Roebling calendar helps turn the page to 100

In the village’s centennial year, the 2005 community calendar features photos of Roebling throughout the century.

By: Scott Morgan
   ROEBLING — For once — and just this once — it was a gimmie. Nobody would have to jockey for space, nobody would have to wait for next year and nobody would need to keep track of which half of town had more pictures.
   In the spirit of commemorating the village’s 100th birthday, this year it’s all about Roebling.
   Let’s back up a tad. Typically, the Florence Township Community Calendar divides its 13 photographs evenly between the township proper and the Village of Roebling on the monthly pages. The tie-breaking cover shot rotates between the two areas of town.
   But come on. How often does a 100th anniversary come along? Assistant Township Administrator Tom Sahol has the answer: "It only happens once. Let’s capitalize on it now."
   Normally the purview of Mr. Sahol, the calendar’s 2005 incarnation fell largely into the hands of the Roebling Centennial Committee. Though Mr. Sahol credited committee member and homegrown artist Don Jones with being the calendar’s main compiler, Mr. Jones himself said he was just part of a group looking to tell the village’s history through original photographs.
   And there’s a story arc here. Look at the January page, for instance — a lone man waiting at the Kinkora rail stop for Charles Roebling to arrive from Trenton. Together, Mr. Roebling and Raymond Thompson would survey the duchy of Kinkora and convert its 115 acres of potato and peach farms into an extension of the steel products giant 10 miles up the Delaware River.
   The story unfolds from here — workers driving horses over matted dirt to build the buildings that would house the Roebling Steel Cos.’ workers; little boys playing marbles on Main Street; industrial workers stretching cables forged at the Roebling plant across the length of the Golden Gate Bridge.
   Mr. Sahol again has a simpler way of putting it. The calendar, he says, tells the story of "how (Roebling) became a community, then onto the world … then back to the children."
   The 2005 calendar has something else to say too, Mr. Sahol says — "These are images from your past."
   By the way, there’s an addition to the calendar this year, an insert listing historic dates important to the first century of Roebling.
   "So many people are doing such a terrific job," says Centennial Committee member Loretta Varga. "It’s going to be a beautiful year."
   The calendar is free and available the township Municipal Building and various businesses throughout Florence and Roebling.