Trenton's Jews: Beginning, Adaptation and Achieving the American Dream

Trenton's Jews: Beginning, Adaptation and Achieving the American Dream  Arthur L. Finkle 

An account of a small industrial city, Trenton, that became a haven for immigrating Jews (German Jews in the 1850’s; and the Russian, Polish, Hungarian and Romanian Jews in 1881-1914). The story delves into the immigrant periods of a displaced people adapting to a completely new environment. It follow its people, its institutions, its work and its eventual economic success. Later, the story line explores the Second Generation of this Russian community, along with the older and smaller German Jewish community, and the amalgamating influences of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) and other secular organizations ‘Americanizing’ the Jewish community. Trenton is one of many small cities that served as havens for Jewish refugees who came to the land of opportunity to eventually achieve the American dream.

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Trenton's Jews: Beginning, Adaptation and Achieving the American Dream

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Lower Bridge

 North Warren St. 1920

Market Street Near Greene  St. (Broad St. 1860's

Model T Roadster
     

Potteries

'Famous' Morton House at #1-9 Union Street

Bernice Schwartz (nee Nitzberg)

Bernice Schwartz (nee Nitzberg)

I was relieved that I did not live in Jew Town. As a child, my home was on the top of the Market Street hill, just above Jew Town in Trenton, New Jersey during the 1930’s and ‘40’s. We lived above and behind my parents’ wallpaper store. The boundary between Jew Town and the rest of the city was the four corners where Broad St. crossed Market St. A large bank, the county courthouse, a red brick church, and Stover’s anti-Semitic drug store occupied the corners. As Market St. descended, the character of the hill changed, from a quiet lower middle class community to a bustling noisy market place.

I was often sent there by my mother on errands. Every Friday I bought horseradish for Shabbos. It was ground in front of me on an old wooden, not too clean, grater at Shulman’s store.