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Welcome to the un-official Roosevelt Manor Web page. Here you will find a web-page dedicated to the history of Roosevelt Manor, the times in which it was first built, and images and text covering life at Roosevelt since the first families moved in during 1954.

Roosevelt Manor is. or rather was, a public housing prioject owned and operated by the Housing Authority of the City of Camden. Roosevelt Manor is located in the heart of Centerville, between Ferry Avenue and Van Hook Street and between South 7th and South 9th Streets. Central Avenue bisected the project. The Roosevelt Manor administration building was located at 1801 South 8th Street, the corner of South 8th Street and Central Avenue. It is adjacent to another public housing project, Clement T. Branch Village, and a stone's throw from the Charles Sumner Elementary School. Just across South 7th Street on Central Avenue was Nick & Sophie's Cafe, a popular spot for residents of Roosevelt Manor and the surrounding neighborhood.

Money was allocated to build 800 new units of public housing in Camden in 1950. When Roosevelt Manor was planned, public housing was segregated in Camden, and Roosevelt, like Chelton Terrace, was planned for the many black families who lived in Camden's Centerville section. Built in the early 1950s along with McGuire Gardens in East Camden, Roosevelt opened as an integrated project, but for the most part did not integrate.

Built with an central heating system that was meant to support all of the project's buildings through underground pipes, Roosevelt Manor by the 1980s was suffering from serious decay. As many problems that the project had were caused by the residents and their associates as were due to age and poor design and maintenance. By the 1990s Roosevelt Manor had become a notorious locale for drug dealing and the associated violence and crime that accompanies it.

The Housing Authority of the City of Camden pursued a dual strategy in the late 1990s. The Authority pursued HOPE VI demolition and redevelopment grants and simultaneously used money earmarked for modernization to upgrade existing projects. As bad as conditions were at Roosevelt, things were worse elsewhere. As there was no guarantee that a Hope VI grant would be issued for Roosevelt Manor, significant funds were poured into the site to upgrade the development. New pitched roofs and facades were put on, individual boiler rooms were erected for each building, and many kitchens and baths were rebuilt.

Unfortunately all the money spent on the site did not help. Not all the work done was of good quality, and the dysfunctional behavior of far too many of the residents of Roosevelt and the surrounding areas caused the project to be as unlivable as it ever was for those trying to work and live in peace.

After HUD stepped in and removed all of Camden's Democrat machine politicians from control of the Housing Authority, things began to change. Under the direction of Dr. Maria Marquez, the authority's Executive Director, an unheard of third HOPE VI grant was won by the Housing Authority for Roosevelt Manor in 2004, with the intent of demolishing and rebuilding the 50 year-old development. Roosevelt residents were relocated elsewhere in the city in 2005 and 2006. By the fall 2006 Roosevelt Manor had been vacated and was ready for demolition.

Demolition should have proceeded immediately, but has been delayed, apparently through no fault of the Housing Authority. Unfortunately, during this period, which began around September of 2006, the property was vandalized by the human parasites that infest the surrounding neighborhood. Drug activity did not cease, either, and neighboring Branch Village became what one resident described in early 2007 as "pure hell".

Roosevelt Manor finally was demolished in the spring of 2007. 

If you have any stories or images you would like to share about life at Roosevelt Manor over the last 60+ years, please e-mail me.

Phil Cohen

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Anderson Tavern
aka Vic's Cafe

751 Ferry Avenue
June 1951

Razed to make way for
Roosevelt Manor

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Bruten's Cafe

773 Central Avenue
June 1951

Razed to make way for
Roosevelt Manor

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Fire at Roosevelt Manor

Fire at Roosevelt Manor

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The 300 dilapidated apartments at Roosevelt Manor, near South 8th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard, may soon be torn down.

To Terrence Young, who owns a store across the street from Roosevelt Manor, the change has been a long time coming.

The authority spent $3 million three years ago to fix the roofs and heating systems in the apartments. But then, 14 months ago, the authority changed its mind.

The apartments were abandoned. Residents were relocated. And Young's once-thriving grocery store business faced hard times.

"It seems like they didn't have an idea of what they were doing," Young said as he walked beside the vacant, vandalized apartments.

More than 1,000 people were removed from Roosevelt Manor and relocated to other public housing throughout the city. Plans were made to tear down Roosevelt Manor and rebuild new housing in its place.

And then, for more than a year, nothing happened. The windows of the vacant apartments were boarded up. But as Young showed during a recent tour of the area, the boards from every window, from every apartment, have been kicked in. A fence put up to keep vandals out has been trampled. The apartments have been looted. From the sidewalk, holes are visible where fixtures have been ripped from the walls.

Housing authority Executive Director Maria Marquez says she is aware of the problem and vows the buildings will be torn down before the end of January.

The original bids for construction and demolition came in too high, she said. Now, finally, the authority is ready to act.

"We tried to contain it," she said of the vandalism.

But she did not have enough staff to watch the buildings around the clock. Police patrol the area and have made arrests, but she acknowledges the vacant apartments are an eyesore she will soon fix.

Young hopes change comes quickly.

"We're just hanging on," he said.

If the apartments are really torn down and new homes are built to take their place, things may finally improve, he said, both for him and for the city.