CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY

EAST CAMDEN

This page is a work in progress about the neighborhood that has been my home on and off (mostly on!) since 1976. Originally a part of Stockton Township, the area that is now known as East Camden was merged into Camden proper in 1899 along with the neighborhood now known as Cramer Hill. It included the villages of Wrightsville, Stockton, and Rosedale, which lay along Federal Street. The area was served by the Pavonia Railroad Station, located along the railroad line at 27th Street. The East Camden and Cramer Hill area is border by the Cooper and Delaware Rivers, and Pennsauken Township. 

Stockton Township had a large park that lay a block south of Federal Street and Marlton Avenue. This park, originally known as Stockton Park, had a long and varied history, and over the years has served as a rifle range, a park, the site of a private zoo, Depression-era family vegetable gardens, and, since 1954, the site of the McGuire Gardens public housing project.  

Real estate developers such as J. Howard Kirkbride and Alfred Cramer brought large tracts of land, including parts of the Thomas H. Dudley estate, and laid out affordable building lots, which gave the area its residential character. Much of this activity occurred in the 1890s and early 1900s. Schools built in these times included the Dudley, Garfield, and Cramer Elementary schools. The Cramer school, built in 1913, also served as a junior high school at different times. 

Leon Todd developed the neighborhood between Westfield and Rosedale Avenues, along the railroad tracks that bordered the Dudley estate, below North 33rd Street in the mid 1920s. Both Todd and J. Howard Kirkbride built homes in both Stockton/East Camden and Pennsauken Townships, and if it wasn't for municipal street signs one would not know where East Camden end and the Pennsauken neighborhoods begin, especially in the area near 36th Street and Camden Avenue. The Octavious Catto School was built in late 1920s for Negro children, as Camden's Elementary schools were then segregated. The segregation of the elementary schools defied even the logic of those times, as the upper grades had always been integrated.  

A similar development to the Westfield and Rosedale Avenues project was built between Federal Street and Crescent Boulevard (then State Highway 25, later US Route 130) along Terrace Avenue around the same time. The growth in East Camden caused the city to build Woodrow Wilson High School on Federal Street across from Dudley Grange in the early 1930s. The Federal government stepped in during the Depression, building the Westfield Acres homes at Westfield and Rosedale Avenues, with the first families moving in in 1938, and the Henry H. Davis Elementary School  was built as a companion to this site. 

More development occurred when Baird Boulevard was linked to Federal Street, and another period of building activity occurred immediately before and after World War II, ending in the 1950s. Another public housing project, the Peter J. McGuire Gardens, was built in the early 1950s, on the site of the old Stockton Park. The new Francis X. McGraw Elementary School, named for Congressional Medal of Honor awardee Francis X. McGraw, was also built during this period, at Dudley and Fremont Streets.

Industrial development occurred along the railroad tracks. One of the largest facilities was a warehouse at North 36th and Pleasant Street that was used for many years by the Campbell Soup Company.

During the 1960s and 1970s, as the economic fortunes of Camden declined, so did new construction. A new junior high school was built adjacent to the McGraw School on Dudley, this school was simply known as East Camden Middle School. Two high rise apartment buildings, Westfield Towers and John F. Kennedy Towers, were built adjacent to the two public housing sites during this time. 

East Camden has seen its ups and downs. For years it was one of Camden's more prosperous and stable areas, until being ravaged by drugs, poverty, and political corruption in the the 1980s and 1990s. The neighborhood is currently undergoing a rebirth, in great part through the efforts of the Housing Authority of the City of Camden and the St. Joseph's Carpenters Society,  and an influx of Asian and Mexican immigrants who have opened up many small businesses in the area.  

This page will include articles and pictures about the past and present of East Camden. 

