TRENTON – In celebration of the rich black history in Trenton, today’s topic is the Spring Street Neighborhood.
According to Trenton’s Historical Society, Spring Street was the center of Trenton’s middle-class African-American community. Through the 1920s, only one family identified as non-White on the street. However, by the turn of the decade, most residents were declared “colored” or “mulatto.”
By 1938, Trenton’s YMCA, which served the city’s Black residents, relocated from Willow Street to 105 Spring St. The center would stay on Spring Street for six years before moving to Fowler Street.
From the 1940s to 50s, Spring Street would remain an epicenter for African American travelers, due to multiple stops being noted in “The Negro Motorist Green Book.” The annual book helped African Americans find tourist homes, restaurants, barbershops, and more during the segregation era.
Residents of the neighborhood included NAACP attorney Robert Queen, who represented the plaintiffs in the Hedgepeth-Williams desegregation case, David Dinkins, the first Black Mayor of New York City, and Willie Mays while he played for the Trenton Giants.