The Dey Farm

Dey barn-turned-office building, August 2021.

Historical Overview

Located at 61 Princeton-Hightstown Road is a large, 2-story, gable-roofed  building with gable-roofed wing. Although now functioning as an office building, this was in fact once a barn, and is the last remaining element of the Dey family farm in Princeton Junction.

In 1938, Charles Lawrence Dey bought 120 acres and a house from Alice Wyckoff Russell. This included land stretching from Cranbury Road to Clarksville Road, east of Princeton-Hightstown Road, as well as another parcel on the west side of Princeton-Hightstown Road stretching from Clarksville Road to Alexander Road. Potatoes and wheat were the primary crops raised on the farm.[1]

In the 1940s, two lots were split off from this property and sold - one to Fred Hall at the corner of Alexander Road and Princeton Hightstown Road;[2] the other to Henry Schafer at the corner of Cranbury Road.[3] Both built service stations there.

Charles and Mabel ("Lolly") MacKenzie from Plainsboro were married in 1940, two weeks after Lolly graduated from Princeton High School. Farm help was hard to find so for the first two years of their marriage, Lolly worked with Lawrence in the fields and drove all kinds of machinery. She also took truckloads of alfalfa to the Walker Gordon Farms in Plainsboro and picked up fertilized in Englishtown.[4]

Dey farm, c. 1940s.

In the 1950s, Lawrence bought an airplane and built a hanger for it in front of their barn. The runway is now Sherbrooke Drive.[5]

The Dey farm was within walking distance of the train station. Lawrence thought the land would be ideal for building a development for commuters. He hired Robert Hillier, a recently-graduated architect working for Raymond Bowers (Lawrence's cousin), to draw up the plans. The concept Hillier planned was unusual: clusters of homes with a large open area in the middle. The idea was rejected by West Windsor's municipal government, twice.[6] Therefore, the Deys decided to sell to a realtor, who turned it into Sherbrooke Estates by 1968.[7]

Some time between, the old farmhouse was torn down,[8],[9]. However, the barn was saved and converted into offices. At the time of this writing (July 2023), it remains the only remnant of the old Dey farm.

Larry Dey and his first airplane, c. 1947. Photo from Lolly Dey.

Go to Princeton Junction Homepage

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Bibliography

1. “Broadside,” 1998. Newsletter about the history of Princeton Junction (Part 1 of a 2-part series) produced by the Historical Society of West Windsor. Spring 1998.
2. Hall, Edith M., Hall, Fred D., Hall, Joseph W., Hall, Pauline. West Windsor, 1964. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 1697 Page 23.
3. “Broadside,” 1998. Newsletter about the history of Princeton Junction (Part 1 of a 2-part series) produced by the Historical Society of West Windsor. Spring 1998.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 2002.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 2002.
8. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 2007.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 2007.