Christmastime in Trenton, New Jersey in 1950


Let's time-travel to Trenton, New Jersey in 1950, at Christmastime. This imaginary journey is courtesy of the nice people at the Duke University Libraries, who scanned in this image with very high resolution and a lot of interesting detail. We're at State and Broad in 1950, and I know that, not because I'm any kind of expert on Trenton, but because it's right there in the photo.


Of course the Duke site is all about the advertising, which is interesting, but to me I just get a big kick out of the old images. My eye went immediately to Santa, and his reindeer friend, and I got to wondering when Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer became popular, so I thought that I'd look it up. Hang on a second. Looks like Rudolph first appeared in 1939, but on this particular drawing, the artist stayed with a more traditional reindeer nose. Speaking for myself, as a cartoonist I've always drawn Rudolph when I've drawn Santa, but of course artists are free to make their own aesthetic choices, and of course Swern's may have directed the artist to draw the reindeer like that, as people might still be associating it with Montgomery Ward. 


The next thing that caught my eye were those beautiful cars! I'm pretty sure that's a Buick, but I'm not enough of a car expert to be sure. If you can identify the cars, please do and I'll update the post!


I enjoy looking at the people, and the shops. Looks like J.B. Wilson sold stuff for women, including bags, lingerie, skirts, slacks, sweaters, and suits. I'm pretty sure that it says "millinery" there next to the State Street sign, which was an old-fashioned term for ladies' hats. The moving car is kind of blurry because of the long exposure that the photographer used, which gave such incredible detail (to things that weren't moving).

It's December 6th, and there doesn't look like there's a trace of snow. I wonder if it was warm that year, or if that's typical for Trenton? I really have no idea.


There's a five and dime! Everything in the store either sold for a nickel or a dime, and in 1950 that amount of money went a long way. I'm too young to remember five and dimes, although they were around when I was a little kid, in the 1960s. By the time I started understanding the value of money, inflation was changing everything fast. You can Google "Nixon's Wage and Price Controls", if you don't remember the early 1970s. Prices were absolutely skyrocketing back then! The old-timers told me that they remembered when they could buy enough candy for a penny to get sick on. Those must have been the days!


Looks like there's a ghost sign on that building back there that says "Grayson". That means that some lettering was painted over some old lettering, and now the old lettering has become visible. I can read Nevius, but not what's behind "Grayson". If you can, and know what this is all about, please tell me.


Then there's the billboard for a Philco TV. When I was a kid in the '60s, we had a Ford-Philco TV. Looks like in 1950 it was a "True Focus", "Balanced Beam" television. Must have been pretty cool to see!

I guess that's enough walking around Trenton at Christmastime in 1950 for me. You can keep shopping, but I gotta sit down!




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