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JOSEPH BISHOP VAN SCIVER was the founder and chief executive office of the furniture manufacturing and retail business that bore his name. The Van Sciver operation at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Federal Street was world famous, shipping furniture all over the globe. J.B. Van Sciver was born in Hainesport NJ on May 14, 1861, He grew up in Camden, where he attended the E.A. Stevens School. He founded his business in a small shop at 210 Federal Street in 1881. After moving to a four story building at directly opposite the Pennsylvania Terminal and Ferry at Delaware and Federal in 1888, his business grew so that by 1923 it pccupied ten acres, new construction and buildings having been added in 1890, 1896, 1902, and 1923. On June 9, 1892 he married Florence Groff Kelly at the First Baptist Church in Camden. There were four children, Joseph B. Jr,, Russell, Lloyd, and Ruth. The Van Scivers later made their home in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, where J.B. Van Sciver died, on June 19, 1943. |
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JOSEPH BISHOP VAN SCIVER—Residence, Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill), Pennsylvania. Furniture manufacturer and dealer, of Camden, New Jersey. Born near Hainesport, New Jersey, May 14, 1861; son of Abram and Lydia H. (Bishop) Van Sciver; married, at Camden, June 9, 1892, to Flora G. Kelly, daughter of Samuel and Fanny J. (Andrews) Kelly. Children: Joseph B., Jr., born August 1, 1893; Lloyd, born April 28, 1896; Russell, born May 15, 1898; Ruth, born April 13, 1906. Joseph B. Van Sciver is the president and guiding head of the J. B. Van Sciver Company, manufacturers and retailers of furniture, whose ten-acre plant is in Camden. Incidentally Mr. Van Sciver is the great-great-grandson of John Bishop, Philadelphia Quaker, who is said to have built the first shot tower in America and whose conscientious scruples would not permit him to operate it during the War of 1812. This was a great opportunity for large business and profits but he stood by his principles and he declined to make shot, he said, "that was to be used in killing human beings," so he disposed of the business. Mr. Van Sciver is a descendant on the maternal side of Richard and Margaret Haines, the former having come to America from London in 1683; and on the paternal side from John Van Sciver and his wife, Charity Moris, both of whom came from Holland in Colonial times and settled in New Jersey. His father was Abraham Van Sciver and his mother was Lydia Haines Bishop, who was a member of the Society of Friends. The couple were married in New Jersey in 1836. The seeds of the great furniture and home furnishing business that Mr. Van Sciver has built, were sown in a little twenty-foot wide store, No. 210 Federal Street, Camden, in 1881. A year previous to this, however, Mr. Van Sciver had begun to manufacture furniture. The growth of the business was phenomenal. The year 1888 found the business housed in a new four-story building erected for the purpose at Federal Street and Delaware Avenue, directly opposite the Pennsylvania Terminal and Ferry. The manufacturing facilities were enlarged, and the stocks were increased. It was a bold move to secure business from Philadelphia, and it proved a huge success. Customers from across the Delaware began to pour into the store. A new seven-story building was added in 1896, and the organization of the J. B. Van Sciver Company followed in 1898. More new buildings were added in 1902, and in 1923 a new structure comprising four additional acres was added to the great plant. Van Sciver furniture sold in every State in the Union and shipped to countries beyond the Seven Seas. The business totals approximately $4,000,000 annually. Mr. Van Sciver, together with his brother George, developed the Hainesport Mining and Transportation Company and the De Frain Sand Company from small industries. He is vice-president of each organization. Mr. Van Sciver is a director of the Knickerbocker Lime Company. He is vice-president of the Van Sciver Corporation which includes the three organizations. These companies have become the greatest manufacturers and distributors of building materials in this section of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They supplied much of the materials used in making the huge concrete foundations of the immense bridge spanning the Delaware between Camden and Philadelphia. During the World War they supplied the Government with the greater part of the gravel, crushed stone and other concrete materials used in constructing the plants and piers for the shipbuilding industries at Hog Island, Chester, Bristol, Camden, and Philadelphia. Joseph B. Van Sciver was brought up and educated in the city of Camden, where he attended the E. A. Stevens School. Mr. Van Sciver and his family are members of the Temple Baptist Church, and he is a member of the following clubs: Union League, the Manufacturers' Club, and the City Club, all of Philadelphia; Whitemarsh Valley Country Club; American Academy of Political and Social Science; New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania, and the Netherlands Society.. |
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B. VAN SCIVER CO. It is a principle, pretty generally accepted in the business world, that back of every notable commercial enterprise will be found a clean-cut, well-defined idea. Nowhere has this principle had finer illustration. than in the phenomenal growth of the great furniture house of J. B. Van Sciver Company. From the smallest of beginnings in 1881, a twenty-foot store on Federal Street, Camden, this business has developed by leaps and bounds until to-day it stands, undoubtedly, the largest exclusive retail furniture establishment in the country. The basic idea lying behind this achievement, like all successful ideas, is extremely simple, viz.: that a store and factory inexpensively located at the Market Street Ferry, Camden, can manufacture and sell furniture of quality direct to the consumer at under market prices, and hence attract trade from the vast urban and suburban population of Philadelphia and adjacent territory The execution of this idea involved, of course, not only an inexpensive location, but also adequate manufacturing facilities, an immense output, and economical methods. With this in mind, in 1888, just twenty years ago, the founder and present head of the Company, Mr. J. B. Van Sciver, moved his store and factory into anew four-story building, erected for the purpose at the corner of Federal Street and Delaware Avenue, directly opposite the Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal and Ferry, and opened for business. The response of the great furniture buying public to the stimulus of best quality furniture at lower prices than ever before known, was instantaneous; and what seemed at first an uncertain experiment soon proved to be an established success. In 1890 the plant was enlarged in area and a fifth story added. In 1898 the big seven-story factory adjoining the store was erected. Today, at this Twentieth Anniversary at the Ferry, the plant, including store, warehouse, and factory, covers more than six acres of floor space, and the business extends its operations to every country on the globe, at an estimated annual saving to its customers of over $100,000.00. A recent feature of the business that has attracted much favorable comment is the Automobile Delivery Service, which delivers goods free and fits them up in the home.. |
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Left: In 1898, the seven story factory was built adjacent to the existing building. Bottom Left:: The Van Sciver complex in 1908
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Van Sciver Furniture Factory & Store around 1907 |
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Van Sciver Furniture Factory & Store 1930s |
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Van Sciver Furniture Factory & Showroom Around 1950 |
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J.B. Van Sciver
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Camden Courier-Post August 4, 1971 |
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Thanks
to Harry Kyriakodis for his
help in creating this page. |
