Camden Streets - Liberty Street

LIBERTY STREET runs parallel to Kaighn Avenue, from Pavonia Avenue (just west of Ferry Avenue) east to Haddon Avenue. Bisected by two railroad lines and since the 1960s by Interstate Highway 676 in more recent years, Liberty Street and its partner to the South, Mechanic Street, are quite different from one section to the next. Liberty Street is one of the older streets in Camden, appearing in the 1isy of streets appearing in the 1850 Camden City Directory.

West of Broadway, Liberty Street in the first part of the the 20th Century was an ethnically diverse neighborhood, filled with families who worked in the nearby factories and stores on Broadway and Kaighn Avenue. Across Broadway towards 6th Street there were a number of African-American families, and the Hunton Branch of the YMCA, serving the black community, was located their. Of course as Camden being very diverse place, Jewish synagogues were located at different times on Liberty Street, at 335 Liberty Street and near the corner of 6th and Liberty.

Factories and industry prevailed on Liberty between 6th and 8th Streets. At 9th and Liberty there stands a large former cigar factory, and it is at around this point where Liberty and Mechanic Streets took on a distinctly Polish flavor for many years, anchored by the presence of St. Joseph Church on 10th Street between Mechanic and Liberty streets. This influence extended itself almost all the way up to Haddon Avenue, where Liberty Street terminates.

Thanks to Virginia Bicking, for sharing a few stories and getting me started on this page!

Do you have a Liberty Street memory or picture. Let me know by e-mail so it can be included here.

Phil Cohen

300 Block of Liberty Street
	300 Liberty Street Technical Sergeant John Di Cicco
	300 & 302 Liberty Street Technical Sergeant John Di Cicco
	309-311 Liberty Street R. Cavallo & Sons Inc. 1959 Banquet Program Ad Click on image to Enlarge
	318 Liberty Street Corporal George O'Keefe
	320 Liberty Street 1910s-1920s Herbert W. Baxter Sr.
	320 Liberty Street 1910s-1920s Herbert W. Baxter Jr.
	323 Liberty Street Angelo's Auto Repair 1991 Fire Watch Magazine Advertisement
	324 Liberty Street George K. Hartman Family 1920s-1976 George K. Hartman Wilhemina Hartman Henry Hartman Margie F. Hartman December 12, 1900 - June 1976
	324 Liberty Street 1928 Harry Hartman Camden Courier-Post February 10, 1928 Bernard Bertman Watson Shallcross Stanley Wirtz
	333 Liberty Street Robert Gess
	333 Liberty Street Private First Class Rocco J. Rossi
	335 Liberty Street Synagogue The Liberty Street Shul 1920s
	341 Liberty Street 1940s Private Grover D. Shinn

400 Block of Liberty Street
Dr. Hyghcock - The Voodoo Doctor of Liberty Street
	412 Liberty Street Earl Eckman Camden Courier-Post June 25, 1933
	437 Liberty Street 1947 Julius P. Galmin Sr & Family Julius & Gertrude Galmin Julius P. Galmin Jr. Damon L. Galmin James J. Galmin Regina Galmin
AUTOIST HELD IN CRASH AS LICENSELESS DRIVER Charged with driving without a license, Arthur Benjamin, 28, of 430 Liberty Street, was held in $10 security for a police court hearing following a collision at Twenty-third and High Streets shortly after noon yesterday, One man was cut on the head and legs. Policeman James Banks made the arrest after Benjamin's car struck and overturned the machine of C.R. Finney, 62, of 201 Cooper Street. Finney was treated by Dr. A. Lincoln Sherk. Benjamin was ordered to appear before Judge Garfield Pancoast June 29.	458 Liberty Street 1933 Arthur Benjamin Camden Courier-Post June 23, 1933
	458 Liberty Street Sergeant James E. Reynolds
	463 Liberty Street Private Albert L. Parker

1000 Block of Liberty Street
	1214 to 1226 South 10th Street & 1017 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1017 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1017 to 1045 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1029 Liberty Street 1958 Frank DeKonski Camden Courier-Post February 10, 1958
	1008 Liberty Street & 1320 S. 10th Street Click on Image to Enlarge St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
	1008 and 1010 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge 1008 Liberty Street was the original St. Joseph' High School
	Looking East from 10th & Liberty Street 1010 to 1058 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge 1010 Liberty Street is the St. Joseph Church Rectory
	1026 to 1058 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
MRS. ANIELA GORCZYNSKI Mrs. Aniela Gorczynski, 56, of 1035 Liberty Street, died Wednesday. She was the wife of Frank Gorczynski and was formerly Miss Aniela Blogowska. Funeral services will be held at 8,30 a. m. tomorrow at the family residence, with solemn requiem high mass at St. Joseph's Polish R. C. Church, at 9:30 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Members of the Rosary Society of the church and the Woodmen of the World will attend the funeral.	1035 Liberty Street 1920s-1930s Frank Gorczynski
	1039 Liberty Street 1920s-1930s Bronislaw Matyasik
	1039 Liberty Street 1920s-1930s Private Joseph A. Matyasik
	1050 Liberty Street 1900s-1920s Joseph Jagodzinski Click on Image to Enlarge

