Edinburg Hotel

PictureEdinburg Hotel, November 2022.
Historical Overview
A large, 7-bay, 2.5-story stucco-and-brick building stands at 1719 Old Trenton road. This building - historically a hotel - is one of the key contributing structures of the historic community of Edinburg as well as a member of West Windsor's "100 Club."

However, this wasn't the first hotel in Edinburg. Starting in 1764, a man named Thomas Hooper kept an inn on the south side of Windsor Road, a few hundred yards from the crossroads of Windsor and Old Trenton Roads.[1],[2] At the time, the community of Edinburg was located along a colonial-era highway surveyed ten years prior to connect Princeton to Allentown.[3] Thus, Hooper's inn was a convenient stop for travelers, providing food, drink, and accommodations. It was also a common gathering place for elections and township meetings.

Thomas Hooper maintained his inn until at least 1775.[4] However, he was reputedly a Loyalist and during the American Revolution. This is said to have angered many of his neighbors, and seeing the writing on the wall, he applied for landownership in Prince Edward Island, Canada. However, while he was gone, several furious revolutionaries ransacked his house, looking for him. Frustrated at finding him gone, they instead took his wife captive, and subjected her (still recovering from the recent birth of one of his sons) to "indignities of cruelty." She died as a result of this torture.[5]

In 1784/5 - amid an era of post-war persecution of British sympathizers - Thomas Hooper, his children, and about a dozen other New Jersey families fled to Prince Edward Island, Canada and established a colony in Bedeque Bay. Hooper died in 1816, hundreds of miles from his place of birth.[6]
Picture
Hooper's Tavern lot (approx.) and current (2023) Edinburg Hotel lot.
Around the time he fled, Hooper's property was forcibly seized by the government - a practice commonly employed against Loyalists during and after the American Revolution, in order to discourage their activities and fund the revolutionary cause.[7]

​Other recorded owners of the inn after Hooper included:
  • Martin Hoagland (1795). Ironically, Martin himself was a Captain for the patriot cause during the American Revolution and led a company of 45 men during the Battle of Princeton. Only nine are said to have survived and Martin himself was wounded.[8],[9]
  • William Barber (1796).[10]
  • Charles Ford (1802).[111

By 1806, the property had passed to Joseph and Elizabeth Story. That year, they sold the six-acre inn lot to a man named Joseph Keelor.[11] Also in 1806, Keelor also purchased, from James and Martha Hooper, a parcel of land directly at the intersection of Edinburg, Windsor, and Old Trenton Roads.[12] It was there that, some time in the early 1800s, the old inn was moved to the Edinburg Hotel's current location.[13]
Picture
Edinburg, 1849. Note the "Tavern."
In 1811, the property was purchased by James and Sarah Hutchinson.[14] This is very likely the same James who owned the general store across the street,[15] as well as the Sailey-Tantum house next door.[16] However, despite owning the property, James and Sarah may not have actually operated the establishment, for inn licenses from 1811-15 show a Jonathan D Hutchinson (himself a Township Committeeman from the 1820s-30s) operating in Edinburg as well.[17] Other potential innkeepers were Jonathan T. Hutchinson (in 1822)[18] and Aaron C. Hutchinson (1824-26).[19]

​In 1828, James and Sarah sold the property, whereupon the Edinburg Hotel passed through multiple owners:
  • Abraham Rogers (1828-32).[20],[21]
  • Aaron and Rebecca Eldridge (1832-34).[22],[23]
  • Abram Rogers (1834-????).[24]
  • Aaron and Rebecca Eldridge (????-1839).[25]
  • William and Ann Holmes (1839-54) - William was also a West Windsor Constable in the 1820s-30s and Poundkeeper in the 1840s-50s.[26],[27],[28]
Picture
Edinburg, 1875. Note the "Hotel" and "J. B. Richardson."
After the Holmes were:
  • ​William D. Conover (1858-65) - a Commissioner for Laying Roads from the 1820s-30s.[29],[30],[31]
  • William Tindall (1865-????)[32]
  • William S. Tindall (????-1868)[33]
  • James B. Richardson (1868-76)[34],[35]
  • Joseph B. Mount (1876-81)[36],[37]
  • Margaret and William Warwick (1881-81)[38],[39]
  • Jonathan and Elizabeth Titus (1881-84)[40],[41]
  • Maria Bruton (1884-88)[42],[43]
  • Austin Walton (1888-91)[44],[45]
  • Charles Burk and Scudder Philips (1891-92)[46],[47]
  • Peter Burk (1892-94)[48],[49]
  • George Page​ (1894-1902)[50],[51]
Picture
From the August 3, 1924 Trenton Evening Times.
Tradition says that the old hotel burned down circa 1895. At the time, it was reputedly operated by Edward Wright. A new Victorian style building - the current one (in 2023) - was constructed in its place, and an icehouse added.[52] 

