One of the side benefits to all the reorganizing work done here at the Museum this summer has been the reminder of the depth of our photography archive. Part of that archive is a fair number of photos documenting the classes of school children in Hopewell over the last 150 or so years. September is the month that Hopewell children go back to school and through these photographs we get a glimpse into the life of old Hopewell and its commitment to educating children. Hopewell borough had several locations that served families from its earliest days. The top photo shows the grammar and high school classes ca.1896 occupying the schoolhouse on Model Ave., a building that has since become residential apartments. The center two photos show the graduating high school classes of 1920 and 1924 respectively in the building that was Hopewell Borough Hall on Columbia Ave. and is now the Hopewell Volunteer Fire Station. The bottom photo shows one of the first classes of the new Hopewell Grammar School in 1932 on Princeton Ave. not long after it was built.
