It all started with an email by a concerned person about a major historic building, the Leap Building, preparing to be demolished in Penns Grove, NJ! She wrote, "I’m not sure how you get all the great stuff you have at your store, but I thought I would tell you about a neat building in Penns Grove that is scheduled to be demolished. I just thought it would be great if some parts of this could be salvaged versus just all going to a landfill." 
Many times when we get a call or email it's the day before and it's about to go down. So we started making calls right away and researching and collecting history on the property. According to, Prominent Families of New Jersey by William Myers, 1945, "W.S Leap had the distinction in American Merchandising of owning and operating an institution which is not only the oldest store of its kind in all New Jersey, but was second in 
the United States; the firm of Brook Bros at NYC being the only senior store in the country." According to an article written by Bill Gallo, South Jersey Times, "The Leap Building was built in 1876, according to archives of the Historical Society of Penns Grove, Carneys Point and Oldmans. It stood out on West Main Street because of its Victorian style and the fact it was half home for the Leap family and half men's clothing store. 
Up until nearly the end, the building contained many of the ornate elements of period when it was built including turrets, fish-scale shingles and fancy woodwork and iron work. The building, just a block from the Delaware River, also had a large enclosed widow's walk. The section with the men's clothing store was distinguished by the large awnings which shaded its display windows on West Main Street. Up until recent years, the name "W.S. Leap" in gold leaf still appeared in some of the store windows."
Royal Port was able to salvage and purchase some of the historic architectural elements as well as some of the store fixtures from the Leap property. 
We were grateful to be able to salvage such a historic property which was filled with so many memories for so many people. Being able to do this saved these architectural elements and fixtures from going into a land fill. We photographed all of the items that we purchased from the Leap Building and they can be viewed in the Leap Building Salvage Album. Even though work boots and hard hats were required, it was a privilege to be involved in this salvage project.
Some photos courtesy Historical Society of Penns Grove, Carneys Point and Oldmans.
Thank you to Bill Gallo, South Jersey Times for documenting the Leap building for the Times.