Hiram Cook House

Hiram Cook House, September 2019.

Historical Overview

A 3-bay, 2-story American Foursquare style house stands at 413 Village Road East. Although now (2023) clad in wooden siding, the building features an underlying cinderblock structure and full-length front porch. To the southeast is a detached garage. These two buildings are part of the "Hiram Cook" property - a contributing part of the historic community of Dutch Neck and a member of West Windsor's "100 Club."

Hiram Augustus Cook's signature in the basement.

Although the garage was only built in 2007 or 2008,[1],[2] a signature carved into the house's southeastern basement wall - "Hiram A. Cook 1907" - reveals both the home's age as well as who built it.[3] At that time, this property was part of a larger joint tract, owned by the Cook family, that also included the Cook-Tindall house at 415 Village Road East - and, until that same year, the Mount-Reynolds house at 411 Village Road East as well.[4],[5] Read our analysis of the Cook-Tindall house to explore the general history of the joint tract prior to 1907.

However, an additional point specific to the Hiram Cook house at 413 Village Road East must be covered here instead of on that page. In the 1890s (and possibly earlier), a large barn once stood exactly where Hiram Cook's house exists today at 413 Village Road East. This barn was used by George and Fred Conover as a wheelwright shop ("Conover & Bros"). It is unclear when this barn was built, but it must have been demolished between 1890 and 1907.[6]

Conover & Bros barn, likely late 1800s. Photo roughly facing north.

Hiram Augustus Cook played many roles in West Windsor. He was a township "Surveyor of the Highways" and was likely involved in the earliest efforts to pave West Windsor's then-dirt roads (late 1800s/early 1900s). He served as the West Windsor Township Clerk, from the 1890s-1930s.[7] In 1921, he was founding President of the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company - a title he held for at least the next decade.[8] He was also a Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church Sunday School teacher for 32 years.[9]

For decades, Hiram also ran a heating, plumbing, and farm machinery business - "Hiram A. Cook & Son" (reputedly founded in 1885) out of the joint tract. A warehouse, located in the backyard of 415 Village Road East, was part of this establishment.[10] It seems that his son, Fred (whose house stands at 419 Village Road East) as well as his daughter, Alice, also helped with the business.[11],[12] The Historical Society of West Windsor has a few artifacts from Hiram A. Cook & Son at the Schenck Farmstead/West Windsor History Museum.

The Hiram Cook house (left) and warehouse (right, technically behind 415 Village Road East). The warehouse has long since been demolished.

Hiram died in 1933,[13] and his wife, Carrie, in 1944.[14] Thereafter, 413 and 415 Village Road East were split from one another, resulting in the current (2023) property demarcations. It was also reputedly in this decade that a fireplace was added to the house.[15] In 1945/6, the Hiram Cook house passed out of Cook hands to Harold and Elizabeth Frazee.

Harold, owner of Frazee Seafood and Poultry Market in Princeton, was a charter member of the West Windsor Lions Club in 1952. He was also chairman for the American Bowling Congress of the State of New Jersey and named a member of the Bowlers Hall of Fame. Elizabeth, too, bowled for many years.[16] Although Harold died in 1987,[17] Elizabeth kept the house for the next twelve years and passed away in 2010 at the age of 99.[18]

Map of Village Road East in 1890, facing northwest. Notice the house of "H. A. Cook" (415 Village Road East) and his "Machine Shop" on the left.

In 1999, the property passed to new owners. Around 2007 or 2008, they made significant alterations to the house and property. A large, dilapidated barn (not the one pictured above) directly behind the Hiram Cook house was demolished. However, much of its wood salvaged for use in the then-newly-constructed detached garage, designed by local architect Heidi Kleinman. In the barn's place stands a garden in 2023. The house itself had wood siding installed over its original cinderblock facade, as well as many interior updates - newly-painted rooms, mosaic tiles, stained glass, woodwork restoration, a tin ceiling in the basement, and much more.[19] The house still displays these comparatively newer updates, but keeps its old structure and charm as a contributing element of the historic West Windsor community of Dutch Neck.

Hiram A. Cook & Son flier.

Go to Dutch Neck

Bibliography

"West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 2007.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 2007.
"West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 2008.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 2008.
Cook, Hiram Augustus. “Hiram A. Cook - Signature.” West Windsor, NJ: 413 Village Road East, 1907. Carving in basement walls of 413 Village Road East, saying "Hiram A. Cook 1907."
Bayler, Henry B., Cook, Carrie S. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1889. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 164 Page 133.
Cook, Carrie S., Cook, Hiram A., Mount, Jonathan S. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1907. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 294 Page 539.
“West Windsor.” Map. Scarlett and Scarlett's Fire Map of Mercer County, New Jersey, Including Trenton and Suburbs. Newark, New Jersey: Scarlett and Scarlett, 1890.
"West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
"Minutes and Records of the West Windsor Township Volunteer Fire Company, Organized March 21, 1921.” West Windsor: West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 firehouse, n.d. Minutes detailing the first 11 years (1921-1932) of the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1’s development.
"Cook, Dutch Neck Resident. Is Dead.” Trenton Evening Times, June 17, 1933.
Reed, Marvin R. West Windsor Township People -- Purpose -- Progress New Jersey Tercentenary, 1664-1964: West Windsor : Tercentenary Committee, 1964.
"Private Fundal Rite for Frederick Cook.” Trenton Evening Times, January 15, 1954.
"Mrs. Tindall, 79." Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, December 8, 1968.
"Cook, Dutch Neck Resident. Is Dead.” Trenton Evening Times, June 17, 1933.
"Mrs. Carrie Cook.” Trenton Evening Times, October 5, 1944.
Mcauliffe, Phil. “Best of All Worlds.” PM Magazine, November 2010.
"Harold J. Frazee; Was Prominent Sportsman.” The Times, November 8, 1987.
Ibid.
“Elizabeth Frazee Obituary (2010) - Trenton, NJ - ‘the Times, Trenton,".” Elizabeth V. Frazee. The Times, Trenton, May 13, 2010. https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/trenton/name/elizabeth-frazee-obituary?id=24763123.
Mcauliffe, Phil. “Best of All Worlds.” PM Magazine, November 2010.