As with most everything else on this web-site, it's a work in progress, and I welcome your participation-
                       Phil Cohen
                       Camden NJ

Do You Recognize Anyone Here????? Henry H. Davis School 1952 Miss Ada Haley's 5th Grade Class

July 2006- A reunion is being planned for later in the year. If you recognize anyone or are in this picture yourself, PLEASE e-mail Bob Bartosz at civilwarbnp@verizon.net

   LEFT: This 1914 map of East Camden shows the neighborhood in the days before the Ben Franklin Bridge and Admiral Wilson Boulevard were built. Of notes are the streets that extend from Federal Street all the way down to the Cooper River. This area was eliminated to make way for the Admiral Wilson Boulevard. 

Of interest is Stockton Park, now the approximate site of the Kennedy Tower and Peter J. McGuire public housing projects. Also of interest is that several streets off of 27th & Federal Street still carried names from the Stockton Township days.

Needless to say, everything on the right side of the river, the north side of the Cooper River, is East Camden. This picture is roughly 15-20 years prior to the building of the Delaware River (Ben Franklin Bridge) and the building of the Admiral Wilson Boulevard. This picture of the Cooper River was taken from a spot along the river roughly behind the site of the present-day Camden High School.

The City Commission of the City of Camden on December 1, 1927 changed the name of Forest Hill Park to Farnham Park, in appreciation of the late Levi E. Farnham, City Engineer of Camden for thirty years

You really do have to click on the image and see this one enlarged to appreciate it. Rows, and rows of tulips on Baird Boulevard? When those who were there said Camden was beautiful, this picture shows they were not kidding! If this only this one had been in color!!!!!

Thanks to Curtis Parrish for furnishing this picture.

27th & Federal Street

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Pennsylvania Rail Road 
1908
As seen from River Road

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OLGA'S DINER

24th & Federal Street

1956

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27th & Federal Street, in 1956.
To the right, the Boulevard Grille, still open in 2003 as Freddie's Bar

James A. Garfield School - 2825 Cramer Street

Alfred Cramer School

These pages show the many varieties of beautiful "Air-Lite" and "Air-Wa" homes on the outskirts of Camden. These pictures tell there own story of attractiveness, coziness, and unique fittings. This locality is especially attractive having ideal living conditions, good transportation by bus, trolley, and auto.

CAMDEN FIRST- 1925

Left: "This is the house at 3187 Rosedale Ave, approximately late 1940's. It's the house I grew up in." - Fred Kalt

February 1, 2004

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February 22, 2004

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     This aerial view of East Camden was part of a July 1926 ad by the Suburban Home Realty Company, located at 325 Market Street in Camden, run by Edward S. Miller
     The newly-constructed Bridge Boulevard (later renamed Admiral Wilson Boulevard) and Marlton Pike run parallel, and Baird Boulevard crosses the tract. While streets had been laid out, the depression and war would slow some homebuilding in this area.     

Dudley Grange Park is located at Federal and Dudley Streets in East Camden. The park is on the remainder of the Thomas H. Dudley estate. The Dudley house was the home of the East Camden branch of the Camden Free Public Library up until the late 1970s. Neglect on the part of city government resulted in the destruction of this historic building by fire in August of 1980.

Responsibility for the care and upkeep of Dudley Grange Park fell to Camden County in the 1990s.

DUDLEY GRANGE SCENE OF BIBLE CONFERENCE

An open air Bible Conference will be held in Dudley Grange, Federal and Dudley streets, today, begin­ning at 2:30 p. m., under the auspices of the Calvary Methodist Protestant church, Twenty-third and High Streets.

The theme will be "The Indwelling Presence of Christ." Three topics will be considered: "The Reality of, the Reason For, and How to Realize His Indwelling."

The conference will be conducted by Rev. Newton C. Conant, pastor of the church, who invites everyone to attend and to bring a box lunch or supper. Edwin H. Castor, Bible teacher of Philadelphia, and others will assist Rev. Conant.

Camden Courier-Post

September 12, 1935

The picnic shelter
at
Dudley Grange Park
was built in 1996.

