Isaac DeCou

          Isaac De Cou's selling of his approximately 250 acre farm to the Broad Street Land Association on January 2, 1889 played an integral role  in the development of Broad Street Park.  See Isaac De Cou Label.

BSP Area, 1875

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION

   This historic image shows the land owners in the Lalor and South Broad Street area in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.   Isaac DeCou would sell his farm consisting of approximately 225 acres to the Broad Street Land Association in 1889. Note that Spring Lake had yet to be created below the expertly depicted bluff.  DeCou's farm would later be developed as Broad Street Park, the location of Spring Lake Park and White City Park.  The railroad line was traveled by many Trenton residents to  Spring Lake Park until trolley service was established in 1893.

Former Isaac DeCou Farm

Image courtesy of Suzy Abbott

          The Broad Street Land Association purchased Isaac DeCou's farm in 1889 and filed this development map.  Overlook Avenue between Buchanan and Sewell Avenues was eventually abandoned and the blocks bounded by Buchanan, McClellan and Sewell Avenues became Spring Lake Park (later White City Park).  The square in the center was the location of the DeCou farmhouse which later became the Casino Restaurant in the park. 

1889: Isaac DeCou Ceases Farming

Trenton Evening Times, January 3, 1889

Isaac DeCou placed this ad one day after selling his farm to the Broad Street Land Association (James F. Rusling, et al) on January 2, 1889.   DeCou's farm stretched from the bluff above Spring Lake to South Broad Street approximately between New Cedar Lane and Rowan Avenue.  The Broad Street Land Association subdivided the land and developed Broad Street Park as we know it today.