Striding across State Street in 1947, Trenton, New Jersey


In an idle moment recently (which I seem to have a lot of nowadays), I visited the Duke University Digital Libraries site, and while I was browsing, looking mostly for old photos of Phoenix and Los Angeles, I noticed this picture, which caught my eye because I'd like to imagine myself striding across State Street like that.





It's Trenton, New Jersey, on April 28th, 1947. The reason I know that is simply because it's been scratched into the negative (photographers used to do that, you know). And since the caption on the Duke site said Trenton, NJ, and I could see a street sign (Chancery), I figured that I could do some detective work and identify exactly where this striding man was. I got on Google Street View, and spent a lot of time, and failed miserably.

The next day I mentioned it to a friend of mine, the real brains behind my history adventuring, and while he's like me, mostly interested in places that he knows, he did the research, and found the location in a matter of minutes.


No, I know nothing about Trenton, New Jersey, but like I say, this image caught my eye. There's just something so cheerful and jaunty about the man crossing at Chancery Street, as if he were thinking that the end of World War II would bring the type of prosperity that people had been dreaming of for decades - and it did, the 1950s were a spectacular time!

By the way, in case you're wondering why the Duke Libraries has this on its site, it's a site of advertising. Their main interest in this image is the billboard back there. But my main interest is time-traveling.


There's just so much to see in this image! There's Weinmann's, which had steaks, dancing, and entertainment. There's a taxi stand right nearby, which I would recommend, because I'd imagine that the champagne would flow. I personally like a gin-and-tonic with my steak. There are young men walking around, which which is something that wasn't seen during the war years, when the young men were all in the service. I'd like to imagine that, like the striding man crossing the street, they're cheerful about a bright future, maybe using the GI Bill to start a good life.


The cars are, of course, spectacular. If you can identify them by make and model that would be wonderful, and I'll update the post.


And then there's the neon, which is all over the place in this photo. It must have been incredible at night. Invisible weaving?


Thank you for visiting Trenton, New Jersey in 1947 with me. And if you live there, please stride across State Street!



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