Camden Courier-Post - September 13, 1934

Camden Courier-Post - August 22, 1936

Camden's first public housing project was built along Westfield Avenue. Construction began in 1936, and the first families moved into their new homes in 1938. The Acres as it came to be known was a landmark until its demolition in 1999. It was rebuilt and renamed Baldwin's Run, with the first families arriving in the spring of 2003.

Camden Courier-Post - June 19, 1939
2400 Block of Baird Boulevard

KOTLIKOFF'S

Camden Courier-Post * June 14, 1933

Three social functions this month will conclude activities of the East Camden Woman's Club for the fiscal year. On Monday next, the members will be guest's for the day at Mrs. Edward Combs' summer camp along the Rancocas, Wednesday, June 28, they will make a trip to Ocean City, where they will spend the day at the cottage of Miss Dorothy Morris. Tomorrow they will hold a luncheon at Fuhrman Inn, Philadelphia.

A meeting of the Garden Section of the club will be held at the club­house, 33 North Thirtieth Street, on Wednesday afternoon, June 21. Mrs. William Ash is chairman of the group.

The Drama Department sponsored the program presented at the meeting of the club held Monday evening, in the clubhouse. Mrs. Howard Eby, chairman of the department, arranged the program, which she titled "A Scenic Reading." It consisted of portraits of famous women in life and fiction.

Miss Lydia Brady illustrated the "Song of the Shirt." Mrs. James Pearce portrayed "Barbara Fritchie;" Mrs. Theodore Warren, "Maude Muller;" Mrs. Louis Hammell, "Barefoot Boy;" Mrs. James Pearce and Mrs. Russell Kennedy, "John Anderson, My Jo John;" Mrs. Warren Barth, "Milk Maid." 

Camden Courier-Post * May 19, 1942

383 South 27th Street
June 2002

Jill Petris Lamparella writes about East Camden

I was born in 1951 and brought home to 139 North 32nd Street.  My parents were William Joseph and Elizabeth Mae (Reeves) Petris.  These were all very happy years for me and my sister Sheree Joy Petris (married name Romesburg) who was born in 1954.  These were happy years because all of our family lived in Camden.  My Dad's family was from South Camden and my Mother's family was from East Camden.  

My Dad was terrific at carpentry and for several years in their spare time, he rebuilt the entire inside of 139.  We had indirect lighting in dining room which shone pink from the outside and they made a faux pink marble fireplace in the living room.  Strange, but I guess they were into pink.  My Grandparents, George and Ruth Reeves lived at 3173 Merriel Avenue and I could see their house from my back bedroom window.  My best friend Janice Olnhausen lived next door at 3171 Merriel Avenue with her parents Emil and Betty Olnhausen.  My Great Grandparents, William and Eva Roles (parents of Ruth Roles Reeves) built Roles Court Apartments on North 34th Street and Rosedale Avenue, they lived there and ran the apartments until both passed away.  The apartments then passed to George and Ruth Reeves who later sold the property.  Most of our family the Petris's, Reeves, Roles, and Kellys were brought up and lived and had happy times at Roles Court Apartments.  My parents lived there from 1947 (the year of their marriage) to 1950 until they purchased 139 North 32nd Street.

Our playground were those streets, the back alleys and of course Dudley Grange Park, where they had a ball game going every night during the summer and then there were the swings and slides.  My Grandfather George "Rick" Reeves along with his friends George Kissinger, Inky Workings and Harry Hoffman all played baseball there.  My Dad Bill Petris also played at one time or other. 

My Mother Betty Mae lived in Westfield Acres from 1938 to 1941 or 1942 on a third floor apartment with her sister Ruthie and baby brother George "Richard" Reeves until they moved to 3173 Merriel Avenue. 

I went to Henry H. Davis Elementary School from kindergarten (Mrs. McCarroll), 1st grade (Mrs. Braun) 2nd grade (Mrs. Brown), third grade (Mrs. Elliott), fourth grade (Miss Williams), fifth grade (Miss Quinn) and 6th grade (Miss Costello).  Mr. Showalter became the principal at some point.  I think he had come from Cramer School. 

