The John W. Mickle school opened in the spring of 1876, with Phillip Cressman as its first principal. Designed by Camden architect Stephen Decatur Button, it was identical to the Richard Fetters School and the Isaac Mulford School which were built on opposite corners at South 3rd and Walnut Streets. Although the original Mickle School building is gone, as is the Mulford School building, Fetters is still standing and in use in 2007, a testament to its design and construction.

The Mickle School Annex was opened in 1925 in response to Camden's growing school age population. It was designed by the Camden architectural firm of Edwards and Green, headed by partners Byron Edwards and Alfred Green.

In time the original building was taken down. The Annex was converted in the 1990s as the Creative Arts High School, and is still in use as such in  2007. 

The school was named after Captain John W. Mickle, one of Camden's leading citizens. He was the brother-in-law of Dr. Isaac S. Mulford and an uncle of Isaac W. Mickle, who was active in Camden's drive to establish public schools. He had been a sea captain, however, in 1823, the year after Isaac Mickle was born in an "old stone farm house on the river bank just below Jasper Street, Captain Mickle gave up his sea-faring life to raise young Isaac, whose father had died of tuberculosis. Captain Mickle founded the Camden and Philadelphia Steamboat Ferry Company in 1836, was Secretary and Treasurer of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, a principal holder in the Camden Water Works, and other business interests, and owed a great deal of land in and around Camden.

In June of 1843 then-President John Tyler traveled from Washington to Boston to dedicate the Bunker Hill Monument. When the citizens of Camden learned he was traveling through their town, they arranged for a public reception in the Camden Garden. Captain Mickle welcomed the President on behalf of the township. This was the first reception given a President of the United States since George Washington visited, when Philadelphia was the seat of government. 

Captain Mickle led the fight that created Camden County. A staunch Democrat, he and his allies convinced the state Legislature, which was Democratic, to pass, on March 13, 1844, the act separating it from old Gloucester County. The new county was, of course, named after Camden, which was to serve as the county seat until a permanent one could be selected through an election. Captain Mickle and John K. Cowperthwait were Camden's first County Freeholders.

On April 18, 1861, a week after the firing on Fort Sumter, a large meeting was held in the Camden Court House, which was presided over by John W. Mickle, "whose Democracy was only exceeded by his patriotism." He spoke briefly and ardently on the rebellious act against Fort Sumter by South Carolina, and ended his speech with the words, "That flag has got to go up." Nearly one-fifth of Camden's population participated in the struggle to save the Union.