The Mull-Elgrim Farm
Overview
The Mull-Elgrim farm was located on Old Trenton Road, just south of Mercer County Community College and just west of Tindall Farms. Where its pastures once stood is the Mercer County Technical Schools campus at 1085 Old Trenton Road. An 1849 map of West Windsor shows a house on this property, owned at the time by a “J. A. Hutchinson,” while an 1875 map shows a house owned by an “M. Hulick.” It is unknown if these houses represent the Mull-Elgrim residence.
The following memory was donated by Ramona Bertles, an erstwhile resident of the farm:
The Mull-Elgrim farm was located on Old Trenton Road, just south of Mercer County Community College and just west of Tindall Farms. Where its pastures once stood is the Mercer County Technical Schools campus at 1085 Old Trenton Road. An 1849 map of West Windsor shows a house on this property, owned at the time by a “J. A. Hutchinson,” while an 1875 map shows a house owned by an “M. Hulick.” It is unknown if these houses represent the Mull-Elgrim residence.
The following memory was donated by Ramona Bertles, an erstwhile resident of the farm:
“This picture (the first one in the slideshow below) was taken in October 1944 when my parents, Flora and Joe A. Mull, owned a 100 acre farm on the Old Trenton Road, now the site of the vocational school. They purchased the farm from a cattle dealer, Jim Anderson, for $10,000 in 1941. The land was taxed by West Windsor, Hamilton, and Washington Townships (now Robbinsville). However, the house was situated in West Windsor. We attended school in Dutch Neck and went to Princeton High School. The tiny building behind the house covered a well and cold water storage for full milk cans. Our attic contained a huge open wooden barrel with an overflow pipe which alerted us to run out and turn off the well pump. The tall building behind that had a very deep fieldstone-lined cellar for ice or potato storage. On its left is an attached chicken house. In the foreground is a three-bay garage. Note the chickens! The dairy barn was the newest structure because the original had recently burned. To the right and not included in this photo was a large wagon shed. Background buildings are of property presently owned by Leone Tindall. My parents raised chickens, during World War II potatoes, and then had a dairy herd up until the time they sold in 1960-61. Today the jug handle for Vo-Tech (Mercer County Technical Schools) cuts right through the site of the house. Many of our front yard trees are still standing.”
