The One and Only
DPJames Allen
ADPLawson McElroy
Trenton Makes bridge image from the chapter’s existing website.
Trenton is more than the address of the Delta Upsilon Chapter. It is New Jersey’s capital, a site of two pivotal Revolutionary War engagements, and a city whose people and work have reached far beyond the Delaware River.
1776–77
Two battles at Trenton during the Ten Crucial Days
1784 / 1790
Brief seat of the Confederation Congress, then New Jersey’s capital
1950
Delta Upsilon Chapter chartered in Trenton
At the Falls of the Delaware
The Lenape and their ancestors lived on and cared for this land long before the town bore a colonial name. The William Trent House stands on ancestral Lenape land, a reminder that Trenton’s story begins before European settlement. William Trent House history ↗
From settlement to Trent-towne
Quaker settlers established a community near the Falls in 1679. By 1719, the settlement was called Trent-towne for William Trent, a major landholder; the name later became Trenton. The 1719 Trent House also preserves a harder part of this era: eleven people of African descent were enslaved in Trent’s household. City history ↗
A turning point in the Revolution
After crossing the Delaware, Washington’s army defeated the Hessian garrison in Trenton on December 26, 1776. British and American forces fought again at Assunpink Creek in Trenton on January 2, 1777. Washington then moved toward Princeton, where a separate battle followed on January 3. These victories helped revive the American cause at a precarious moment. National Park Service account ↗
A seat of government
The Confederation Congress met in Trenton in November and December 1784, making it a brief national capital under the Articles of Confederation. Trenton became New Jersey’s state capital on November 25, 1790. The civic decisions made here have given the city a role in public life ever since. City history ↗
A city that made things
Pottery and wire rope mills helped shape Trenton’s industrial identity. John A. Roebling bought a site along the Delaware & Raritan Canal in 1848 for his wire rope business. Cables made at the Trenton works reached landmarks including the Brooklyn and Golden Gate bridges. The familiar “Trenton Makes, The World Takes” message expresses that manufacturing legacy. Roebling history ↗
The long pursuit of educational equity
Trenton commissioned the Higbee Street School in 1856 as a school for African American children; it opened in 1861. The city’s schools were not desegregated until 1944, after the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Hedgepeth–Williams decision. This history gives added weight to the work of educational opportunity in the capital city today. City historical sign ↗
OMEGA IN THE CAPITAL CITY
A new chapter in Trenton’s story
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Howard University in 1911 around the Cardinal Principles of Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift. In late 1949, twelve Omega brothers in the Trenton area organized the work that led to Delta Upsilon’s charter on January 30, 1950. The chapter’s own history describes a commitment to scholarships, cultural and civic activity, and community uplift. The Revolutionary city and the Omega chapter are separated by generations, yet service to this place connects our work to Trenton’s continuing story.
Explore the record: City of Trenton history · Trenton’s historical signs · National Park Service · Omega Psi Phi history.