Next in ownership, starting in 1902, was Rudolph V. Kuser,[53] with Edward Mahan as innkeeper around the same time.[54] However, in 1903, Mahan moved to the historic West Windsor community of Princeton Junction to run the hotel there.[55]

By the 1910s, William V. Howell was in possession of the Edinburg Hotel.[56] In 1919, he sold it to Cornelia A. VanDuyne.[57] It's unknown for many years she owned the hotel. However, what is known is that during Prohibition, the Edinburg Hotel was also a speakeasy, and even got raided by agents in 1924.[58]
Picture
Edinburg Hotel, 1962. Photographed by Howard E. Schrader.
By 1929, the property had passed to Margaret B Huley. That year, she sold the Edinburg Hotel to Jennie & Lawrence Maurer. During their ownership, the hotel became the base for recreational hunting weekends. People came from far and wide to shoot pheasants and other game birds raised by Bill McManus.[59]

In 1955, Carl and Luci Nami purchased the property. After them (starting in 1959) were Edward and Dorothy Bambo. The building was renovated inside and out; the upper floors gutted and converted into living quarters with a two-story cathedral ceiling. The former hotel was now a tavern only. Around that time, Bernice Tantum painted murals with a colonial theme on the walls of the tavern.[60]

​In 1983, the property was sold to Leonard and Rose Anklowitz. Shortly afterward, the building was converted into offices.[61] A series of owners has bought and sold the property since then. However, the old Edinburg Hotel remains a key landmark of the historic West Windsor community of Edinburg.
Picture
Edinburg Hotel, probably 1980s or '90s.
Bibliography
  1. Windsor Township, 1764. October 1764 Plea for Tavern License for Thomas Hooper to the Majesties Judges and Justices of the Peace in Perth Amboy (seat of Middlesex County). Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  2. ​Keelor, Joseph, Story, Elizabeth, Story, Joseph. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1806.  Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 520.
  3. “Middlesex County Public Road Surveys, 1720-1775 (Microfilm).” Trenton, n.d. Accessed February 28, 2022. From the New Jersey State Archive’s Microfilm room. 
    Reel: Middlesex County Deeds and Land Conveyances, 1714-1722; Public Road Surveys, 1720-1775.
  4. Windsor Township, 1775. Plea for Tavern License for Thomas Hooper to the authorities in Perth Amboy (seat of Middlesex County). Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  5. Neal, Nancy E. A United Empire Loyalist Family: The Life and Times of Thomas Hooper of Bedeque, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and His Descendants, 1734-2004. Summerside, PE: Crescent Isle Publishers, 2006. 
  6. Ibid.
  7. “Records of Commissioners of Forfeited Estates, 1777-1795.” New Jersey State Archives Collections Guide. State of New Jersey Department of State. Accessed April 3, 2023. https://www.nj.gov/state/archives/guides/sdea1006.pdf. 
  8. Thomas B. Wilson, Notices from New Jersey Newspapers, 1791-1795, Vol. 3 (2002), 512.
  9. Carpenter, Daniel Hoogland. History and Genealogy of the Hoagland Family in America.  From Their First Settlement at New Amsterdam, 1638 to 1891. Dr. Cornelius N. Hoagland, n.d. 
  10. Windsor Township, 1796. Plea for Tavern License for William Barber to Middlesex County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  11. West Windsor Township, 1802. Plea for Tavern License for William Barber to Middlesex County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  12. ​Keelor, Joseph, Story, Elizabeth, Story, Joseph. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1806. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 520.
  13. ​Hooper, James, Hooper, Martha, Keelor, Joseph. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1806. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 667.
  14. Hutchinson, James, Hutchinson, Sarah, Keelor, Joseph. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1811. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 9 Page 7.
  15. Hutchinson, James, Tindall, Margaret, Tindall, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1814. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 11 Page 790.
  16. Hutchinson, James, Warner, Jacob, Warner, Jane. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1817. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 12 Page 744.
