Lawrence Station Road site presents historical display.
By: Lea Kahn
With one eye on the future and one eye on the past, Cooper Pest Solutions last week unveiled an exhibit on one wall of its newly renovated headquarters at 351 Lawrence Station Road that pays homage to the historic area.
The wraps came off the photographic display of the history of Lawrence Station Road between Quakerbridge Road and Youngs Road at an open house tour of Cooper Pest Solutions, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 15.
In the mid-1800s, the community of Lawrence Station was home to a railroad station, a sawmill, a general store, a fertilizer company and an ice business, among other businesses, according to former Township Historian Robert Immordino. He attended the open house along with current Township Historian Richard Graja.
Mr. Immordino commended the Cooper family, which owns and operates Cooper Pest Solutions, for demonstrating its civic pride in the historic community located alongside of the railroad tracks.
"As far as I know, no other Lawrence Township business has demonstrated their civic pride with an exhibit of a slice of our community’s long, rich history," Mr. Immordino said.
Located on the wall in the entry to the headquarters, the exhibit is open to the public during the company’s office hours on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon.
The exhibit includes a timeline that traces Lawrence’s history, from the time it was settled in 1697, through the present which means the renovation to Cooper Pest Solutions’ headquarters, which has been located on Lawrence Station Road since 1972.
The exhibit features a 1774 map of Maidenhead Township, which is the original name of Lawrence Township. The roads that are now known as Lawrence Station Road and Youngs Road are shown on the map.
Beginning in the mid-1700s, a series of grain mill buildings were constructed next to the mill pond. The last grain mill was in operation until 1920, when owner J. Roscoe Howell closed it. In later years, Mr. Howell compiled a history of Lawrence Station Road that provided some of the information for the exhibit.
The house at 351 Lawrence Station Road now the Cooper headquarters was built around 1900 by John Bahrenburg, who operated a natural ice operation on the mill pond. It was used to house workers at the ice operation, until Mr. Bahrenburg closed the natural ice operation in 1926.
The timeline also notes the construction in 1830 of the Camden & Amboy Railroad along the Delaware & Raritan Canal, about 1.5 miles away from Lawrence Station Road.
The present Amtrak rail lines, located a few hundred feet behind the Cooper building, were constructed in the 1860s. A passenger rail station and freight center soon followed. The rail station was torn down in 1960.
In 1972, Cooper Pest Solutions relocated from Trenton to Lawrence. The Cooper family bought 351 Lawrence Station Road at that time, and subsequently bought the adjacent property at 353 Lawrence Station Road. The company’s renovations to the properties were completed this year.
Phillip Cooper, president of the family-owned business, said that he and Robin Morgan, the company’s human resources director, decided they wanted to undertake a history of the area when the company first considered expanding its headquarters three years ago.
"We had heard that there were a lot of cool things about this area," Mr. Cooper said. "Understanding your roots is important. It is important not to forget where you came from."
Ms. Morgan contacted Laura Nawrocik, the assistant Lawrence Township historian who is in charge of the Lawrence archives at the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library System on Darrah Lane.
"Robin went to see Laura," Mr. Cooper said. "She came back to me and said, ‘You are not going to believe what we found (in the archives).’ It became a passion to get the information together and gather what we could."
The result is the exhibit at the company’s new building, Mr. Cooper said, adding that it would not have become a reality without Ms. Nawrocik’s help. She knew exactly where to look for information in the archives.
Although the exhibit has been installed, it is far from finished, Mr. Cooper said. The exhibit was based on the information that was available, but if anyone has more information about Lawrence Station Road, he said he would encourage that person to contact him or Ms. Morgan.
"When someone is doing a history of Lawrence 75 years from now, they are going to look at this exhibit," Mr. Cooper said. "Any interpretation now will become fact. This exhibit is about getting it right. If we have to revise it, we will. We have done a pretty good job of being amateur historians."