Everyone was friendly, we took the bus everywhere but mostly to 27th Street to go to the M&H to get ice cream, Kotlikoff's to get clothes and the 5 & 10 to look at Barbies.  My Mother and my Aunt Carol Kelly would push coaches with their children into "town" as they called it on nice days. 

My sister and I would walk to Grace Baptist Church on Sundays, where most of my Mother's family attended (the Reeves side).  William Reeves owned the house on Cramer Street across from the church and sided up against the bank parking lot.  Later the house was lived in by my Aunt Ida and Uncle Sam.  Ida was George Reeves' sister.  William Reeves, my great grandfather was the fire chief at the firehouse. 

During the Fourth of July celebrations, every year, Dudley Grange Park would set off a wonderful fireworks display.  I don't remember if it was big in relation to displays now.  It was huge, and beautiful and implanted in my memories so much so that I have to rush out and see fireworks somewhere on the 4th.  Unfortunately, someone was killed in the 1950's as I believe one of the fireworks went into the crowd.  After that, the fireworks stopped at Dudley Grange to my recollection. 

Harry's Grocery store was on the corner of North 32nd Street and Westfield Avenue.  On the other corner was Sy's Cleaners.  The Esso station was on the other side of the street facing North 32nd.  Frank's soda fountain and candy shop was on North 34th and Westfield on the way to school.  There was another candy store across from Davis on the corner.  The playground at Davis was the scene of many Halloween parades when we had to march around the school for our parents to see back in the 1950's.  The playground was wonderful, life was fun and easy. 

I had wonderful holidays and many happy memories of 139, 3173 and Roles Court Apartments and the neighborhood in general.  The library was great.  I would go once every two weeks and take out as many books as I could read.  There was roller skating, bike riding, the kid who sold water ice and snowballs in his wagon, the milk truck, the ice truck, the clothes prop man and people who were homeless that would knock on your door to ask for a bowl of soup.  You did not say no and always gave them something to eat and you never locked your doors back then.  You didn't have to be afraid of anyone.  It was a close neighborhood and everyone knew who you were from street to street and neighbors looked out for one another. 

My parents sold 139 North 32nd Street around 1962 to move to Cherry Hill after 6th grade.  My Grandparents lived at 3173 from about 1941 to approximately 1974 when they past on and my Uncle Richard Reeves inherited the house and then sold it to move near Gibbstown, NJ.  My Aunt Ruth Reeves Feairheller moved out of 3171 when she got married in 1957 and at some point moved to a street that paralleled Route 130 near Pennsauken and the Penn Fruit.  She may have also lived on Carman Street at one time. 

There is so much more and I could go on all day but I won't.  It was a lovely, uncomplicated, innocent and wonderfully happy time for all of the family.  Now family is scattered all around the U.S.  The "olden" days were great fun.

Jill Petris Lamparella
March 2008

An East Camden Memory

I lived in East Camden from December of '43 to July of '46. It was only a short time but these two plus years were the happiest of my life. I was 15 then and after living on a small street in South Philadelphia then moving to a house with a lawn, driveway and a garage was heaven. 

My two older sisters didn't care much for it because they had social ties in Philadelphia but I quickly made new friends in the neighborhood. The address was 2312 Howell Street across the street from the Pavonia railroad yard. I can still remember my mother hanging out laundry only to have to take it down and re-wash it when the switch engine across the street would blow it's stack sending a cloud of black smoke and ash over the whole neighborhood.

