 |
|
` |
| The 1950s |
| 1950: Ernie Kovacs Trenton's own comic genius goes from Trentonian columnist, to the host of a Philly cooking show, all the way to national TV stardom. 1951: Levittown William Levitt starts work on a 15,000-home project in Bucks County, Pa. that is branded ticky-tacky, but catches on with young couples who find the place good to raise kids. 1952: Prison riots Crowded conditions at Trenton prison lead to a siege and hostage drama in which the lives of guards and civilian employees hang in the balance. 1953: Oppie's fall J. Robert Oppenheimer, the atomic bomb builder who now lives in Princeton, is branded a security risk by the federal government at the height of the McCarthy era. 1954: The governor was a thief After his death, it comes out that ex-Gov. Harold Hoffman had skimmed off $300,000 in public funds during his administration. 1955: The worst flood The Delaware River runs higher than ever before, drowning dozens of Trenton streets and taking out two bridges. 1956: St. Mary's fire The pastor and a housekeeper are killed when an early morning blaze rips through St. Mary's, the first in a string of mysterious church arsons. 1957: 'Case study' in decline Trenton officials rail at a study by college students predicting that, by 1980, the Jersey capital will be a wasteland of vacant houses. 1958: Bullets fly in Chambersburg A young man troubled by religious mania and obsessed with space travel goes on a shooting spree at the St. Joachim's convent. 1959: Trenton State tragedy Nine students and a professor die when their bus coming back from a Broadway field trip collided with a truck on rain-slicked Route 1. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |