History of Eggerts Crossing Neighborhood

Eggerts Crossing is a unique neighborhood. Historically, Lawrence was a quiet town with unpaved roads. In the early 1900's, the Johnson Trolley Line was built. This line had a wide area of service. It ran from Main Street in Lawrence Township through Trenton and ended at the Princeton Station. This distance was covered for a mere $0.20 cents per trip.¹ The Johnson Trolley Line was named after the man who built it, Harry Johnson. The line forms the central spine of the Eggerts Crossing Neighborhood. Often the Johnson Trolley Line is referred to as "The Fast Line" because it was faster than other local rails. It ran on railroad gauge tracks, the cars were heavier, the motors more powerful, and it made fewer stops.² Today, the only evidence of the Johnson Trolley Line is the Greenway located along Johnson Avenue. This open space covers the right-of-way space where the tracks once were.

The origins of the Eggerts Crossing Neighborhood date back to rural beginnings and are steeped with rich cultural heritage. Eggerts Crossing includes a substantial African American population. Many of the families of Eggerts Crossing arrived via the Underground Railroad, and their descendents still live in the Neighborhood.

In 1997, the fifth generation of the Thomas McCrae family reported living on the same property on Fackler Road. In addition to a strong family tree, Eggerts Crossing has produced "artists, poets, and athletes of considerable prominence, as well as many teachers and other professionals."³ When walking throughout the Neighborhood, one can sense that this is a community that has pride in its origins.

EGGERTS CROSSING TODAY

Beginning in the mid 1960's, under the direction of Fred Vereen, Jr., the community began to address the need for more new, affordable housing that could attract people to the Neighborhood. Specific targets for the affordable housing were children who grew up in the Neighborhood and those who wanted to stay in the Neighborhood as they started their own family. In 1965, the Eggerts Crossing Community Action Council applied to the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity for assistance so that the Neighborhood could receive funding to build a neighborhood service center. Such services provided at the service to the residents center included health services, education services, and job-seeking programs.

The Lawrence Non-Profit Housing Corporation was established in the 1970's to construct low and moderate-income housing in the Neighborhood. One of the missions of the Lawrence Non-Profit Housing Corporation was to prove "how a soundly managed subsidized project could be a community asset, and pave the way for future housing programs elsewhere in Lawrence."⁴ The Lawrence Non-Profit Housing Corporation helped to implement the construction of Eggerts Crossing Village, a development of 100-units of multi-family, affordable housing. Through the efforts of the community and the planners who volunteered their time, the construction of the affordable housing in Eggerts Crossing was completed in 1974.⁵

Gilpin Park is named in recognition of the esteemed black actor Charles Sidney Gilpin. Gilpin broke racial barriers in order to fulfill his dream of performing on the stages in New York City. Eggerts Crossing "was the home of the man who broke the race barrier in the theater and is generally acknowledged as the first 'serious' black actor, some would add the 'greatest', in the United States.^"6

Finally a commission has been created to establish "Heritage Park." This park would celebrate the local history of the community. Areas of interest are the history and lineage of Black families that escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad, local residents who rose to fame, and families living on the same parcel of property for multiple generations.