Mill Hill, Trenton, New Jersey
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Mill Hill is a historic
neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
located within the city of Trenton in Mercer County, in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
. It is considered to be part of Downtown Trenton. The Mill Hill Historic District was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1977.


History

The name Mill Hill refers to central New Jersey's first industrial site, a mill, erected in 1679, at the southeast corner of the present Broad Street crossing of the
Assunpink Creek Assunpink Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in western New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden S ...
. Mill Hill and its wooden mill were among the holdings of the first settler in the vicinity of Trenton, Mahlon Stacy, a Quaker who arrived in North America in 1678. The mill was destroyed in a flood. Mill Hill became famous in the late 18th century for being the site of the
Second Battle of Trenton The Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, was a battle between American and British troops that took place in and around Trenton, New Jersey, on January 2, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, ...
, a battle many historians consider the turning point in the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. The battle took place on January 2, 1777, in what is now Mill Hill Park. Every year, this battle is re-enacted during Patriots Week in Trenton. Mill Hill remained relatively undeveloped during the first decades of the 19th century. During this time it was not yet part of the City of Trenton. In 1840, the entire area was incorporated as South Trenton and then into the City of Trenton in 1851. The name Mill Hill was applied to the area at least as early as 1821. Mill Hill grew rapidly during the 19th century as Trenton grew into an industrial center of some note. The Roebling steelworks made the wire cables used to construct most of the major bridges built in the United States, including the
Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...
and
George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named after George W ...
. Trenton was also the principal center of the pottery and ceramic industry in the United States. The Mercer Street Friends Center, a Quaker meeting house at 151 Mercer Street, was completed in 1858. The population of Mill Hill swelled rapidly, enhanced by immigration. By 1920, 52% of the city's population was foreign-born. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, Trenton started to decline. By 1953 Roebling Steel was one of Trenton's last great manufacturers to be sold to another company and then closed. Since the early 1980s, Mill Hill has been undergoing a revitalization. This was enabled by a redevelopment plan that aims to convert Mill Hill into a latter-day "Georgetown". Instead of replacing the historical fabric of the area, the buildings were to be preserved and renovated. The red brick row-houses - constructed in the late 19th century - have been restored, in many cases being converted back to single-family homes (many had been converted to multi-family rental properties during less prosperous times). In a symbolic act that ended up carrying significant weight for the neighborhood, the then Mayor of Trenton, Arthur J. Holland, moved his family to 138 Mercer Street in 1964. "Mayor Arthur Holland and his young wife were idealistic newlyweds with a baby daughter in 1964 when they decided to restore a house in Trenton's crumbling, if historic, Mill Hill neighborhood." The restoration of the area has proceeded in waves ever since. Initially focused on the 100 blocks of Mercer and Jackson Streets, some residents began renovating their homes. In 1967, the first Holiday House Tour took place. The tour became an annual event that continues today, attracting more than 1,000 people who tour the historic homes. With these changes came improving house prices, more investment and more restoration. After the property collapse of the late 1980s, the second wave of renovation started. Commercial developers, led by Atlantis Historic Properties, took up renovating the vacant properties on the 200 blocks of Mercer, Jackson and Clay streets. Atlantis was formed by the members of the Mill Hill community themselves (in the early 1990s) to preserve and restore the historic homes - starting with the properties at 261 and 263 Jackson Street. Today, renovated historic structures and historically sensitive new construction stand side by side. The Quaker Meetinghouse on 151 Mercer is also home to the offices o
Mercer Street Friends
a Quaker-affiliated social service agency serving Trenton and surrounding communities.


Historic district

The Mill Hill Historic District is a
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
encompassing the neighborhood and roughly bounded by Clay, Jackson, Front, Market, Broad, and Greenwood Streets. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on December 12, 1977, for its significance in architecture, commerce, and military history. The district includes 284
contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...
, two contributing structures, and one contributing object. The individually listed Douglass House and Mercer Street Friends Center contribute to the district. With A marble statue of George Washington, once owned by
Mahlon Dickerson Eyre Mahlon Dickerson Eyre (April 13, 1821 – August 28, 1882) was an American banker from Philadelphia who later lived in Florence, Italy. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of a successful merchant, he attended Princeton University. He tr ...
and displayed at the
Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official wo ...
in 1876, is located near the Douglass House. Washington is shown standing on a boat, symbolically representing his crossing of the Delaware River before his victory at the
Battle of Trenton The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington's George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, crossing of the ...
. File:Douglass House, Trenton, NJ.jpg, Douglass House File:Mercer Street Friends.JPG, Mercer Street Friends Center File:George Washington by Mahlon Dickerson Eyre, Trenton, NJ - profile.jpg, ''
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
''


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Mercer County, New Jersey List of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Mercer County, New Jersey This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Mercer County, New Jersey. Latitude ...


References


External links

*
Trenton Mill Hill
* {{NRHP in Mercer County, New Jersey Neighborhoods in Trenton, New Jersey Populated places established in 1679 1679 establishments in New Jersey