Mill Hill, once considered a drug-ridden, rundown slum in Trenton, N.J., is now an upscale residential neighborhood that’s attracting more artists, big-city professionals and, now, more LGBTQ couples and families to the area. The six-block neighborhood — about 35 minutes north of Philadelphia — is a burgeoning community “that offers more than meets the eye,” said Gregory Rollins, a recent Mill Hill transplant.
Rollins moved into his three-story, single-family home on Jackson Street with his partner last August. Within days of moving in, he was greeted by a handful of neighbors who welcomed the couple to the neighborhood, an experience he said he didn’t have while living in his previous home in Princeton, N.J.
“I lived in Princeton for seven years and I only knew one of my neighbors. Now, I’m friends with mostly everyone on my block and the adjacent blocks and I’ve been in more neighbors’ houses than I can count,” Rollins said. “This neighborhood is made up of artists, theater folks, urban professionals, retired people, even young couples who are starting their lives together — you have the whole gamut here. You’ll find a bit of everything in Mill Hill.”
Jennifer Williams, who lives across the street from Rollins, has lived in Mill Hill for more than a decade with her wife and son.
“Diversity is becoming a strong component of why Mill Hill is flourishing. It’s a welcoming place for anyone looking to build community. There’s always been a steady number of LGBT couples who have lived in the neighborhood, but now we’re seeing more people from the community migrating to Mill Hill,” Williams said.
Earlier this year, Trenton elected its first openly gay mayor, W. Reed Gusciora. The Democrat told PGN that currently, the city has no nondiscrimination policies in place to protect LGBT residents but “we’re working to be an inclusive place to live.” Gusciora said that Mill Hill has been a thriving Trenton Gayborhood since the 1970s and other surrounding neighborhoods such as Hiltonia and Chambersburg are becoming more LGBTQ-friendly.
Craig Shofed, another Mill Hill resident, said the diverse backgrounds of his neighbors is the reason why he and his wife have stayed in the neighborhood for the last 13 years.
“We have people from all different walks of life cohabiting in a city that most people have characterized as too dangerous and not fit to live in. That’s far from the truth,” Shofed said.
Shofed said his eclectic mix of neighbors who come from a range of professions, identities and lived experiences is what makes the neighborhood “an appealing place to live.”
Rollins added that one of the reasons he was attracted to Mill Hill was because of its historic legacy. The Mill Hill Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places — the government’s official list of districts, sites, buildings or structures deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance.
The downtown Trenton neighborhood is home to the Assunpink Creek where the Second Battle of Trenton was fought in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. General George Washington defeated British troops who were looking to cross the bridge over the Assunpink Creek. Washington’s success helped to control British movement across central New Jersey and was considered the turning point of the war. The battle — fought at what is now Mill Hill Park — is reenacted every year during Patriot’s Week in Trenton (observed this year on Dec. 26-31).
The homes in Mill Hill, which were fashioned after Georgetown in Washington D.C., come at an affordable price compared to homes that are similar in neighboring cities such as Philadelphia or New York, Rollins said.
“If you have a two-income household with no children, like me and my partner, finding homes for these prices are a steal,” he said.
Houses that are currently for sale in Mill Hill can range anywhere between $140,000-$250,000 for three-bedroom, two-bath homes with roughly 1,800-square feet of space. These homes are relatively inexpensive compared to the single-family homes with similar designs and square footage found in historic areas in the city such as Old City — where homes are priced as high as $795,000 for the same amount of space and number of bedrooms.
Residents of Mill Hill are looking to continue to build on the revitalization of Trenton that has been in development since the late 1980s. In 2016, USA Today listed Trenton as one of the worst cities to live in based on quality of life. The city was reported to have a 27.8 percent poverty rate and had more than 1,300 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents, a crime rate that exceeds more than five times the crime rate of all of New Jersey.
Gusciora noted that the city is has seen a “greater interest in the development of Trenton from people wanting to come and take a chance on the city.” He said there’s been a decrease in the crime rate within the last year and more job opportunities are on the horizon.
“The old steel mill and the Roebling Wire Works factory — both of which have been abandoned since the ’60s — are being looked into being renovated to provide an estimated 200 jobs for our residents in 2-3 years,” he said.
“Neighbors who’ve been living here for a long time have said that there used to be crack sales right in the middle of my street 20 years ago,” Rollins said. “Now, we’re turning the area around, planting new trees and bringing new life to these streets that many people still see as dangerous and poverty-stricken.”
Rollins noted the gentrification of Trenton and how he wants to find a better solution to displacing local residents who fall below the poverty line.
“Nothing has changed about the houses or the neighborhood, but it’s the attitudes of the people living in these houses that have changed things. The issue here in Mill Hill is that we can’t be insular — we need to outreach more and we need to be part of the community instead of separating ourselves from the other communities in Trenton.”