About the Author

Lois M. Stanley is the chairperson of the Swedesboro Historical Preservation Commission. She lives in an 1892 Victorian home on Kings Highway bought by her grandparents in 1928. Russell C. Shiveler Jr. is an author of several historical publications and a descendant of one of the many farming families in the Swedesboro area. Both authors are members of the Swedesboro-Woolwich Historical Society and the Gloucester County Historical Society. They have collected images from the archives of the historical societies, as well as from private collections.

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Title: Book turns back pages of history for Swedesboro, Woolwich Author: Lucas K. Murray Publisher: Gloucester County Times Date: 12/01/02008
There was a time in the not-so distant past when tomatoes fell off wagons barreling down Kings Highway. A time when ball players from Swedesboro High School were rewarded for each four bagger they hit with a fresh baked pie. A time where signs in town pointed to the Bridgeport-Chester Ferry and not the Commodore Barry Bridge.
It's these little slices of life that are slowly being forgotten in an age of instant information, but are chronicled in pictures in the new Images of America series focusing on Swedesboro and Woolwich Township.
Swedesboro growing up in the 40s and 50s had everything you'd want, like a Pitman or Woodbury, said Lois Stanley, a long-time borough resident who co-authored the book with Russ Shiveler, Jr. We had a butcher, a cleaners, a movie theater.
There are plenty of places featured in the book that simply aren't here anymore. Take the men's clothing store opened by Ulysses Estilow in 1919 next to the old Swedesboro Trust Co. Both have gone the way of the horse and buggy.
The same can't be said for the Old Ford Hotel on Kings Highway. In 1934, owner Chris Kirchoff added indoor golf as an attraction to bring in guests. Today, the downstairs comes alive with diners as the present day Old Swedes Inn.
You're guaranteed not to see the two traffic lights that have sprung up in town in any of the book's pages. There are, however, depictions of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who visited the borough in 1976.
Shiveler grew up in the borough, working on a farm his great-grandfather purchased at the turn of the 20th century. His ancestors settled in the area a century before that. For him, the link to the pictures of schools and teachers in the borough and the stores on Kings Highway brought him back to his youth.
As a child, it was fascinating for me to walk into Mr. Estilow's store or into Altman's Five and Dime and here is each store once again, as I remember it, Shiveler said.
Stanley and Shiveler used Swedesboro Yesterday and Today, published in 1910, as a stepping off point for the book. They also used items in the Swedesboro Woolwich Historical Society libraries as well as photos taken from the Gloucester County Historical Society and school system artifacts.
The book, which is arranged from the 1700s to the 1970s, comes in the wake of the demise of the Hannold House. The structure burned in 2007. It was from those ashes that the book arose.
This catastrophic loss of one of the most stylish homes in Swedesboro made us feel a sense of urgency to bring attention to the historic fabric of our community, Shiveler said.
Stanley, who sits as chairperson of the borough's Historical Preservation Commission, would like to see the book come as a wake up call to bring to light that without assistance, historic structures in town could simply just fade away.
We hope that it will cause people to be interested and want to do research on their own, Stanley said. Also, that they will really be interested in preserving the past.
Swedesboro and Woolwich Township will be available Monday at area bookstores. If you don't want to leave the borough or the township, there will be two book signings over the next two Saturdays. Dec. 6, Stanley and Shiveler will be at the Swedesboro Public Library from noon to 2 p.m. They'll also be at the Kingsway High School Holiday Craft Fair Dec. 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.