Tag Archives: Palmer Square

Tuesday and Wednesday

Around Town, Business, , ,

madnessRich Rein (Princeton, Class of ’69) will speak at the Princeton chamber breakfast on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to my former boss telling stories old and new. And I also like the tradition, at the breakfasts, that everyone gets to stand up and introduce themselves. Perhaps I’ll see you there?

The day before (Tuesday) is the chamber’s  Midsummer Marketing Showcase  starting at 4 p.m. In past year’s it’s been plagued with weather cancellations, but predictions are good for tomorrow. And it’s one of my favorite Princeton Regional Chamber events, in part because it’s free.

 

Midsummer in Palmer Square

Around Town, Business, ,

chamber plaza

Palmer Square turns into a street fair several times a year, none more exciting than the Princeton Regional Chamber’s Midsummer Marketing Showcase.

Sometimes my church — a member of the chamber — participates, as above. But on Tuesday, July 21 I’ll be an onlooker, enjoying the tastes and freebies and greeting old and new friends.  It’s set for 4 to 7 p.m. — and it’s free!

Dress for the heat!

February 2 will be Walter Harris Day.  A Princeton Borough police officer, he was shot and killed in the line of duty on February 2, 1946.  Greta Cuyler writes about it for Princeton Patch.

What caught my eye was this paragraph: The grandson of slaves, Walter Harris was born in Princeton and grew up on Jackson Street, which later became Paul Robeson Place. The family’s house was moved to Birch Street when Palmer Square was being developed and the trolley used to run in back of the Harris’ house.

What is now Palmer Square was formerly an a neighborhood of African Americans, many of whom worked at the university.  Those who now live in what is sometimes known as “the Witherspoon neighborhood”  remember the displacement.

Palmer Square is now, indeed, a tremendous asset to Princeton for both tourists and townies. It is a wonderful gathering place. But, as Sheldon Sturges says, it was “an enormous social  justice wound.”

For the Historical Society of Princeton, Shirley Satterfield has put together a wonderful tour of the African American history of Princeton — and anyone can take it, any time, via cellphone.