Historic Community: Princeton Basin

Princeton Basin, mid-1800s. From "Crossroads of Commerce" (click to visit)

Centered on where Alexander Road crosses the Delaware and Raritan Canal was one of West Windsor's historic communities: Princeton Basin. This industrial hamlet - also overlapping Princeton - grew in the mid-1830s following the opening of the canal and a parallel Camden and Amboy Railroad line. However, it declined steeply a few decades later and became one of the area's seediest communities. Only a few original structures remain. Explore Princeton Basin and its historical sites below!

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​Historical Overview

The term “Princeton Basin” - also known as “Canal Basin” - dates to the earliest years of the canal (mid-1830s).[1],[2] It was so named because there were two “turning basins” – ponds that let barges load and unload cargo, moor for the night, and reverse course.[3] Only the basin on the northeast side of Alexander Street (Alexander Road’s continuation in Princeton) remains, now as a kayak/canoe rental establishment. The other was filled in generations ago[4] and now houses “Turning Basin Park.” Long, gone, too, are the railroad stop and office on the West Windsor (east) side of the canal.[5]

An early Princeton Basin icon was the Steamboat/Railroad Hotel. Erected before 1849,[6] this was a large wooden building sitting at 2 Canal Road, catering largely to barge workers and travelers. In the 1850s and 1860s, a “Mr. Skilman” managed the hotel.[7],[8] John L. Corlies operated it in the 1870s.[9]  In 1874, Solomon Krauskopf, a Princeton jeweler, was murdered in Princeton Basin while walking back home along the Dinky Line,[10] and Corlies was accused. The murder was never solved but suspicions are said to have followed Corlies for years.[11] The hotel took on a succession of owners after him. During the 1930s, the building was reputedly remodeled as a tavern, but a license was refused.[12] It was then occupied as a residence until the passing of its last owner, Della Jenkins. In 1992, the decrepit building was demolished,[13] and a new house has since been built in its place.

​One of the most active enterprises was a general store run by Scott Berrien. Scott was related to Alexander Lawrence Berrien – namesake of the 1920s-era “Berrien City” neighborhood south of the Princeton Junction train station, which we will explore shortly.[14] Scott’s store provided wares such as hay, straw, fertilizer, grass seed, lath, brick, lime, cement, and more.[15]

​Princeton Basin’s businesses reflected its industrial identity. J. Van Doren sold plaster[16] and Schuylkill coal in the 1830s.[17] He also owned two store houses (one for packing pork), two smoke-houses (also for pork), an icehouse, a residence, and a hay house in 1839.[18] John Grant sold building stone in the 1850s.[19] Marshal Voorhees ran a steam-powered saw-mill.[19] And Aaron L. Green sold doors, sashes, blinds, shutters, and moldings for many years, using a steam mill to cut wood.[21] Many more businesses existed over the decades, often supplying labor and materials for local construction.

Princeton Basin, 1875.

In 1875, Princeton Basin contained a hotel, a general store, a hay press, an Episcopal chapel, a lumber yard, a railroad station, a bridge tender’s house, two turning basins, a sash factory, and over 3 dozen residences.[22] Hundreds of barges passed through daily, paying tolls to have the bridge-tender open a “swing bridge.”[23]

However, following the 1860s-era relocation of the Camden and Amboy Railroad to the alignment of the present Northeast Corridor, Princeton Basin began to decline. Now, canal and rail were direct competitors.[24] The only 1800s-era industry said to survive into the 1900s was a bottling plant managed by Martin Vandenberg from 1908 to 1911.[25] Around 1900, the New Jersey Shirt and Waist Company opened here to manufacture clothing.[26]

There was an attempt to establish an American Methodist Episcopal Church in the Basin in 1899.[27] A “Trinity Chapel” did indeed have a mission in the early 1900s.[28] And in 1924, the St. Paul Society and Philadelphia Society united to improve conditions in the community.[29] 

Princeton Basin, mid-1800s. From "Crossroads of Commerce" (click to visit)

Princeton Basin, 1939, facing from West Windsor into Princeton. L to R: hotel, general store, bridge, bridge-tender's house. From the NJ State Archives.

The need for improvements was indisputable. By the late 1800s, Princeton Basin had declined to become, arguably, West Windsor’s seediest community. Especially following the 1899 murder of local Samuel Crusen in a drunken quarrel with John Larkin, a public movement to set fire to “Bedbug Row” grew (but never followed through). About fifteen murders had reputedly occurred in the prior twelve years.[30] Fights, assaults, and robberies were also common and news articles condemning the neighborhood were not rare.

​The closing of the canal in the 1930s was symbolic of Princeton Basin’s decline. Five years later, the Federal Writer’s Project’s  Old Princeton’s Neighbor’s described Princeton Basin as having 18 residences, a trucking business, and junk yard.[31] Old Princeton’s Neighbors claimed that willow trees found at Princeton Basin were grown from twigs broken off trees overhanging Napoleon Bonaparte’s grave on the island of Saint Helena. They were reputedly planted around 1840, and cuttings from them were also reputedly grown around Princeton University’s campus. Even if this is true, it is unknown if any still live.[32]

Dinky line bridge over the canal, 1800s.

