Volume LXXV, Number 11
www.towntopics.com
75¢ at newsstands
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Town Topics Celebrates 75th Anniversary
Arts Groups Focus on The Future. . . . . . . . . . . 5 New Jersey Vaccinations Pass 3 Million . . . . . . . 11 PU, Rider Intend to Welcome Back Students for Fall. . . . . . 12 Town, PPS Unite to Change Landscaping Practices . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Whig-Clio Votes to Take Back Cruz’s Award . . . . 14 PU Alum Robertson Thriving for Duke Men’s Lax . . . . . . . . 22 PHS Girls’ Volleyball Primed to Finally Start Season . . . . . . 24
Walking with Einstein: A Tale of Two Birthdays . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . . 18,19 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 21 Classified Ads . . . . . . 31 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 29 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 11 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 31 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” to borrow a line from the U.S. Postal Service’s unofficial motto, and let’s add, “nor hurricane nor snow nor pandemic.” It’s the 75th anniversary of Town Topics —3,900 weeks, 3,900 issues, delivered to the residents of Princeton and the surrounding area. The first edition of Town Topics, on March 15, 1946, looked like an oversized train timetable, a piece of folded 10” by 3.2” paper printed on both sides. Conceived and published by Donald C. Stuart and his brother-in-law Dan D. Coyle, Town Topics was distributed for free to homes and businesses throughout the town. J. Robert “Bob” Hillier, a Town Topics shareholder and publisher of Princeton Magazine, recalls the early days of Town Topics when he was a young boy. “Having grown up in town I can look back to 1946 when Town Topics was founded by a couple of Princeton University public relations people. That was the year my mother started her business, the Flower Basket, right next to the A&P Market, which is where CVS is today.” He continued, “Each week the cover was entirely dedicated to a ‘Man of the Week’ or ‘Woman of the Week.’ My mother was an advertiser, and, over the years, each of my parents was named ‘Person of the Week,’ which is what I believe the heading became.” There was no Town Topics office at first. The editorial and advertising work were carried around in Coyle and Stuart’s briefcases until 1950, when the rapidly growing paper, at that point on actual newsprint and full tabloid size, moved into office space at 4 Mercer Street, where it remained until 2007. With several members of the Coyle and Stuart families helping out, the paper continued to grow with additional employees, expansion to its current six-column format by the early 1960s, and a circulation of 14,000. The Coyles left Princeton to settle in Maryland in 1973. In 1981 Don Stuart, who had been editor for Town Topics’ first 35 years, died suddenly of cancer at age 67 and his son Jeb, who had been an assistant editor and sports writer since 1967, took over. Jeb and his wife Sheila, who directed the business side, ran the newspaper for the next 20 years.
In the late 1990s Lynn Adams Smith, who had been commuting from Princeton to a furniture and design business in Manhattan, decided she “wanted to do something more involved with the community.” She had read a copy of Town Topics before moving to Princeton, and when she saw an ad to work in sales at Town Topics, she responded, went in for an interview, and joined the advertising staff. After working at Town Topics for a few months, she asked her attorney to contact Stuart with an anonymous offer to buy the paper. Soon afterwards “he knew it was me, but it took me three years to convince him,” she said. “He didn’t want to retire, but did it because of his health. He had a lot of confidence in me, and I’ll always appreciate that. He respected my business sense. He trusted we weren’t going to sell to a big newspaper chain.” With the financial backing of a small group of the newspaper’s employees and former employees, along with Bob and Barbara Hillier, Smith took charge of Town Topics in 2001 with a goal of preserving the paper’s look and tradition, upgrading where possible, and bringing Town Topics into the 21st century. Hillier recalled, “My direct involvement with the paper began with an email, ‘How
would you like to own a piece of a Princeton institution?’ followed by a cup of coffee with Lynn Smith the next morning, and an investment in the purchase of the paper the next day. The rest is happy history.” Smith remembers Hillier’s email response to her offer, the invitation to meet over coffee at Sneddon’s Luncheonette the next morning, and even Hillier’s breakfast, as he sat at a window seat eating a poached egg and English muffin and agreed to come on board as part-owner
of the new Town Topics. Under Smith’s leadership, the newspaper acquired computers for everyone and began to send files electronically. The old metal desks from the 1950s, which had become embedded in the floor, were melted down for scrap metal and replaced, and the office, for the first time in many years, got a new coat of paint. In 2007, after 57 years at 4 Mercer Street, Town Topics moved to 305 Witherspoon Street, then, in 2015, to its current Continued on Page 13
As Town Topics has Reported the News, Area Advertisers Have Shared Its Journey Newspapers tell the stories of our time. They are an essential force in providing information for citizens to make decisions and navigate the changes in their world. The advent of the internet and the digital age, with constantly advancing technology, has challenged newspapers in numerous ways. Unfortunately, many print papers have been lost, unable to compete in this new world. Some, though, through the efforts of hardworking staffs, wise leadership decisions, and the continuing support of readers and loyal advertisers — and good
luck — have prevailed. Town Topics is proud to celebrate its 75th anniversary, and finds itself in a world far different from that of 1946, when it began reporting the news. Family-Owned Step back for a moment into that world, only one year after the end of World War II. Bricks and mortar establishments were thriving, as people were delighted to “go shopping” after the rationing and shortages of the war years. Princeton was still a relatively small Continued on Page 8
THE FOUNDERS: Conceived by Dan D . Coyle, left, and Donald C . Stuart in 1946, the original Town Topics looked like an oversized train timetable . Coyle and Stuart wrote all the copy and sold all the ads in the paper’s early years .
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