I had a cocker spaniel named Cookie, together we would take long walks, sometimes over the 27th street bridge to Cramer Hill all the way to the river front overlooking Petty's Island. I made friends in Cramer Hill also. Many times we would walk to Forest Hill and I would go for a swim and Cookie would watch my clothes on the bank of the river. We would then walk over to Central Airport to watch the Navy N3N's take off and land. At that time the Navy was using Central Airport as an annex to Musten Field which was part of the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

I attended many of the local teen dances, St Joe's on 29th and Westfield Avenue held one of them. Another was on 26th and Federal Street over the top of the five and dime store, still another was at St. Anthony on 29th and River Road in Cramer Hill. 

There used to be a feed store on 23rd and Federal Streets. On Saturday mornings I would accompany a friend on his rounds delivering straw, hay, and chicken feed to the many little farmettes in Cramer Hill, some of which had pigs, goats, chickens, and even a cow.

My favorite hang out was Shellow's, an ice cream parlor between 23rd and 24th on Federal Street.

When I turned sixteen my father told me that I would have to get a job and I would not be going back to school in the fall. I got a job as an aircraft engine mechanic apprentice at the Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia at 41 cents an hour. I loved the work, I was dazzled by all the different types of aircraft that flew in and out of the base. My love affair with Camden came to an end when my father announced that we were moving back to Philadelphia. I was devastated and heartbroken. I didn't talk to my father for weeks. Not long after moving back to Philadelphia I joined the Army and was sent to Korea! 

I will always remember East Camden fondly. 

Angelo Forte, September 26, 2004

Camden Courier-Post
 October 8, 1947

412 Morse Street

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ERLTON ITALIAN BAKERY

PANZAROTTIS!

30th & Saunders Street

12th Ward Athletic Association

Schools in East Camden

PUBLIC IS INVITED TO JOBLESS GARDENS

An invitation to inspect the "Taylor Gardens," which are being tilled by the unemployed at Morse and Mickle streets, was extended yesterday to the public by Christian Staas, chairman of that section of the garden movement.

There are 74 gardens in the tract, Staas said, and while many were damaged by the hurricane ten days ago, they have been put into shape and make a fine display. "We want the public to see the work the boys have done at Taylor and Mickle Streets, as we are proud of the gardens," said Staas. 

NOTE- It appears that Mr. Staas was misquoted as to the location of the gardens, as Taylor Avenue never existed in East Camden, and Morse and Mickle never intersected there either. The location appears to have been at Morse and Carman Streets.

 May 14, 1952

The one block row opposite Dudley Grange Park on Dudley Street between Federal Street and Westfield Avenue, these homes, completed and first occupied in 1952, were among the last built in Camden's "classic" era. 

Cooper Street in East Camden - the "other" Cooper Street

Christmas 1961

Courtesy of Tom Probst

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St. Wilfrid's Church
(Episcopal)

Westfield Avenue and
Dudley Street

December 21, 2002

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to Enlarge

Looking West towards Cramer Hill on the North 36th Street Bridge
1980

Photograph Courtesy of Floyd L. Miller Jr.

The Campbell Soup Warehouse in East Camden
If Mrs. Miller and the kids had looked to their left, this is what they would have seen!
Photos by John Ciafrani - January 17, 2005

A Block Party on Pfeiffer Street - July 10, 2004

Karen Jackson, of the 400 Block of Pfeiffer street, organized the Summer Safe Drug Awareness Party block party to be held for neighborhood children on July 10, 2004. 

One of the "fun" things about growing up in East Camden" was being able to watch the trains that run through it. During construction of "The River Line", the light rail line that runs from Camden to Trenton, New Jersey Transit dumped tons of dirt along the tracks between 27th and 36th Streets, effectively blocking the view. Worse yet, the dirt was contaminated with PCBs and other toxic substances.

Led by the Eastside Civic Association, news articles, resident protests, and the intervention of state legislators led top the removal of the contaminated dirt. 

By
RICHARD PEARSALL

The contaminated dirt that NJ Transit piled into huge mounds next to a residential neighborhood here is gone, to the delight of residents who demanded its removal.

"After all the years of not winning anything," said Robin Perkins, a member of the Eastside Civic Association, "we won this one."

