Our thanks to Chick and Nello’s Homestead Inn on Kuser Road in Hamilton for providing the appropriate setting for our club meeting on October 23 as Club Past President George Ott told the fascinating story of the Kuser family’s far-reaching business and philanthropic activities.
After Rudolph Kuser achieved success in Newark with a game-changing steam engine for small businesses, he purchased a large farm in Hamilton (on which the Homestead Inn now sits). His son, Fred, later bought an adjacent property that became Kuser Mansion.
Business ventures by his sons involved beer brewing, early automobiles, trolleys, gas and electric power (that led to the establishment of PSE&G), ice and coal deliveries, Lenox china, racetracks and movie-making, among others.
The family’s legacy also helped establish the New Jersey Audubon Society, and finance and guide St. Francis Hospital in Trenton and its charitable efforts.