1100-1160 Block of Liberty Street
	1109 to 1125 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge Detective William T. Feitz, First Camden Police Officer to fall in the line of duty, lived at 1125 Liberty Street. Blue Building at far left is 1220 Mt. Ephraim Avenue
	1109 to 1131 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1115 Liberty Street Camden Courier-Post February 21, 1928
	1123 to 1131 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1127 to 1131 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge 1131 Liberty was used as a retail liquor store by the Knast family, and as an outlet for soda bottled at their Liberty Bottling Works, located next door at 1135, owned by the Kbnast family. Teofil Knast was operating at 1135 Liberty as far back as 1924.
	1135 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge The blue building at the rear and the brown garages belonged to the Liberty Bottling Works from the 1930s to the late 1970s.On Liberty Street, 1135 the site of Liberty Bottling Company was run Brothers Joe and Mike. There was a small liquor store next to the bottling plant in which we used to buy soda. We would take our little wagon over with or without our Dad and purchase a case of soda. It was a big deal to us as kids. Today the property is boarded up after being converted into a half way house owned by a dentist (?) from New York. Of the original families on that street only one remains - my mother at 1136 Liberty Street.- Virginia Bicking, May 2004

	1135 Liberty Street Camden Courier-Post August 14, 1933 Click on Image to Enlarge
	1141 to 1145 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1141 to 1155 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1145 to 1155 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge 1145 Liberty was the home of PFC John C. Napiorkowski Jr., who was killed in action while serving with the United States Army in Burma during World War II.
	Looking East on Liberty Street from in front of 1136 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1152 & 1150 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge The southeast corner of Liberty and Rose Streets
	1152 Liberty Street January 5, 2008 At 11:55 PM Squad 7 ( Captain Ashley) reported a 2-1/2 story ordinary occupied dwelling with medium smoke showing from the 2nd floor. All hands were placed in service. The fire was located on the second floor at the rear of the building and quickly brought under control with no injuries reported. The Camden City Fire Marshal was on the scene. Click on Image to Enlarge Photos by Steve Skipton

	1152 Liberty Street January 5, 2008 At 11:55 PM Squad 7 ( Captain Ashley) reported a 2-1/2 story ordinary occupied dwelling with medium smoke showing from the 2nd floor. All hands were placed in service. The fire was located on the second floor at the rear of the building and quickly brought under control with no injuries reported. The Camden City Fire Marshal was on the scene. Click on Image to Enlarge Photos by Steve Skipton

	1155 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1146 to 1114 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge The corner house which no longer stands at the corner of Liberty and Rose was owned by a produce huckster. Their son was once featured in a newspaper story because he would take his little wagon full of produce around the neighborhood and sell it. As kids we grow up on plenty of vegetable and fruit dishes from produce he could no longer sell. We would get tomatoes, peaches, cantaloupes, etc. Life was grand for us despite the bad economy at times. The Huckster was known as Lucky. Virginia Bicking, May 2004

	1146, 1144, & 1142 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1148 to 1136 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge 1152 & 1150 Liberty Street are visible across Rose Street
	1148 to 1136 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1140 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1140 & 1138 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1138 Liberty Street Mrs. Bertha Kuhnel ran a candy store here in the 1940s Click on Image to Enlarge
	1136 Liberty Street A baker by trade, Harry Bicking and his wife Wilhelmina moved into this home in late 1906 or 1907 from the home around the corner at 1137 Mechanic Street. The Bicking family still resides in this home, in May of 2004. Click on Image to Enlarge

	1130 to 1114 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1130 to 1114 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge

1169-1191 Block of Liberty Street
	1169 to 1185-1187 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1169 to 1185-1187 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1169 to 1183 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1169 to 1191 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1181 & 1183 Liberty Street
	1181, 1183, & 1185-1187 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1181 Liberty Street In the 1930s and 1940s this building was the home of the Woodrow Wilson Democratic Club Click on Image to Enlarge
	1185-1187 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1185-1187 Liberty Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	1191 Liberty Street Joseph Bontkowski operated a grocery here. His son, Louis Bontkowski was killed in action during World Wa r II On the corner of Louis and Liberty across from the RR lot was a grocery store run by a man known as Cookie and his mother. Virginia Bicking, May 2004 Click on Image to Enlarge

