Neighborhood the subject of meeting this month.
By: Lea Kahn
When Capt. John Anderson looked out the window of his brick farmhouse in 1765, the land as far as the eye could see belonged to him. He could see wooded areas, as well as cleared areas planted with crops.
If Capt. Anderson could return to his farmhouse and look out that window today, he would see row upon row of houses on the land that he once farmed. His farmhouse is located on the corner of Ohio Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in the heart of the Colonial Heights neighborhood.
"Capt. Anderson built the house that I live in," Gary Saretzky said April 6, while speaking to the Lawrenceville Breakfast Club. The group meets monthly at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville.
He spoke to the club about the history of Colonial Heights a neighborhood bordered by Brunswick Pike, Cherry Tree Lane, Pear Street and Ohio Avenue.
John Anderson was a wealthy man who owned land elsewhere in Lawrence Township, as well as the land that is now Cadwalder Park in Trenton, Mr. Saretzky said. He served in the colonial militia, and he was known as Capt. Anderson to distinguish him from other men named John Anderson who lived in the area.
Capt. Anderson’s farm was about 300 acres, Mr. Saretzky said. It stretched from the area of St. Ann’s Church on Lawrence Road to Cherry Tree Lane to Pear Street and the Assunpink Creek, east of the Route 1 Freeway.
In 1764, Capt. Anderson built a brick farmhouse for himself and his family. There were eight children seven from his first wife and one from his second wife. When he died in 1774 at the age of 79, he left the house to his son Samuel the only child from his second marriage, Mr. Saretzky said.
But upon Samuel Anderson’s death a few years later, the farm was auctioned off and left the family’s hands. Samuel Anderson was 15 years old when he died in 1776, he said.
The Anderson farm changed hands several times, until it was purchased by the Capner family in 1829. The Capners added a kitchen and a third story to the house to accommodate their 10 children. But the bricks on the addition did not match those of the original house, so the house was stuccoed, Mr. Saretzky said.
Some of the land was sold off in 1832 for the Delaware and Raritan Canal, east of the house. When Mr. Capner died in 1864, the farm had been reduced to 64 acres, Mr. Saretzky said.
The remaining acreage was bought and sold several times over the years. In 1917, developer George Atkins acquired the land that would eventually become Colonial Heights, he said.
Mr. Atkins created the streets and subdivided building lots on the farmland, Mr. Saretzky said. The lots were sold to individuals who built their own houses. This accounts for the variety of architectural styles, he said. Building lots were still being sold as late as the 1950s, he added.
Who built houses in Colonial Heights?
Mostly, they were immigrants or children of immigrants, Mr. Saretzky said. They were steelworkers, police officers and pottery workers. They were letter carriers, librarians, teachers and small business owners. More recently, the neighborhood has become popular with people who work for state government, he said.
The Anderson-Capner House was acquired by John and Winona Nash in 1964, he said. Ms. Nash, who died last year, was the township historian. The Nashes restored the house over many years, doing most of the work themselves, he said. She sold the house in 1986, after her husband died.
Ms. Nash became an expert on the Anderson-Capner House and the area in general, Mr. Saretzky said. She worked hard to have the house listed on the state and national Registers of Historic Places, he said.
Although the land across Ohio Avenue from the Anderson-Capner House was zoned for industrial use, Ms. Nash worked to convince township officials to revise the Master Plan and the zoning ordinance, he said. That land eventually became known as John Nash Park, in memory of her husband, he added.
Today, the Anderson-Capner House stands on a little more than a half-acre of land, Mr. Saretzky said. There is a restriction in the deed of ownership to the property that the land cannot be subdivided again, he said.
"Winnie drew the line," Mr. Saretzky said.

