History

There were a few families of local prominence including the Abbotts (Abbott House) and Watsons (Watson House).  The Decou family, another family of local prominence, lived at Overlook Mansion-known by many simply as "the mansion" at the foot of Harrison Avenue overlooking the lake that has been identified by several names:  White City Lake, Broad Street Park Lake and Spring Lake.

The actual date the house was build is unknown, but its believed that Israel DeCou built it in the early nineteenth century. (We have been able to trace it back to 1820)  Its location at the top of the bluff gave the house its name, Overlook.  Although the DeCou family sold the mansion, the house's interest to the community prevails because the surrounding seventy-seven acres became an amusement park called White City at the turn of the twentieth century.

Broad Street Park blossomed as the building lots offered by the Broad Street Park Land Association became developed for growing families, and as the Trenton Traction Company brought not only its tracks to the area, but also to White City Park.

In the late nineteenth century, the Trenton Traction Company leased Israel DeCou's Overlook Mansion.  The grounds of the estate had been a favorite picnicking spot long before the turn of the century.  But in order to make the trolley line profitable, the Trenton Traction company leased the property as a park.  Eventually, the company bought the park and the lake, a total of seventy-seven acres.

The amusement park was built on the bluff above Spring Lake and extended from Sewell to Buchanan Avenues.  The park was called White City because it was fashionable to paint all the buildings in the amusement parks white.  The resort was so well known that the entire area was and still is sometimes referred to as White City.

All the well known outdoor entertainments were installed, including a roller coaster, merry-go-round, swings, and a shoot-the-chute on which patrons rode a boat down the high bluff to the lake.  Outdoor concerts were conducted at the bandstand, and plays and minstrel shows were done during the summer.  There was a refreshment stand and dance pavillion which was converted to a roller skating rink.  From the mansion, a wide curving concrete stairway led to the lake shore below.  At the lake, boats were rented for rowing and a sandy beach provided swimming and a picnic area for visitors.  Not all the amusements were reserved for summertime; ice skating on the lake in winter was also a popular sport.  The following excerpt from a newspaper feature entitled "Trenton Town Talk" which appeared on May 20, 1893, described the popularity of White City:  "The contemplated early extension of the electric railway out Broad Street to the tollgate will be a great accomodation to that rapidly developing part of the city, and especially to the hundreds of people who daily throng to Broad Street Park, as it is called.  The healthful and diversified pleasure ground has secured a wonderful hold on the popular affections.  Almost as many people go there as to Cadwalder Park.  The secret of its popularity lies in the variety of its attractions-the large lake, the numerous winding streams, the high bluff, the wild tangle of woods, shrubs and vines, and the wealth of wild flowers, and great stretches of meadow and the other natural beauties.  People feel a freedom in wandering through and amidst these natural attractions that are absent from the starched proprietaries of more conventional pleasure grounds."

The park's popularity created business opportunities for the small businessman, and family-owned enterprises opened in the vicinity of the park.  An ice cream store opened near the park entrance on Harrison Avenue.  In the winter ice skaters found it convenient to have their skates sharpened at the shoemaker shop which was also near the park entrance.

White City Park closed during 1922 at which time the land was broken up into smaller parcels and sold off.  The buildings and rides were scavenged for wood, metal, etc. And the Overlook mansion remains intact on its own 2 acre parcel overlooking the bluff today.