Gordon-Northrop House

4271 Quakerbridge Road, March 2019. From Paul Ligeti.

Historical Overview

Standing at 4261-63 Quakerbridge Road is a 2-story Greek Revival house. This structure - the Gordon-Northrop House - is a member of West Windsor's "100 Club" and a contributing element to the historic Lawrence/West Windsor community of Port Mercer.

This house was constructed some time between 1840[1] and 1860.[2] The house and its yard were originally part of a larger tract that also contained the adjacent inn at 4271 Quakerbridge Road, as well as 4273 and 4275 Quakerbridge Road.[3] However, in 1868, Richard Cook split off 4261-63 Quakerbridge Road and sold it to Lewis Gordon.[4] Gordon and his wife, Caroline, in turn, deeded it to his son, John, in 1881.[5] That same deed also contained the property now encompassing 4272 Quakerbridge Road to John.[6]

John and his wife, Sarah, had at least three children: Carrie, George, and Stuart. Carrie married Charles H. Mather, who lived in the adjacent house at 4271 Quakerbridge Road. Stuart eventually acquired his father's farm and conducted a dairy with about seventy-five cows. Around 1900 or so, John and Sarah rented their house at 4261-63 Quakerbridge Road to the Arrowsmith family. This was several years before John Arrowsmith became Port Mercer's bridge-tender and moved into the bridge-tender's house across the street at 4278 Quakerbridge Road. Three Arrowsmith children were born in the Gordons' house: Walter, George, and Clark.[7] 

4261-63 Quakerbridge Road, probably mid-late 1800s, with members of the Mather family, and probably also the Gordons and Arrowsmiths. Courtesy of Margaret Northrop.

In 1913, the house at 4261-63 Quakerbridge Road was deeded to Mary Reed.[8] It further passed to Willard and Alma Applegate in 1940, then to Margaret and Starr Northrop in 1946.[9] Margaret was a founding member of West Windsor's Recreational Commission in 1961 and the town's Tax Collector from 1975-1982.[10] The Northrops deeded the house to Charles and Candy Johnson that in 1982.,[12] It further passed to to R. Michael Strumpen-Darrie in 1987[13] and others in 1998. It remains a rare surviving example of Greek Revival architecture in West Windsor and a relic of old Port Mercer.

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Bibliography

1. "West Windsor Tax Assessor Address List, 2019.” West Windsor, 2019. List of all residences in West Windsor with dates of construction, according to tax assessor. Sent to the Historical Society by Lorraine Jones and Dawn Moretti.​
2. Lake, D J, and S N Beers. Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia and Trenton from Actual Surveys By D.J. Lake and S. N. Beers. Assisted by F. Beers, L. B. Lake and D. G. Beers. Philadelphia, PA: C.K. Stone and A. Pomeroy, 1860. https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/34112?show=full
3. Cook, Richard, Hutchinson, Robert L. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1862. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 51 Page 316.
4. Cook, Richard, Gordon, Lewis. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1868. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 72 Page 445.
5. Gordon, John, Gordon, Lewis. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1881. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 147 Page 365.
6. Ibid.
7. Arrowsmith, Carrie. “Carrie Arrowsmith Pens Port Mercer Reflections.” Princeton Recollector 6, no. 8, May 1981. https://theprince.princeton.edu/princetonperiodicals/?a=d&d=princetonrecollector19810501.2.2&srpos=5&e=------198-en-20-princetonrecollector-1--txt-txIN-%22cARRIE+ARROWSMITH%22------. 
8. ​​Gordon, John E., Gordon, Sarah, Reed, Mary J. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1913. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 354 Page 447.
9. Johnson, Candy, Johnson, Charles A., Northrop, Margaret. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1982. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 2203 Page 894.
10. ​​“West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
11. Johnson, Candy, Johnson, Charles A., Northrop, Margaret. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1982. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 2203 Page 894.
12. Ibid.
13. Castle, Candy, Strumpen-Darrie, Michael. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1987. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 2391 Page 856