Government.— Commission government has been established with five commissioners, hav ing charge respectively of public affairs, revenue and finance, public safety, streets and improve ments, parks and public property. The mayor has charge of public affairs and is advisory to the other commissioners. The city em ployees are under civil service control. The fire department has been completely motor ized. The police and fire departments are removed, by law, from political control, and are effectively administered. The water sup ply of the city was municipalized in 1859, and is conducted with satisfaction to the inhabitants of Trenton. The consumption of water averages about 80 gallons per capita, and the reservoir capacity is 120,000,000 gallons. The board of health has taken an advanced position upon all questions of public sanitation, while the parks of the city, the main breathing ground being named Cadwalader, occupy about 150 acres. An effective system of sewer-drains and paved streets is being extended to all parts of the city, while macadamized roads lead to all nearby rural communities. A bronze statue of Washington, on a granite shaft, marks the place where Washington placed the cannon at the battle of Trenton. A monument to Gen. George B. McClellan is in Riverview Cemetery.
History.— The site of the southeastern por tion of Trenton was occupied, as claimed by an influential body of scientists, as the home of man in the Ice Age. (See NEW JERSEY). Near the banks of the Delaware River, during the period of recorded history, was a village of the Unami sub-tribe of the Lenni Lenapi (Delaware) Indians. The name of the princi pal creek, Assanpink, running through the city, is a corrupted form of an Indian name meaning °place of stone implements.' Many such ob jects are found in and near the city. The loca tion was known to the Dutch and Swedish pel try traders, who before 1664 came to Trenton to exchange commodities with the Indians. The advent of the members of the Society of Friends at Burlington (1677) led to the development of the nearby territory. These settlers had abandoned the idea of earlier adventurers that precious metals were to be found along the Delaware, that the river was a northwest passage to China, and indus triously began the work of colonization, based upon cultivation of land, and the stimu lation of river commerce. As early as 1679, certain Englishmen petitioned for lands at "Ye ffalles of ye De La War,' by which name the jagged rocks and accompanying rapids were known to the white men. Shortly after ward an unsuccessful settlement was at tempted, the actual foundations of the city being laid, when by 1685, Mahlon Stacy built his mill near the junction of the Assanpink Creek and the Delaware River. The history of Trenton during colonial times was un eventful. Certain characteristics are notable. About 1720 the community became known as Trent's town, or Trenton, in honor of a local wealthy Scottish plantation owner, William Trent, Chief Justice of His Majesty's Supreme Court of for the Colony of New Jersey. The village was the point of contact between the East Jersey (Calvinistic) and West Jersey (Quaker) influences, so conspicuous in the early history of New Jersey, and which have left 'permanent impress. Located at the head of tide water, and upon one of the great highways between Philadelphia and New York, the community was closely in touch with both cities. As the shiretown of Hunterdon County, erected in 1714-15 from Burlington County, Trenton drew to itself much of the trade of the Upper Delaware as far as "The Forks,' now Easton. This trade was conducted by means of canoes and "Durham boats,' the latter large scows, drawing little water, built to con vey grain and iron ore from the upper river to Philadelphia. In 1745, Trenton became a borough, under royal grant, her charter being surrendered in 1750. Thereafter, the village re mained a part of a township of the same name until the opening of the constitutional period. In 1758 and 1759 "barracks,' standing in part and patriotically preserved, were erected for the housing of the Crown's regular and provincial troops — a step made necessary by reason of Indian outbreaks in the upper Delaware, during the French and Indian War.
The outbreak of the Revolution found senti ment in Trenton divided. Broadly, the Presby terians were favorable to war, the Society of Friends were non-combatant, while the mem bers of the Church of England leaned toward support of royal government. A "committee,'
in the village of about 600 inhabitants, was active in establishing communication between the Whigs of New York and Philadelphia, and as early as 23 May 1775 a Provincial Congress of New Jersey met in Trenton, a principal motive for assembling being the providing for militia regulation in the colony. It was near Trenton that General Washington, en route to take command of the array, upon 23 June 1775, first heard the news of the battle of Bunker Hill. Thence, until Trenton became famous as the spot where was fought one of the great, if not the greatest battle of the Revolution, the village life was without particular incident.
It was upon 8 Dec. 1776, after his memorable °retreat through the Jerseys,' that General Washington succeeded in conveying his little army across the Delaware at Trenton, and oc cupied a ferry-town, later known as Morrisville, named in honor of Robert Morris, the financier of the American Revolution. During the flight of Washington from Fort Lee to Morrisville, it was that Thomas Paine wrote the memorable words, °These are the times that try men's souls,' words that later brought the then un expected response from Lord Germain, colo nial secretary of state, "All our hopes were blasted by that unhappy affair at Trenton.' The fate of a nation hung in the balance. The Anglo-Hessian troops were in control of New York and quartered at Amboy and New Bruns wick, and were raiding for supplies throughout East Jersey. Rall, the Hessian commander, oc cupied Trenton, with outposts stretched for 20 miles north and south of the city. Philadel phia was threatened, and the Whigs in that city were almost panic-stricken. Washington wrote, "No man, I believe, ever had a greater choice of difficulties and less means to extricate him self from them.' Congress, charging Washing ton with dictatorial powers, fled from Phila delphia to Baltimore, while Eastern Pennsyl vania and much of New Jersey were overrun with Tory sympathizers and a riffraff ready to follow the flag that was in the ascendency. Dis appointed in not meeting General Lee, and chagrined at his capture, Washington disposed his force of 10,000 men along the west bank of the Delaware. Four brigades, under Generals Stirling, Mercer, Stephen and DeFennoy held the river fords from New Hope to Yardley; General Ewing occupied Morrisville, opposite Trenton, and Colonel Cadwalader held Bristol, 10 miles below. Taking advantage of the fact that the Hessians would celebrate Christmas with feasting and drinking, Washington pre pared to rid West Jersey and Philadelphia of all danger from Anglo-Hessian occupancy. Cadwalader was to cross at Bristol and drive the king's troops from Burlington County, Ewing was to take position south of Trenton, holding Rall's men in check, while Washington was to cross the river nine miles above Tren ton, and by a sudden descent capture or destroy the Hessian garrison in the village. Only one part of the plan was made effective. With 2,400 men and 18 pieces of artillery, Washing ton crossed the river, in a northeast storm, upon the early morning of December 26. Ad vancing quietly along the road from a point now known as Washington's Crossing, then called McConkey's Ferry, General Washington led his men through sleet and snow and over frozen ground to a point where the highway forked. The army separated about four miles from the village, one division being com manded by WashinFton, the other by General Sullivan. Both divisions reached Trenton shortly after sunrise. Immediately confusion seized the Rall, Von Lossburg and Von Knyp hausen regiments there quartered. Their pickets were driven back, and the battery of Capt. Alexander Hamilton, stationed near the pres ent Battle Monument, swept one of the three principal streets of the town. Rall was wounded unto death, and finding themselves caught in a cul-de-sac, the regimental com manders surrendered at various points in the village. No American officer or enlisted man was killed, and only four were wounded. The Anglo-Hessian loss was about 20 killed and 75 wounded. Nine hundred and eighteen men were captured by Washington, who, dur ing the same day, recrossed the river, with 1,000 of his own men reported unfit for duty. While the battle of Trenton was being fought, neither Ewing at Morrisville nor Cadwalader at Bristol was able to co-operate with Washing ton, owing to the river being filled with ice floes.