20th Stop the Wrecking Ball
Please join The Preservation Committee of the Trenton Historical Society to celebrate Trenton history and support Restore Trenton! grants at an elegant evening in a historic space
Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 from six until nine o’clock at
The Historic Bishop’s House on Greenwood Avenue
Trenton, New Jersey
Hors d’oeuvres, open bar & live music
Silent auction of items related to Trenton history and Black tie favored
After the Civil War and before the train station moved to Clinton, Greenwood Avenue became the street of the elite as newly rich pottery and mill owners commissioned mansions from the city’s architects.
In February of 1875, the Rt. Rev. John Scarborough was consecrated fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey. He decided to take up residence in Trenton, renting a home at State & Clinton. His relocation to Greenwood Avenue was the notion of Trenton’s richest citizen, woolen mill owner Samuel K. Wilson., a warden of St. Michael’s Church.
Wilson donated the lot adjacent to his own home and promised to pay for a house built to the new bishop’s taste. The architect was Henry E. Finch, designer of many residences as well as Taylor Opera House, Immaculate Conception Church, Scottish Rite Cathedral, Fourth Presbyterian Church and St. Stanislaus Church.
Bishop Scarborough and his family lived in the brownstone with the tower from 1878 until his death in 1914. His successor, Bishop Paul Matthews, also occupied the episcopal residence, which the diocese retained until 1929.
The mansion’s later years didn’t live up to the early days. It was one of a row of four failing buildings which Greenwood, Inc. took over from the City of Trenton in the 1990s.
Its renewal has retained much of the high style known to Bishop Scarborough’s guests.
