THE HOPEWELL
MUSEUM
A Community Center Preserving Our Past
Our Mission
The Hopewell Museum exists to preserve and display the artifacts that serve as an expression of village life in New Jersey and tell the story of Hopewell-area history from its pre-colonial beginnings to the present.
Upcoming Events
One-hour walking tour by Doug Dixon exploring the historic buildings and industrial development of Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough.
The arrival of the railroad, and the construction of the Hopewell train station in 1876, spurred the growth of the small village into a full-fledged town where people wanted to live and work and grow. This heritage is still visible today in the streetscapes that we think of as the historical look of Hopewell.
In this tour, Doug Dixon explores how local boosters also saw a greater opportunity along Railroad Place to develop an industrial district that supported larger-scale manufacturing that could provide good jobs and stronger growth. These efforts resulted in the Chocolate Factory (manufacturing bon-bons for 25 years), the Tomato Factory (canning tomatoes for 55 years), J. B. Hill’s (coal and then lumber for over a century), and Rockwell Manufacturing (back to Smith Novelty in the early 1900s).
Along the way, we also will see how this development encouraged (and still supports) a variety of other smaller businesses, including luncheonettes, garages, taxi companies, clothing stores, and gift shops.
Two one-hour walking tours on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 11 am and 2 pm.
Doug Dixon is an independent technology consultant and writer, now morphed into a local historian, and board member of the Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. He also created and runs the all-volunteer Hopewell Valley History Project, working with locals to collect and digitize and freely share our local history online (HopewellHistoryProject.org).
To register please use the link below.
https://railroad-place-tour-2026.eventbrite.com
One-hour walking tour by Doug Dixon exploring the historic buildings and industrial development of Railroad Place in Hopewell Borough.
The arrival of the railroad, and the construction of the Hopewell train station in 1876, spurred the growth of the small village into a full-fledged town where people wanted to live and work and grow. This heritage is still visible today in the streetscapes that we think of as the historical look of Hopewell.
In this tour, Doug Dixon explores how local boosters also saw a greater opportunity along Railroad Place to develop an industrial district that supported larger-scale manufacturing that could provide good jobs and stronger growth. These efforts resulted in the Chocolate Factory (manufacturing bon-bons for 25 years), the Tomato Factory (canning tomatoes for 55 years), J. B. Hill’s (coal and then lumber for over a century), and Rockwell Manufacturing (back to Smith Novelty in the early 1900s).
Along the way, we also will see how this development encouraged (and still supports) a variety of other smaller businesses, including luncheonettes, garages, taxi companies, clothing stores, and gift shops.
Two one-hour walking tours on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 11 am and 2 pm.
Doug Dixon is an independent technology consultant and writer, now morphed into a local historian, and board member of the Hopewell Museum and the Hopewell Valley Historical Society. He also created and runs the all-volunteer Hopewell Valley History Project, working with locals to collect and digitize and freely share our local history online (HopewellHistoryProject.org).
To register please use the link below.
https://railroad-place-tour-2026.eventbrite.com
Coral Streader, a niece of Roy and Alice Bidwell, who lived at 90 River Drive during the early 20th century, is visiting from England and will speak to us about their lives. Pat Brundage, the current owner of the house will host the event to be held at the Titusville Presbyterian Church.
Roy Bidwell, a dashing young man, born and brought up in Singapore, a stone’s throw from what became the super classy Raffles hotel after his father redesigned it, regularly commuted between Singapore and America as a Salesman for Ford cars in the late 1920s and 30s. Alice Stout grew up in Titusville where her sparkly personality led her to parties and fun, even as far as the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, where Alice felt the classy types hung out. By chance the two met and fell in love. From the steamy letters that began to fly between their two countries on an almost daily basis, it was clear to see that Roy was besotted with Alice as indeed she was with him, and engagement moved into marriage pretty quickly.
And the rest , as they say, is history … including painful separation during the Second World War when Alice sailed back on one of the last boats out of Singapore back into the family home with their baby John in her arms, while Roy became an internee. And so the glitz and glamour of colonial times darkly dimmed and so did poor Roy, who made it back to Titusville six years later and lived out the rest of his life with his Alice and young John at 90 River Drive. But what about his background, his siblings and his parents, and the life they each led, in part, later crossing paths with Alice. All will be revealed at Coral's talk! No family escapes drama and scandal and nor did the Bidwells.
To register, click the link below.
https://www.hopewellvalleyhistory.org/event-details/alice-stout-bidwell-from-titusville-to-singapore/form
