Trenton Lofts: Cracker Factory

I took a tour of the Cracker Factory today. It's quite a bit changed from the last time I was in the building. Most importantly, all of the army navy surplus junk has been moved out. Also, the bricks have been cleaned and repointed which shows off the beautiful brick-work.

I've seen the layout of the site and in general like it. There will be a couple of grand lofts lofts in the building though there was certainly space for a few more.

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HHG has now completed the purchase of the Original Trenton Cracker Factory and is started renovation (pictured on the right including a drawing from the 1870s). The plan is to renovate into 17 lofts with groundbreaking scheduled for Fall 2006. The building has 29,000 SF (plus extra in a basement) so the units should be pretty decent size. All this is good new for the loft scene in Trenton.

If you're wondering were this is, its' on Centre street 3 blocks from Historic Mill Hill. It's a short walk from my project on S. Broad St. As another point of reference it's 2 blocks towards the river from the Sovereign Bank Arena. I've put a link to the Google Map at the bottom of this page.

This is the coolest building in Trenton and to say I'm jealous that Henderson, Hatch and Goldstein (HHG) are developing it is an understatement.

I was the first modern Trentonian to tour the building with an eye towards converting it to lofts. Owner Ray Reback and his family have owned the Original Trenton Cracker Factory for over 40 years and use it as a Army Navy Surplus Wholesale operation. I had hoped to reach a deal with Reback but couldn't and eventually was scared off of the project due to Leewood's impending demolition of the surrounding neighborhood. Since then, I've been singing the building's virtues to Hatch and Henderson and others in the Lamberton Historic District. Reback is ready to retire but held on to the building during the Leewood fiasco in the hopes that he'd get a sweet deal.

Leewood wanted to turn this historic building into a community center.

There will be more information on this shortly as the developers will be anxious to pre-sell the units.

History of the Cracker Factory from the HHG Web Site
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In 1847, Adam and John Exton, two recent English immigrants founded a bakery on the site of the current Cracker Factory, at the corner of Centre and Furman Streets, in what was then the independent hamlet of Lambert Town. According to a history of Exton & Company written by the grandson of John Exton in the 1920s, the original bakery consisted of a "little house, with a small bakery attached to it", which was "surrounded almost entirely by corn fields".

The Extons were great lovers of oysters, and came up with the idea of a cracker that would complement oyster stews as well as raw oysters. The idea caught on based on what Exton's grandson describes as "mouth to ear advertising". The Extons were soon baking 100 lbs. of "Trenton Crackers" per day, and decided to focus exclusively on their production.

Trenton's strategic position on the main-line soon became critical, as Exton & Company began shipping product to markets in New York and Philadelphia. "Adam Exton, or his brother John, not possessing a horse and wagon, would, many a time, wheel a barrel of crackers to the Trenton freight station."

The current factory was built in stages. The oldest buildings undoubtedly are the three story row houses on the left-front of the site. The corner building was added somewhat later, possibly in the 1860s. The gray addition along Furman Street is dated 1896. By the 1920s, production reached 4 tons of crackers/day during peak periods (780,000 crackers). A new oven and kitchen were added in the 1930s, increasing capacity even further.

Exton & Company continued to occupy at least part of the site until the mid-50s. During WWII, some of the building seems to have been converted to manufacturing uniforms; and after the Extons moved cracker production to a new factory in Lambertville, the site seems to have been fully converted to clothing manufacturing for a decade or so.

Starting in the late 1960s, it was converted for use as a warehouse, which continues today.

Here are some pictures of the Cracker Factory

Sketch or Original Cracker Factory	Modern pre-renovation picture	Wood oven in Unit #10

Google Map