Category: Historical Accounts

Camden for many years has been a center for the building of ships. There are yards which construct costly yachts and little fishing dories and others which build scows and tugs and everything up to the mightiest battleships.

A list of products manufactured in Camden in 1927.

The South Jersey Port Commission was created by the New Jersey Legislature in 1926 for the purpose of pro­moting the interests of the Delaware River front in South Jersey. We give excerpts from the report of the Port Commission, made to the Legislature of 1928. These are chosen because of their references to the manner in which the City of Camden has thrown itself behind the effort to work in cooperation with Federal and State agencies toward the improvement of port facilities. And the City is not unmindful of the manner in which the State Commission is working for the interest of the Port of Camden.

The City of Camden and the South Jersey Port Commission, early in 1928, presented to the House Committee on Naval Affairs a brief setting forth reasons why the Camden channel of the Delaware should he widened. Because it ably sets forth Camden"s aims and substantial reasons why it expected Federal support

Camden has almost 400 industrial establishments. This total in itself is substantial testimony to the desirability of the city as a location.

At this point I am tempted, in a few bold strokes of this historical sketch, to tell of the evolution of the wilderness into a city, of the felling of primeval forest, of the growth of roads and streets from little pathways, of the founding of new homes, the advent of new faces, and of the innumerable things which gradually but surely alter the face of the land, but were I to attempt it I fear that the good people who have the courage to read this introduction would accuse me of theft of an idea from Hawthorne"s charming story "Main Street", of the facts from Mr. Cooper"s delightful and instructive sketch.

EARLY ACTIVITIES IN THE UPPER FOUR TENTHS is a pamphlet that was published by the Camden County Historical Society describing life in Colonial South Jersey. It is reprinted here in its entirety.

To the spirit that brought a little band of Irish Quakers to the banks of Cooper River in 1681.... and the heritage which made that settlement the industrial empire of today... Camden County Chamber of Commerce

Gentlemen: The present History of our city has been thoroughly revised, rewritten, and much enlarged by the addition of valuable matter. It is now submitted to the public as a record of many important events connected with our early history. I can truly say that-my
only design in its publication is, to secure to the future some important facts which must soon pass away and be
forgotten. To you who have so kindly aided me in this little work, I here beg leave to acknowledge my indebtedness, and to you is it most respectfully inscribed by THE AUTHOR.
Camden, July 1, 1858.

THIS will not attempt to be a history of human slavery, but will be confined to its relation to the Society of Friends in America. In the early history of this country the first negro slaves were said to be 20 negroes brought by Captain John Harkins in 1620 from the Coast of Guinea and landed at Jamestown, Virginia, and sold to the tobacco planters. From this beginning, the importation increased so rapidly that, in 1790, it is estimated that there were 300,000 negro slaves in the State of Virginia alone.

The founding of a hospital for the care of the sick and injured in the Camden area had long been a project in the mind of Dr. Richard M. Cooper, who practiced medicine in this vicinity for over thirty years. He died in 1874 without having actually seen the work started.

William P. Corson (William Penn Corson) was active in Camden and also constructed the sewage systems in Westmont and Haddonfield, as well as portions of the White Horse Pike.