  17. West Windsor Township, 1811-1815. Collection of pleas for Tavern License for Jonathan D. Hutchinson to Middlesex County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  18. West Windsor Township, 1822. Plea for Tavern License for Jonathan T. Hutchinson to Middlesex County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  19. West Windsor Township, 1824-26. Collection of pleas for Tavern License for Aaron C. Hutchinson to Middlesex County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Tavern License collection.
  20. Hutchinson, James, Hutchinson, Sarah, Rogers, Abram. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1828. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 20 Page 683.
  21. Eldridge, Aaron, Eldridge, Rebecca, Rogers, Abram. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1834. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 25 Page 315.
  22. Ibid.
  23. Eldridge, Aaron, Eldridge, Rebecca, Rogers, Abram. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1834. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 27 Page 219.
  24. Ibid.
  25. Conover, William D., Holmes, Ann, Holmes, William K. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1858. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 40 Page 364.
  26. Ibid.
  27. Conover, William D., Tindall, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1865. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 60 Page 403.
  28. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
  29. Conover, William D., Tindall, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1865. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 60 Page 403.
  30. Ibid.
  31. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
  32. Conover, William D., Tindall, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1865. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 60 Page 403.
  33. Richardson, James B., Tindall, William S. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1868. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 71 Page 573.
  34. Ibid.
  35. Mount, Joseph S., Warwick, Margaret Ann, Warwick, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1887. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 131 Page 235.
  36. Ibid.
  37. Ibid.
  38. Ibid.
  39. Titus, Elizabeth K., Titus, John B., Warwick, Margaret Ann, Warwick, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1881. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 131 Page 239.
  40. Ibid.
  41. Bruton, Maria, Titus, Elizabeth K., Titus, John B. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1884. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 140 Page 313.
  42. Ibid.
  43. Bruton, Maria, Walton, Austin M. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1888. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 157 Page 352.
  44. Ibid.
  45. Burk, Charles R., Philips, Scudder H., Walton, Austin M. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1891. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 175 Page 595.
  46. Ibid.
  47. Burk, Charles R., Burk, Peter W., Philips, Scudder H. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1892. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 185 Page 473.
  48. Ibid.
  49. Burk, Peter W., Page, George W. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1894. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 193 Page 449.
  50. Ibid.
  51. Kuser, Rudolph V. Page, George W. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1902. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 261 Page 67.
  52. Reed, Marvin R. West Windsor Township People -- Purpose -- Progress New Jersey Tercentenary, 1664-1964: West Windsor : Tercentenary Committee, 1964.
  53. Kuser, Rudolph V., Page, George W. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1902. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 261 Page 67.
  54. “Princeton Junction.” Trenton Evening Times, November 10, 1903.
  55. Ibid.
  56. Howell, William V., Kuser, Rudolph V. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1915. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 385 Page 56.
  57. Howell, William V., VanDuyne, Cornelia A. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1919. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 439 Page 331.
  58. “Suburban Hotels Raided by Agents.” Trenton Evening Times, August 23, 1924.
  59. Tantum, Bernice. “Broadside,” 1993. Historical Society of West Windsor newsletter, Autumn, 1993. History of the Village of Edinburg. With contributions from Dorothy M. Tindall, Pauline Conover, Nellie & Al Carson, and Joe & Madeline Taylor.​
  60. Ibid.
  61. Ibid.
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