We return to New Jersey for this week’s vintage photograph, specifically Franklin Township. This shot, taken in February 1936, depicts a woman in front of a small grocery store/delicatessen. She’s either fixing a tattered awning or taking it down, I can’t be sure which. This is from the days before big supermarkets were a common sight.

A few brand names figure prominently in this scene — Coca-Cola and White Rose Tea. Everyone knows Coca-Cola of course, but fewer know about White Rose. It is a rather large independent wholesale food distributor in the New York/New Jersey metro area and has been in operation since the late 19th century. They got into the tea business in the early 1900s.

Below the display window it’s all about tobacco. I see a sign for Granger Rough Cut (pipe tobacco), OCB (which stands for Odet Cascadec Bolloré) French rolling paper, and Stud (another tobacco brand). All the other signage is not particularly legible.

The Library of Congress caption for this mentions Bound Brook, which is several miles away from Franklin Township. What gives this away as Franklin instead of Bound Brook is that the caption also mentions Lincoln Highway. Lincoln Highway is how parts of state highway 27 are named in New Jersey, and goes right through Franklin Township. Bound Brook, however, comes nowhere close to Route 27.