 1600’s. The presence of an active free Blackcommunity here also explains why the Underground Railroadfigures so prominently in Salem’s ante-bellum history.

When you return downtown, be sure to step on theBRASS STAR inset in the side-

walk at the corner of Market and EastBroadway (on the farright corner). The starrecalls one of Salem’s19th century clothing empori-ums known as “Star Hall.” Adowntown landmark through-out most of the 19th century,

Star Hall was torn down in thelate 19th century to allow for the expansion of the City

National Bank–the star was placed in the sidewalkat that time. To this day this location is known asStar Hall Corner. Local tradition states that if youstep on the Star you will one day return to Salem -as we hope you will do–and soon.

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