But questions remain about why a small portion of the dirt was incinerated at a special disposal facility rather than deposited in landfills. More than 4,000 tons of the dirt was taken to a facility in South Philadelphia for incineration. The cost of that incineration was $55 per ton, figures provided by NJ Transit show, far in excess of the amounts the agency paid a variety of landfills to take the bulk of the dirt. Those fees ranged as low as $2 per ton.

Janet Hines, a spokeswoman for NJ Transit, described the dirt that went to the incinerator as "no different than what went into the landfills. It had the same content at slightly different levels."

The dirt that NJ Transit piled in East Camden - some 160,000 tons of it - was excavated during construction of the River LINE from Camden to Trenton. NJ Transit maintained the dirt, which it described as "clean fill," posed no environmental threat. Built between 2000 and 2004 at a cost of roughly $1 billion, the line began operations in March of this year.

The dirt was dumped in East Camden as an economical way to dispose of it, NJ Transit records indicate, although the agency later described the berms as "visual barriers." 

To date, the removal has cost NJ Transit about $10 million. 

Taken from a right of way used for railroading for more than 150 years, the dirt contained residues of various hazardous substances that left it unfit for residential areas and permissible in commercial areas only if capped with cleaner dirt. Among the problem substances were lead, arsenic and other heavy metals; PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls; and various volatile organic compounds, such as benzopyrene.

NJ Transit deposited the dirt in the Pavonia Rail Yard in East Camden in mounds that stood three stories tall in some spots, stretched for blocks and rested within yards of homes and businesses. After months of newspaper articles, resident protests and finally, the intervention of state legislators, NJ Transit relented and agreed, in June 2003, to remove the berms. The process took nearly a year, but won praise from residents.

"You kept your promise," Connie Williams, the president of the Eastside Civic Association, told Joyce Gallagher, the NJ Transit executive who worked with the residents, at a meeting in May. By then the dirt was gone. A fence was up; grass and roses were to come.

"It's out of here," Perkins said at the time. "That was our main issue."

The route to removal was circuitous, with starts and stops that NJ Transit did its best to hide from public view, citing "ongoing negotiations."

Forgoing public bidding, NJ Transit shipped the first 69,000 tons of the dirt to Interstate Materials, a transfer facility on Staten Island, at a cost of $923,000 for disposal and an additional $2.4 million to truck it up the New Jersey Turnpike. The next batch was supposed to go to a quarry in Falls Township, Pa., another deal arranged without bids but that fell through when the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection withdrew its permit. By then, the dirt had gained a bit of notoriety, prompting a number of locations, including Winslow Township, Elk Township and a disposal facility in Delaware, to turn it down. NJ Transit eventually found places for the rest of the dirt in the Salem County Landfill, two more landfills in Pennsylvania - Morgantown and Pottstown - and the Clean Earth Facility, the disposal plant in South Philadelphia. NJ Transit cited an "exigency" clause in its bylaws in explaining why it did not put more of the work out for bid. Contracts above $25,000 are supposed to be advertised and bid.

Camden Courier-Post - June 28, 1950

The
34th & 34th East Side Gang!

Not to be confused with the notorious North Cramer Hill Gang (those guys pulled stickups!), this fine group of life-long friends grew up in East Camden in the 1940s & '50s, in the 500 & 600 blocks of North 34th & North 35th Streets. As they say, you can take the boy out of Camden, but you can't take the Camden out of the boy. This photo was taken in 1991. 
      From left to right: Don Thorne, Bill Chalmers,  George Parks, Don Joyce, Bob Bartosz, Bill Emenecker, & Ray Kerby.

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This May 15th 1956 photo by Bob Bartosz shows work being done of Federal Street from 33rd street to east to Route 130.

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I had my first job at Kotlikoff's, at 25th and Federal.  They hired me as a part time stock boy, after school.  But not until I got my "working papers" (do kids today need working papers?).

Harry McCurdy
March 2007

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