Camden NJ History

MICKLE STREET was named after John W. Mickle, a prominent figure in both local and State affairs in the 1840’s and 1850’s.

The Camden Kiwanis Club is a Civic organization with activities centering about certain objectives, some of which are the underprivileged children, the promotion of an intelligent citizenship, the practice of the Golden Rule in business, the fostering of better relations between the employer and the employee, and between the farmer and the city resident.

Automobiles brought about the modern highways of today and no section of the country has responded to the demand for good roads more completely than has South Jersey.

It was in 1631 that the Dutch Commenader, De Vries, while sailing up the “De La Warr” River, discovered a verdant island at the spot where Camden now stands. This he named Jacques Eylandt, and the river afterward was named after Lord De La Warr, its discoverer, the Delaware.

A centennial review: the year was 1927 and the future had hardly ever looked brighter for the City of Camden. Times were prosperous, business and industry were booming, and the city was full of recently constructed public buildings, civic improvements, schools, the new Delaware River bridge and its new highway to the suburbs. The stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression that followed were in the unimagined future.

Camden this year marked the centennial anniversary of its incorporation as a city. One hundred years ago our population was 1143.

It is the duty of the Revenue Department to appraise the financial needs of the municipality and then to raise necessary funds through taxation, but this must be done with strict adherence to the policy of keeping to a minimum the burden placed on the taxpayer.

Camden is boastful of the fact that loss to citizens through acts of criminals is virtually nil, while the. Fire Department through a period of several years has held down the fire loss rate to a point which ranks as one of the lowest for any city its size in the nation,

Various industries in Camden, circa 1929

When a community government exerts its utmost powers to provide the highest stan­dards in water, sewage disposal and improved streets, the fundamental steps toward health and progress have been provided.

CAMDEN has passed the stage where the promotion of park spaces and play grounds is listed as a luxury.

The City of Camden, situated on the Delaware River, served by two of the nation’s leading railroads and set in the midst of a mighty labor market in a territory second to none in buying power, is essentially an industrial and home city.