Princeton Basin Hotel

Princeton Basin Hotel, 1800s. Lithograph Courtesy of Scott Parry, purchased from Gray's Watercolors, Ringoes, NJ.

Historical Overview

A large, multi-story wood-framed building once stood at 2 Canal Road in the historic West Windsor community of Princeton Basin. This - the Princeton Basin hotel - was one of that neighborhood's oldest defining structures.

The was very likely constructed some time between 1834 (when the Delaware and Raritan Canal opened)[1] and 1848.[2] It was also alternatively known as the "Railroad Hotel"[3] and "Steamboat Hotel"[4] at various points in time. It presumably catered to those traveling by foot, canal, and train. Its first known owner was John G. Skillman, who operated it from at least 1848 (if not earlier)[5] until his death in 1862.[6],[7] After him in ownership was his wife, Louisa, until 1868.[8],[9] Other known proprietors following her were:

• John L. Corlies (1868-70)[10],[11]
• Edward M. Pidcock (1870-76)[12],[13]
• Marshall Voorhees (1876-86)[14],[15]
• Emily Stryker (1886-7)[16],[17]
• John and Mary Carroll (1887-91)[18],[19]
• Thomas Deegan (1892-????)[20]

While some of these owners also ran the inn, there were also several other managers, including John S. Hutchinson (starting in 1864),[21] Aaron Clayton and Pat Degnan (dates unknown),[22] Billy Lynch (by the late 1890s),[23] David C. Bowne (starting in 1898),[24] and John O'Kane (starting around 1899).[25]

The hotel viewed from Canal Road, ca. 1980s/90s.

While the hotel was, presumably, generally a welcome spot, this was not always the case. Princeton Basin was notorious for seediness, and this included a few homicides associated with the hotel. on the night of March 10/11, 1874, a Princeton jeweler named Solomon Krauskopf was murdered while passing through the Basin on the way to Princeton. He was robbed of $170, plus a watch and revolver, and had been shot through the chest with a pistol.[26] Although the culprit was never found, rumors circulated for years that the hotel manager at the time, John L. Corlies, was the killer.[27]

In July 1899, a White man named John Larkins killed a Black man named Samuel Crusen, in a drunken quarrel at the hotel. Larkins was sentenced to twelve years in prison (but paroled after three). The racial nature of the killing was emphasized in local newspapers and it remains an example of one of over a dozen recorded homicides within the general Princeton Basin area.[28],[29]

According to the 1939 publication Old Princeton's Neighbors, the hotel had by that year been "recently remodeled as a tavern, but occupied as a residence by Alexander Rodweller when a license was refused." It was presumably never again run as a public house. By this point, the hotel had long passed its heyday, in line with the general decline of the canal starting in the 1860s.[30]

Demolishing the hotel, from the July 29, 1992 "Town Topics."

In the 1940s, the hotel was owned by Mary and Theodore Proctor. Theodore was known to be violet, discharging his gun inside the house. On July 22, 1942, shortly after being discharged from jail for beating his wife, he returned home, grabbed his gun, killed Mary, and jumped into the canal, where he drowned.[31],[32]

​In 1948, the property was inherited by Della M. Jenkins, a relative of the Proctors.[33],[34] Jenkins was a schoolteacher, known for heating her house with kerosene, walking all the way to the township offices each quarter to pay her township taxes in cash, and moving her chickens inside to protect them from raccoons. She owned the property until her death in 1991. During this time it fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1992.[35] A new residence was built in its place around 1995.[36]

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Bibliography

1. "Delaware and Raritan Canal." Princeton Whig. August 29, 1834.
2. "Target Firing." Trenton State Gazette. May 9, 1848.
3. ​"Local and Otherwise." Princeton Standard. June 12, 1863.
4. Parry, Joan. “Broadside,” 2000. Article covering the history of Princeton Basin. Published by the Historical Society of West Windsor for its Fall 2000 "Broadside" newsletter.
5. "Target Firing." Trenton State Gazette. May 9, 1848.
6. "Died." Camden Democrat. April 26, 1862.
7. West Windsor Township, 1861. Plea for Tavern License for John G. Skillman to Mercer County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Mercer County Tavern License collection.
8. West Windsor Township, 1862. Plea for Tavern License for Louisa H. Skillman to Mercer County. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Mercer County Tavern License collection.
9. Corlies, John L., Skillman, Louisa H. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1868. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 74 Page 543.
10. Ibid.
11. Corlies, Catherine, Corlies, John L., Pidcock, Edward M. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1870. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 79 Page 518.
12. Ibid.
13. Pidcock, Edward M., Voorhees, Marshall. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1876. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 112 Page 193.
14. Ibid.
15. Berrien, Scott, Marsh, Crowell, Robinson, Charles S., Stryker, Emily. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1886. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 148 Page 533.
16. Ibid.
17. Carroll, John, Withington, Hiram R. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1887. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 156 Page 91.
18. Ibid.
19. Carroll, John, Carroll, Mary A., Deegan, Thomas. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1892. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 183 Page 329.
20. Ibid.
21. "The Assembly Candidates." Trenton State Gazette. October 28, 1864.
22. “Princeton Basin.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press , 1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project.​
23. "Princeton Briefs." Trenton State Gazette. January 25, 1898.
24. Ibid.
25. "Murder in Princeton Early This Morning." Trenton Evening Times. July 5, 1899.
26. "Murder in Jersey." Los Angeles Herald. March 24, 1874.
27. "A Murder Case Revived." Monmouth Democrat. March 2, 1882.
28. "Coroner's Inquest at Princeton Today." Treton Times. July 8, 1899.
29. "Board Refused to Grant Her Pardon." Asbury Park Journal. April 24, 1903.
    
30. “Princeton Basin.” Essay. In Old Princeton’s Neighbors. Princeton, NJ: Graphic Arts Press , 1939. Written by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project.​
31. "Ex-N.Y. Policeman Is Found In Canal." The Daily Home News. July 25, 1942.
32. "Landmark Building at Princeton Basin Demolished; in Heydey, a Thriving Hotel on Banks of Busy Canal." Town Topics. July 29, 1992.
33. Dowers, H. Lillian, Jenkins, Della M. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1991. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 2568 Page 692.
34. "Landmark Building at Princeton Basin Demolished; in Heydey, a Thriving Hotel on Banks of Busy Canal." Town Topics. July 29, 1992.
35. Ibid.
36. "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.​