Princeton Town

Princeton University's campus, profuse with trees and shrubbery, arched vistas, a descending series of grassy levels patterned with Gothic buildings, is one of the most beautiful in the U. S. But the campus fronts on Nassau Street, main thoroughfare of a casually-built small town. Across the Street is a scraggly row of brick and wood structures, many of which have stood since Princeton undergraduates wore ornate waistcoats and grew full beards.

Last week Princeton Municipal Improvement, a local corporation run by energetic Princeton alumni, prepared to demolish these eyesores, to make way for a new community centre which will effect a balance of beauty between town and gown. Evicted families have already been provided with newly-built homes.

Plans call for a quadrangular development containing a new hotel, community building (postoffice, town hall, library), blocks of shops, a plaza, a park. Estimated cost: $10,000,000. President of the improvement corporation is Edgar Palmer, potent townsman, Princeton alumnus (1903), board chairman of New Jersey Zinc Co., financier (realty, railroads, insurance, public utilities).