1200 Block of Liberty Street
	1201 Liberty Street Mr. Wiggles Aquarius Lounge also known as Rudolph Stumm's Saloon & Pouche's Lounge Click on Image to Enlarge
	1201-1205 Liberty Street Mr. Wiggles Aquarius Lounge also known as Rudolph Stumm's Saloon & Pouche's Lounge Click on Image to Enlarge
RALPH PHILLIPS WEDS MISS ELSA D. STUMM Miss Elsa D. Stumm, 24, of 1201 Liberty Street, was married yesterday in the German Lutheran Church, Fifth and Stevens Street, to Ralph R. Phillips, 24, of 1248 Haddon Avenue. Miss Stumm is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Stumm, and Phillips is the son Mr. and Mrs. O. O. Phillips. His father is well known in real estate circles and in civic work and independent politics. He is associated with his father in the real estate business. The couple left last night on a wedding trip to the Century of Progress Exposition- at Chicago. They will make their home at 626 North 42nd Street.	1201-1205 Liberty Street Rudolph Stumm & Family Camden Courier-Post June 17, 1933
*FIREMEN'S AUTO INJURES 4* A Camden city fireman's automobile figured in two successive accidents that injured four persons last night. The fireman is John C. Voll, 33, of 1230 North Nineteenth Street, attached to Engine Company Number 9, Twenty-seventh and Federal streets. Voll was treated at Cooper Hospital for severe cuts on the face and mouth. His machine collided at Eighteenth Street and River Road about 11 p.m. with the car of Steve Liperi, 23, of 408 West Third Street, Palmyra, injuring Liperi's mother-in-law. Liperi told police Voll's car came at him in a zig-zag manner a block until it struck a pole at Seventeenth Street and River Road, went on the sidewalk and struck two women. One of these, Mrs. Lydia Ramsey, 32, of 2108 Howell Street, was treated at Cooper Hospital for severe cuts on the leg. The other, Miss Pauline Comfort, 22, of 1238 Liberty Street, was treated at West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital far severe bruises. Liperi and his wife, Grace, 19, were unhurt, but her mother, Mrs. Mary Mancuso, 45, of 885 Velde Avenue, Delair, suffered cuts and bruises, No charges were made by either driver.	1262 Liberty Street 1933 Pauline Comfort Camden Courier-Post June 4, 1933
	1262 Liberty Street 1967 Bob Lucas
	1268 Stewart Street 1933 Marjorie Bobbs "Miss Walt Whitman" contestant Camden Courier-Post June 19, 1933
	1282 Liberty Street 1930 Blue Hour Luncheonette

200 Block of Liberty Street
	222-224 Liberty Street 1920s A. E. Wessel & Sons Shoe Manufacturing
	225 Liberty Street Private First Class Salvatore Saporito
THREE HURT IN COLLISION In a collision between cars driven by Francis A. Righter, 24, of 279 Liberty Street, and Paul A. Etter, 36, of North Ninth Street, at the intersection of Ninth Street and Atlantic Avenue yesterday, three persons were slightly injured. The, injured are: Dorothy Etter, 32, of 302 Linden Avenue, Woodlynne; Mrs. Joseph Zoller, 61, of 453 Henry Street, Camden, and Lawrence Kline, 18, of 20 Common Street, Fairview.	279 Liberty Street Francis A. Righter Camden Courier-Post October 26, 1931
	293 Liberty Street 1910s-1920s Vernon & Florence Shinn Family Grover D. Shinn 1932-1933 William Pernier

500 Block of Liberty Street
TWO HELD FOR THEFT George Morton, 20, of 519 Liberty Street, and Tony McDaniel, 21, no home, were arrested last night charged with stealing a box containing several quarts of ice cream from Charles Daubert, of 238 Jackson Street, a peddler. They were held for a hearing today.	519 Liberty Street 1933 George Morton Camden Courier-Post June 12, 1933
	524 Liberty Street New Jersey Bottling Company
	535 Liberty Street 1959-1970 The Spot
	547 Liberty Street 1943-1956 Roland Farmer's Tavern 1947-1956 The Spot

Broadway & Liberty Street
	1226 Broadway Greenie's Tender Trap also known as the Broadway Beer Garden, Buradine's , & Bert's Cafe

600 Block of Liberty Street
	613 Liberty Street Private Gean Davidson

900 Block of Liberty Street
	927 & 929 Liberty Street & 1223 to 1213 South 10th Street Click on Image to Enlarge