A tour of recreation in West Windsor

PAUL LIGETI WEST WINDSOR CHRONICLES

The Historical Society of West Windsor—a 100% volunteer nonprofit that preserves and promotes local history—explores the history of recreation in West Windsor. We invite you to contact, support, or volunteer for the Historical Society and check out our new West Windsor history book. Visit westwindsorhistory.com to learn more. We are also on social media—search “@ SchenckFarmstead” on Facebook and Instagram.

Recreational roots

Recreation in the West Windsor area began long before our town even existed. Our local indigenous predecessors—the “Lenni Lenape,” who settled this land many thousands of years ago—had diversion of their own. Swimming and racing were invariably commonplace, and accounts from the 1600s and 1700s talk about the Lenape enjoying “Pahsahëman” —a sport played between men and women whose closest approximation is a combination of soccer and football. Other games such as “Selahtinalitin” (pick-upsticks), “Mamantuhwin (a dice game), “Kokolesh,” (ball-and-cup) were especially popular among Lenape children.

With the arrival of European settlers by the early-mid 1700s, new forms of entertainment came to the area. Colonists brought with them bowling, football, cricket, horseshoes, and cards. Horseback riding, too, was popular, as was horse racing. In fact, newspaper articles from the 1830s talk of horse racing at Asher Temple’s Red Lion Inn in the historic community of Penns Neck (at the intersection of Washington Road and Route 1). However, while popular with many, this diversion had its critics. In the 1860s, a local paper reputedly reported: ““We hear complaints that the law prohibiting horse-racing is violated frequently at Penns Neck. There are frequent races there, large sums of money bet, and as of people assembled. The nuisance will probably be laid before the next Grand Jury.’’

Ice skating and fishing had also been popular for time immemorial, especially on Grovers Mill Pond and, after its construction c. 1905/6, Carnegie Lake.

And, some time the construction of Dutch Neck School and its long-gone identical twin, the Penns Neck School (which stood at Alexander Road and Route 1 until 1995) playgrounds were formally established for local youth.

Facility development

The Citizen’s Rifle and Revolver Club, still in operation off PrincetonHightstown Road, formed in 1938 and remains West Windsor’s oldest recreational group. And six years prior, a community swimming club opened along Washington Road. In the 1940s, this establishment was operated by Mike Bloom, who in the same decade played in the NBA’s Boston Celtics. The pool was replaced by still-operating indoor tennis courts in the early 1970s.

Also in the 1940s, “Nassau Airpark” opened around where Emmons Drive (west of Route 1, close to MarketFair) exists today. It may not look like it, but this was once a field that housed a tiny airport for recreational pilots and was a popular site for families to watch air shows. This venue shut down around 1959.

In 1951 a group of interested local citizens formed a Recreation Committee.

Today, its municipal descendent - the West Windsor Recreation Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners, as well as Division of Recreation and Parks staff - help coordinate activities, programs, and special events for the entire township.

In 1958, the West Windsor Little League formally organized, and several years later, Ward Field was built off of North Post Road. Other, long-gone, baseball fields were established in a variety of locations, such as behind the Sarnoff Center and where the “Mark’s Trackside” building now stands next to the Northeast Corridor train tracks.

Over the ensuing decades, many more youth sports leagues—from soccer to basketball to football and more - have formed. So, too, have school-based teams, following the construction of various middle schools and high schools (the first being High School South in 1973).

Private enterprise

Private recreational facilities also expanded in the mid-20th century. In this era, the Cranbury Golf Club, Princeton Country Club, and present-day West

Windsor Golf Center were constructed. They were later supplemented by Mercer Oaks Golf Course in the 1990s. On Route 1 in the mid-century were Princeton Bowling (also featuring billiards and ice skating), the Paradise Swimming Club, and Prince Theater. In the 1970s and 1980s, circuses and carnivals at the present-day Rogers Arboretum provided annual summertime fun.

And in the modern era, other forms of sport—from ping pong to axe throwing— have seen commercial venues establish themselves in town. Doubtless, many more groups, facilities, and activities served and serve residents of West Windsor and surrounding towns.

Parks & open space

In 1962, Van Nest Park - named after the family that once farmed that land— was established as West Windsor’s oldest extant Township-owned recreational facility. Twelve years later, the Delaware and Raritan Canal—an 1800s-era commercial corridor that shut down in the 1930s—was declared a state park, where tens of thousands of people now jog, bike, kayak, and canoe every year. However, perhaps more immediately significant to West Windsor residents was the construction of the expansive Mercer County Park. Early designs dating to the 1960s envisioned a variety of concepts—including tennis courts, a community college campus, and even a zoo! The park’s 1970s-era Mercer Lake (formed via the damming of the Assunpink Creek) was designed as part of a much larger watershed and flood management plan spanning Mercer and Monmouth Counties. The park’s official name, the “Richard J. Coffee Mercer County Park,” memorializes a former state Senator and founder of the Mercer

County Parks Commission. Today, visitors hike, boat, snap pictures, enjoy festivals, and much more. The Caspersen Rowing Center even serves as a popular Olympic-level training facility.

Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance.

By the early 2000s, a variety of sports, biking, and hiking venues had developed, including (but not limited to) Conover Field, Ronald R. Rogers Arboretum/Preserve (itself dedicated to an open space/conservation advocate), Zaitz Park/Preserve (part of West Windsor’s preserved “Greenbelt” land), and the West Windsor Community Park/WaterWorks aquatics center. Yet more have been established since then. Some of these facilities have started to transform with changing demographics—such as cricket pitches in Community Park/Conover Field, or east/southern Asian landscape architecture in the John Nash Park.

One reason (among several) that families move to West Windsor is for its open space and recreational facilities. Access to parks and play enrich the community and foster health, socialization, and much more.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection And Electronics Recycling Event

CAUTION

HAZARDOUS WASTE

West Windsor accelerated its expansion of the municipal parks system starting in the late twentieth century, especially with the help of open space preservation and transportation advocacy groups such as the Friends of West Windsor Open Space and the West

SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2023

8AM-2PM

This integral part of West Windsor’s identity was built and maintained by invaluable municipal, commercial, and community efforts—a historical dynamic that will invariably continue for generations to come.

Paul Ligeti is the head archivist of the Historical Society of West Windsor.

Dempster Fire School / 350 Lawrence Station Road

8AM-2PM

MATERIALS ONLY ACCEPTED ON THIS DATE AND TIME, RAIN OR SHINE

ACCEPTED MATERIALS

Aerosol Cans / Used Motor Oil / Propane Gas Tanks / Pesticides & Herbicides

& CFL Bulbs

Car Batteries / Paint Thinner / Oil Based Paint / Stains & Varnishes / Gasoline

Anti-Freeze / Driveway Sealer / Insect Repellents / Mercury / Fluorescent & CFL Bulbs

ACCEPTED ELECTRONICS

Computers / Printers / Copiers / Fax Machines / Stereos /