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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
FLEMINGTON, 0.4 miles (180 alt., 2,729 pop.), is a quiet little village
that was catapulted into the front pages of the world's newspapers in January, 1935, during the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the murder
of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. Press stories at the time recounted the angry
bewilderment of the local citizenry at the spate of strange people the trial
brought into the community. A walk through the town brings the feeling
home. Here in a setting of white, green-shuttered houses, business makes
haste slowly. There is still a general store where the latest sheet music dangles invitingly over silk hose, and penny candy fills a counter carrying a
copy of Pearson and Allen's Nine Old Men, a testament to the existence
of open minds in this conservative stronghold. The cars parked near the
COUNTY COURTHOUSE, Main St., seldom bestir themselves the day long,
and shady side streets are all but deserted. The courthouse is the center of
life in the community. Built in 1828, the great Grecian Revival building
was the seat of the law in Hunterdon County a century before newspapers
learned how to string telegraph wires from their offices to the scene of a
murder trial. Just opposite, the four-story UNION HOTEL a lumbering,
Hudson-River-Bracketed structure of nondescript date, sparrow-grass architecture, tall double-decker porches, and the genial vapidity of the nineties serves the barristers who amble back and forth across the street to
the courthouse.
Hunterdon County residents have recently benefited by the elasticity of
New Jersey's tax laws. Since 1937 when the official headquarters of
the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey were removed to Flemington,
bringing in new tax revenue, Hunterdon County residents have paid 50
cents less per $100 valuation. When the company moved from Linden to
Flemington, its taxes were reduced from $1,400,000 to $270,000. Standard Oil had previously saved $587,366 by moving from Newark to
Linden.
The headquarters of this, one of the wealthiest corporations in the
world, consist of a sign upon a lawyer's office at 117 Main St. and a safe
that contains those records required by law to be kept here.
John Philip Kase is generally credited as being the town's first settler,
although the community takes its name from Samuel Fleming. FLEMING
CASTLE, 5 Bonnell St. (private), a little white plaster house two stories
high, was built as a residence and inn by Fleming in 1756. The house was
recently renovated by Mrs. Charles D. Foster, who presented it to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The rooms of
the house are small, typically Colonial, and built on several different levels
A short distance west of Fleming Castle on Bonnell St. is the old KASE
CEMETERY (L), between two private homes. Most of the gravestones,
bearing the name of Kase and dated from 1774 to 1856, are crumbled almost to illegibility. One stands straight and white in shafted marble, inscribed: "In memory of the Delaware Indian Chief Tuccamirgan, 1750."
The marker was erected in 1925 in belated appreciation of the Indian's aid to the first settler. Tuccamirgan himself expressed the desire to be buried near his white friend.
The JASPER SMITH HOUSE (private), 8 Main St., was a small single-story red brick building when it was built by Smith in 1768. A second
story, built of pressed steel resembling brick, and the west wing were
added much later. Each of the window frames in the older part is carved
out of a single piece of wood.
The Flemington Vigilante Society for the Detection of Thieves was organized under a State law passed in 1780. The society still exists, ostensibly for social and sentimental reasons.
Flemington depends for its business mainly on a prosperous surrounding farm area. The FLEMINGTON EGG POULTRY AND LIVESTOCK AUCTION is the largest in the world. It was founded in 1930 as a cooperative
to prevent the sharp dealing of commission men and wholesalers, and to
provide fair prices for poultry and livestock farmers. In 1936 the auction
sold $1,244,000 worth of eggs, poultry and cattle. Many of Flemington's
business establishments are the first floors of old residences with scalloped
shingles and ornamental woodwork.
Left at 0.6 miles, on Main St., an asphalted road.
The highway traverses high, rolling farm country where acres of wheat
and corn are planted on the hillsides.
Groves of trees and heavy thickets approach the road at intervals. The
hills about 2 miles west of Flemington are remnants of a volcanic upheaval, and once were rich in argilite close to the surface. The Indians
fashioned this mineral into tools and weapons. By building fires against
the face of a cliff and dashing cold water against the heated sections they
could chip off sizable pieces. The stone had to be worked soon after it was
quarried because long exposure makes it too hard. Locally the mineral is
called "blue jingler" because, when fresh, it rings if struck sharply.
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