block-3 was part of a massive manufacturing complex built by the John A. Roebling Son's Company.  It was located on a canal (now covered over by Rte. 129) in south Trenton.

John A. Roebling (1806-1869) is best remembered as the "father of the Brooklyn Bridge".  He designed the bridge, organized the construction company, and supervised initial works, but died long before the bridge was completed.  Management was assumed by his son Washington, and the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883 to worldwide acclaim.

The origins of the Roebling family's business date back 40 years earlier. Roebling senior was a German-trained engineer who helped survey and construct canals in PA during the late 1830's, and invented machinery to spin wire rope on his farm in Saxony, PA.  The original use was for barge tow ropes (hemp ropes wore out too quickly), and Roebling soon hit on the idea of building suspension aqueduct bridges (i.e. a bridge carrying a canal across a gap).  He moved the family and his factory to Trenton in the late 1840's after winning a contract to construct 4 aqueducts on the D&H Canal, which runs from Bordentown to New Brunswick via Trenton.  Roebling became a pioneering proponent of suspension bridge design, building a series of increasingly ambitious structures for both canals and roads through the 1850s and 60s, ultimately securing the franchise to build the Brooklyn Bridge.

The "Son's" company carried on the family business after John A. Roebling's death.  Wire rope spun in Trenton was used in virtually every major suspension bridge project in the United States through the mid-20th century including the Golden Gate and George Washington Bridges.  The Roebling's were also early partners and investors in the Otis Elevator Company, which used wire rope to lift elevator cars.

The Roebling's sold the business in the early 1950s, and operations ceased in the Trenton plants by the late 1950s.  For a number of years the structures lay vacant, and then were utilized for marginal industrial applications.  For example, building 101 was used as warehouse for a paper distributor during the 1990s.

In 2011, the Mercer County Improvement Authority voted to designate HHG Development Associates, LLC as block-3's developer.