Memories of Lalor School
by Gale Szajna

My family has lived in Deutzville since the turn of the century.   I will attempt to relay some little tidbits I have been told- fact or fiction.  The sections will touch on each decade Lalor School has been open.  Also of note is that the Lalor School property borders on what is now know as the Hamilton/Trenton Marsh. This area, in its entirety, is the largest freshwater marsh on the Delaware River and includes 1,250 acres.  It has over 550 documented species of plants and 280 species of birds.  The Lenni Lenape Indians were the first inhabitants on this land. At the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton you can see a large collection of Lenni Lenape artifacts. The largest single group comes from this area.

School picture from the mid 1930's

In the beginning...

There were very few houses in the area between here and the Whitehorse Circle.  Frugal mothers used the printed fabric from flour sacks to make their daughters dresses!  It was common for families to raise chickens in their yard, grow their own vegetables, and use a smokehouse to cure meats.  The St.Jehosephat churchyard was not a church yard-it was a dock where you could rent boats and paddle down the canal to the river.  There were no sewer lines, so people had outhouses.  The kids from Duck Island (yes, there were shanty homes on Duck Island) to the Whitehorse Circle went to Deutzville School on Durand Avenue where Broadway Moving and Storage is now.  Part of the original building is still there.  According to neighborhood legend the school became more populated and someone decided that the heavy cast iron desks would cause the floors to collapse so a new school was needed. The inscription high atop the front of the building reads " Dedicated to the Education of our Youth that They May Serve".   September 1927 Lalor School opened its doors, and I do mean doors!  There were two doors; one for the boys and one for the girls!!! The teachers of Deutzville School relocated to Lalor School.  One of the first teachers was one of  Lalor School's longest serving principal's, Mr.Mitchel, who lived on Durand Avenue a few doors down (he was a wonderful man)(if we ever thought of memorializing our school he would get my vote).

The late twenties and  thirties...

Margaret Bayous entered the fourth grade when Lalor School opened.  She told me they rarely used the front doors-they entered through the back of the school.  The only time the boys and girls were separated was in assembly when the boys would sit on one side and the girls the other.  Her teachers were Ms.Havens and Ms.Rogers.  There was cooking and sewing class for the girls.  Mr.Mitchell was the teacher of wood shop class for the boys.  Some of the other first teachers were Mrs.Borden, Ms.Webster, Ms.Stradling, Ms.Cunningham, and Ms.Sapp.  Mrs. Catherine Donnelly was the "Teaching Principal".  They had a "nice" PTA  that  her mother, Marie Hoffman was extremely  involved with.  She recalls the wonderful school trips to Caldwalder Park.  On "Founders Day" the children of Lalor School participated in the parade down State Street in Trenton.

Lalor Teacher Mrs.E.M.Webster, taken Easter 1936.

Memories continued...