Ellsworth Center

Ellsworth Center, December 2021.

Historical Overview

Located at 33 Princeton-Hightstown Road, directly next to and east of the Princeton-Hightstown Road bridge over the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks, is a business/shopping complex with multiple buildings. This property has long been a commercial staple of the historic West Windsor community of Princeton Junction.

In the 1930s and 1940s, a small gas station, service center, luncheonette, and general store was operated on the site by Grace and William Eichbaum (see adjacent photo).[1],[2] It's said that preceding them was the Janick family. Additionally, in the 1950s, a general store was reputedly managed by Pete Dolan and Amy Fulton on Cranbury Road, where the entrance to the Ellsworth Center (next to 23 Cranbury Road) is located today.[3]

Princeton Junction, 1940s. Left to right: Eichbaum's store/station, Cranbury Road, Schafer's Service Station. In the foreground is Princeton-Hightstown Road.

Some time in the 1940s, the property passed to Joseph Nagy and Jonathan A. Ellsworth[4] - the latter a staff sergeant in World War II.[5] Around 1950, they built a two-story cinderblock building called the "Princeton Junction Package Store;" a television repair shop was run by Nagy in one part and the Princeton Junction Liquor Store in the other. There were also apartments upstairs.[6] In 1957, John Ellsworth built a new brick building to house Princeton Junction Liquors.[7],[8] It was later moved further back on the property and houses JEM Cleaners in 2023.[9]

The Ellsworths operated the complex as a family business, with John's sons, Shawn and Mark, helping in the liquor and wine business.[10] They managed an ever-growing complex, with other buildings being constructed being added in the 1980s and 1990s. Two additional buildings were constructed around 1990 much closer to the train tracks, but never received full zoning approvals and remain vacant as of July 2023.[11],[12],[13],[14] There are, however, plans to develop this rear property into an apartment complex.[15]

Ellsworth Center, 1962. Viewed from Wallace Road. From Howard E. Schrader.

At 15 Cranbury Road stands a two-story building with front portico, which was built in the 1950s by the Janicks for their Craft Cleaners.[16] The building also held a small restaurant and Thorne's Pharmay (the latter starting in 1959).[17],[18] Thorne's moved to the nearby strip mall on Princeton-Hightstown Road in 1963.[19] In 1965, the Janicks swapped the building for George Warren's Nassau Street building, where Craft Cleaners remains today.[20]

In the 1970s, town government was in the process of moving out of their old Town Hall in Dutch Neck and constructing the current Municipal Building at 271 Clarksville Road. Amid this process, in 1974, most municipal functions temporarily relocated to the 2-story Craft Cleaners building[20] and largely stayed there until moving to the current Municipal Building in 1977.[21]

In 2013, plans were approved by West Windsor's Zoning Board to redevelop (?????) the Ellsworth Center, adding two new buildings and apartments over the commercial first floors of some buildings.[22] As of July 2023, much of this expansion has been constructed, with more to come. Still, while many of the old businesses have come and gone, Ellsworth Center itself remains, as a familiar, generations-old Princeton Junction landmark.

Township offices temporarily relocate to Ellsworth Center, January 1974. From Betty Kirby.

Go to Princeton Junction Homepage

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Bibliography

1. Anonymous. (n.d.). Notes on Ellsworth Center. West Windsor, NJ; Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum. 
   
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. ​"Notice." Trenton Evening Times. October 13, 1949.
5. "Staff Sergeant John A. Ellsworth." Princeton Herald. September 3, 1949.
6. “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.​
7. Ibid.
8. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
9. ​“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.​
10. "Wine, Gourmet Items, an Deli at Ellsworth's Wine & Liquors." Town Topics. January 24, 2001.
11. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1975.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1975.
12. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1980.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1980.
13. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1985.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1985.
14. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1990.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1990.
15. Jared Kofsky, By, & Kofsky, J. (2021, January 12). Hearing scheduled for proposal to build 144 apartments near Princeton Junction train station. Jersey Digs. https://jerseydigs.com/hearing-scheduled-for-proposal-to-build-144-apartments-near-princeton-junction-train-station/ 
16. ​​“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.​
17. Ibid.
18. ​"A Thorne Pharmacy Opening at Junction." Princeton Herald. March 27, 1959.
19. Princeton Junction Shopping Center. (1963, September 19). Opening at Hightstown Road, Princeton Junction Shopping Center. Town Topics. Princeton.
20. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
21. Ibid.
22. NJ.com, N. M. | F. (2013, December 12). Ellsworth Center gets approval from West Windsor to develop across from Princeton Junction train station. nj. https://www.nj.com/mercer/2013/12/ellsworth_center_gets_approval_from_west_windsor_to_develop_across_from_princeton_junction_train_sta.html