The House on Sloan Road

I took a trip to the Mercer County Clerk’s office the other day to look up some old family deeds. I found the deed for the original sale of the lot on Sloan Road, which would eventually be #268. In May 1946 the plot had no address and no Lot/Block number. Instead, the lot was described in distances from a “stone monument” located at the intersection of Fairlawn Ave. and Sloan Rd. The dimensions of the lot were 100′x325′.

What is interesting is that the first two words on the deed were, “THIS INDENTURE”. According to the deed Charles & Leota Garrison purchased the land from J. Chauncy Van Horn for:

“… the sum of ONE DOLLAR, and other good and valuable consideration”

I spoke to my mother and she believes her parents bought the lot for $500.00 and that they made payments, over time, to the Van Horn’s. She is not sure if some other contract existed between her parents and the Van Horns.

Three conditions were placed on the sale by Van Horn.

1. Any house built on the lot had to valued at more than $1,000.00
2. All buildings had to be at least 15′ from the street.
3. “No nuisance, such as slaughter-houses, glue factories, fertilizer factories, bone-boiling establishments, bill boards, advertising signs, junk, scrap or auto storage yards” shall be built or operated on the grounds.

At the time of the purchase the Garrisons were living at 110 Houghton Avenue in Trenton.

In 1971 the State of NJ acquired some of the property that fronted Sloan Rd. This was when Sloan Rd was shifted and widened (part of the original Sloan Rd is now the private road that is in front of Congoleum). The deed doesn’t mention how much land was bought by the state, but my grandparents received a sum of $500 for the land. This was also the time that the ditch in front of the house disappeared. I still remember Sloan Rd having a ditch on each side.