Although Princeton Basin as a community died out by the early 1900s, it wasn’t entirely abandoned. In 1955, an influential Black painter named Rex Goreleigh opened a “Studio-on-the-Canal” at 8-10 Canal Road.[33] He taught generations of artists there until the 1970s.[34]

​In 1982, the Delaware and Raritan Canal commission noted that little remained outside of the algae-choked turning basin and canal: “Gone are the house and office of the superintendent of the canal, the house and station for the bridgetender, and the Camden and Amboy Railroad tracks, railroad depot and agent’s house … Gone too are all signs of the shops, mills and factories that once crowded around the intersection of the canal, and the railroad and Alexander Road.”[35]

​​In 2022, only two original Princeton Basin buildings still stand in West Windsor: 8-10 and 14 Canal Road. On the Princeton Side are several more houses along Basin Street, the northern turning basin, and the once-rotating metal Dinky Line railroad bridge. And, of course, the Delaware and Raritan Canal remains as well, now functioning as popular recreational corridor. Here, one can experience nature, tranquility, and - if you daydream vividly enough - the echoes of a more prosperous age for Princeton Basin.

D&R Canal State Park, 2022.

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​Historical Princeton Basin Landmarks

Click on each of the images below to explore some Princeton Junction landmarks! We recommend reading them in order. ​More may be added as research improves.

Princeton Basin Hotel

Dinky Line Bridge (Unfinished)

Stockton-Hogan House

Stockton-Lynch House (Unfinished)

O'Brien-Goreleigh House

Berrien-Allshouse House

Holmes-Fehrer-Rosen House (Unfinished)

Counts-Schmidt House (Unfinished)

Rossi-Felton House (Unfinished)

Rossi House (Unfinished)

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​Bibliography

1. “Canal Packet Boat.” Emporium & True American. August 23, 1834.
2. “Princeton Basin.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press , 1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project.
3. “West Windsor Township.” Map. 1875 Historical Atlas of Mercer County, New Jersey - Map of Princeton. Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Stuart, 1875. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010587333/.
4. “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1959.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1959. Shows the southwest turning basin in Princeton no longer existing.
5. “West Windsor Township.” Map. 1875 Historical Atlas of Mercer County, New Jersey - Map of Princeton. Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Stuart, 1875. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010587333/.
6. Otley, J W, and James Keily. “Map of Mercer County, New Jersey.” Map. Camden, New Jersey: L. Van der Veer, 1849. Shows a hotel in the Princeton Basin area.
7. Skillman, John G. “John G. Skillman - Application for Tavern License.” West Windsor, New Jersey: Princeton Basin, 1851. From the New Jersey State Archives - Mercer County Court of Common Pleas - Applications for Tavern Licenses, 1840-1881.
8. Skillman, John G. “John G. Skillman - Application for Tavern License.” West Windsor, New Jersey: Princeton Basin, 1862. From the New Jersey State Archives - Mercer County Court of Common Pleas - Applications for Tavern Licenses, 1840-1881.
9. Daily State Gazette. September 26, 1871. Mentions “John Corlies’ hotel at Princeton Basin” being robbed.
10. “The Murder at Princeton.” The Paterson Daily Press, March 13, 1874.
11. “Princeton Basin.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press , 1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Proj
    ect.
12. Ibid.
13. “Landmark Building at Princeton Basin Demolished; In Heyday, a Thriving Hotel on Banks of Busy Canal.” Town Topics. July 29, 1992.
14. “Scott Berrien Is Honored by Friends.” Trenton Evening Times, August 18, 1922.
15. Scott Berrien. “Dealer.” Daily Princetonian. Princeton, November 12, 1898.
16. J. Van Doren. “PLASTER.” Princeton Whig, and Somerset & Middlesex Advertiser, March 4, 1836.
17. J. Van Doren. “COAL.” Princeton Whig and Somerset & Middlesex Advertiser, January 8, 1836.
18. J. Van Doren. “VALUABLE BUSINESS STAND At Princeton Basin FOR SALE.” Newark Daily Advertiser, February 14, 1839.
19. John Grant. “BUILDING STONE.” State Gazette. Trenton, October 1, 1852.
20. Marshal Voorhees. “SAWYERS WANTED.” Daily True American. Trenton, June 14, 1854.
21. Aaron L. Green. “SASH, BLINDS, AND DOORS.” Princeton Standard, March 13, 1863. Aaron L. Green originally made this advertisement on November 25, 1859 (per the content of the advertisement).
22. “West Windsor Township.” Map. 1875 Historical Atlas of Mercer County, New Jersey - Map of Princeton. Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Stuart, 1875. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010587333/.
23. “National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form - Delaware and Raritan Canal,” December 13, 1972.
24. Ibid.
25. “Princeton Basin.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press , 1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project.
26. “New Shirt Factory.” Trenton Times, n.d.
27. Cranbury Press, July 21, 1899. Untitled article describing how there would be an attempt to erect a building for an American Methodist Episcopal Zion Conference mission in Princeton Basin.
28. “Princeton Girl Buried.” Trenton Evening Times, November 2, 1915.
29. “St. Paul Society Members Take Up Mission Work at Princeton Basin.” Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, May 25, 1924.
30. “To Wipe Out a Notorious Village.” The Times. July 24, 1899.
31. “Princeton Basin.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press , 1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project.
32. Ibid.
33. “Deed.” Trenton: Mercer County Clerk’s Office, 1955. Mercer County Clerk’s Office Deed Book 1331 P. 273
34. “Studio-On-Canal Courses Will Resume Next Month.” Princeton Herald, August 29, 1956.
35. “Delaware and Raritan Canal Historic Sites Survey,” n.d. Prepared by the Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission.