Friday, October 31, 2008






















The next capital to visit is Trenton, New Jersey.

The photos are: 1) the Trenton skyline during the Delaware River Flood of April, 2005; 2) the Trenton skyline at night; 3) the New Jersey State House; 4) the Delaware River; 5) the Lower Free Bridge (known to the locals as the "Trenton Makes Bridge"); and 6) the Sovereign Bank Arena (aka the Mercer County Arena).

Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the City of Trenton had a population of 82,804.
Trenton dates back to June 3, 1719, when mention was made of a constable being appointed for Trenton, while the area was still part of Hunterdon County. Boundaries were recorded for Trenton Township as of June 3, 1719. Trenton became New Jersey's capital as of November 25, 1790, and the City of Trenton was formed within Trenton Township on November 13, 1792. Trenton Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken on February 22, 1834, to form Ewing Township. A series of annexations took place over a fifty-year period, with the city absorbing South Trenton borough (April 14, 1851), portions of Nottingham Township (April 14, 1856), Chambersburg and Millham Township (both on March 30, 1888) and Wilbur borough (February 28, 1898).

The first settlement which would become Trenton was established by Quakers in 1679, in the region then called the Falls of the Delaware, led by Mahlon Stacy from Handsworth, Sheffield, UK. Quakers were being persecuted in England at this time and North America provided the perfect opportunity to exercise their religious freedom.
By 1719, the town adopted the name "Trent-towne", after William Trent, one of its leading landholders who purchased much of the surrounding land from Stacy's family. This name later was shortened to "Trenton".

During the American Revolutionary War, the city was the site of George Washington's first military victory. On December 26, 1776, Washington and his army, after crossing the icy Delaware River to Trenton, defeated the Hessian troops garrisoned there (see Battle of Trenton). After the war, Trenton was briefly the national capital of the United States in November and December of 1784. The city was considered as a permanent capital for the new country, but the southern states favored a location south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Trenton became the state capital in 1790, but prior to that year the Legislature often met here. The town was incorporated in 1792.

Trenton is located in almost the exact geographic center of the state (the official geographic center is 5 miles southeast of Trenton). Due to this, it is sometimes included as part of North Jersey and as the southernmost city of the Tri-State Region. Others consider it a part of the South Jersey and as the northernmost city of the Delaware Valley. Following the 2000 U.S. Census, Trenton was shifted from the Philadelphia metropolitan area to the New York metropolitan area. However, Mercer County constitutes its own metropolitan statistical area, formally known as the Trenton-Ewing MSA. Locals consider Trenton to be a part of ambiguous Central Jersey, and thus part of neither region. These same locals are generally split as to whether they are within New York or Philadelphia's sphere of influence.

The City of Trenton is home to numerous neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods. The main neighborhoods are taken from the four cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West) Trenton was once home to large Italian, Hungarian, and Jewish communities, but since the 1960s demographic shifts have changed the city into a relatively segregated urban enclave of poorer African Americans. Italians are scattered throughout the city, but a distinct Italian community is centered in the Chambersburg neighborhood, in South Trenton. This community has been in decline since the 1970s, largely due to economic and social shifts to the more prosperous, less crime-ridden suburbs surrounding the city. There are still a few old time Italians scattered throughout Chambersburg.
The North Ward, once a mecca for the city's middle class, is now one of the most economically distressed, torn apart by race riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Nonetheless, the area still retains many important architectural and historic sites. North Trenton has a large Polish-American neighborhood that borders Lawrence Township, many of whom attend St Hedwigs Roman Catholic Church on Brunswick Ave. St. Hedwigs church was built in 1904 by Polish immigrants,many of whose families still attend the church. North Trenton is also home to the historic Shiloh Baptist Church--one of the largest houses of worship in Trenton and the oldest African American church in the city founded in 1888. The church is currently pastored by Rev. Darrell L. Armstrong, whom has carried the olympic torch in 2002 for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Also located just at the southern tip of North Trenton is the city's Battle Monument, also known as "Five Points". It is a 150 ft. structure that marks the spot where George Washington's Continental Army launched the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War. It faces downtown Trenton and is a symbol of the city's historic past.
South Ward is the most diverse neighborhood in Trenton and is home to many residents with Latin American, Italian-American, as well as a sizable African American community. The Chambersburg neighborhood is contained within South Ward, and was once noted in the region as a destination for its many Italian restaurants and pizzerias.
East Ward is the smallest neighborhood in Trenton and is home to the Trenton's Train Station as well as Trenton Central High School. Recently, two campuses have been added, Trenton Central High School West and Trenton Central High School North, respectively, in those areas of the city. West Ward is the home of Trenton's more suburban neighborhoods, including Hiltonia, Glen Afton, Berkeley Square, and the area surrounding Cadwalader Park.
In addition to these neighborhoods, other notable sections include the "The Island" (a small neighborhood between Route 29 and the Delaware River that is prone to flooding - and did so in 2005 and again in 2006) and historic Mill Hill located next door to downtown Trenton. Kingsbury Towers (a high rise apartment complex technically in South Ward) is also semi-autonomous or neutral. the Fisher-Richey-Perdicaris neighborhood comprises a little-known district sandwiched between West State Street and Route 29 with large several-story residences dating from ca. 1915.


Today's Jumble (10/31/08):
JUGED = JUDGE; CIEPE = PIECE; CRAHNB = BRANCH; PLOATS = POSTAL
CIRCLED LETTERS = UDPEERNCOSA
What mom did when her son needed a Halloween costume.
"SCARED ONE UP"

Of course, today is Halloween. Spooks, goblins, and ghosts.All Hallow's Eve, the Eve of All Saints' Day (originally the Eve of All Hallow's Day).

Other things on this day in history:

475Romulus Augustulus was proclaimed Western Roman Emperor.
1517Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
1587Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.
1822Emperor Agustín de Iturbide attempted to dissolve the Mexican Empire.
1861American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.
1863 – The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato.
1864Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state.
1876 – A monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 human deaths.
1892Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
1913 - Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across America.
1917World War I: Battle of Beersheba – "last successful cavalry charge in history"
1918Banat Republic founded
1923 – 160 consecutive days of 100 degrees at Marble Bar, Australia begins.
1924World Savings Day was announced in Milano/Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks).
1926 – Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured.
1936 – The Boy Scouts of the Philippines was formed.
1938Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
1940World War II: Battle of Britain ends – The United Kingdom prevents Germany from invading Great Britain.
1941 – After 14 years of work, drilling is completed on Mount Rushmore.
1941 – World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.
1941 – Clothing factory fire in Huddersfield, England kills 49
1943 – World War II: F4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful radar-guided interception.
1954Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.
1956Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
1959Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to renounce his American citizenship at the US Embassy in Moscow, USSR.
1961 – In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from Lenin's Tomb.
1963 – Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) explosion in Indianapolis kills 74 people during an ice skating show. The mammoth explosion injured 400. A faulty propane tank connection in a concession stand was blamed.
1968Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.
1973Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escape from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, Republic of Ireland after a hijacked helicopter landed in the exercise yard.
1984Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards (riots soon broke out in New Delhi and nearly 2,000 innocent Sikhs were killed).
1986 – The 5th congress of the Communist Party of Sweden is inaugurated. During the course of the congress the party name is changed to the Solidarity Party and the party ceases to be a communist party.
1994 – An American Eagle ATR-72 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 68 passengers and crew.
1996 – The Fokker F100 on TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.
1997 – 19-year-old British au pair Louise Woodward, convicted by a Cambridge, Massachusetts, jury of second-degree murder the day before, is sentenced to life in prison.
1998Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.
1999 – Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
1999 – Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.
2000 – A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members
2000 – A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50
2000 – The last Multics machine was shut down.
2002 – A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
2003 – A bankruptcy court approves MCI's reorganization plans, essentially clearing the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy.
2003 – Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power.

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