Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003

1. The CITY HALL AND COURTHOUSE ANNEX, 5th St., between Market and Arch Sts., is a light gray granite structure of modified Grecian design, the work of Edwards and Green, Camden architects. Twenty-two stories high, it is the tallest building in Camden. From the main building of five stories rises a 17-story tower, narrowing at the top into open work resembling the neck of a bottle. On the tower is a huge new clock in place of those that have ornamented Camden's city halls since 1876. The building houses county and city offices, making it often half Republican and half Democratic.

2. The COURTHOUSE, Broadway between Market and Federal Sts., is of Italian Renaissance style with a dome resembling that of the Capitol at Washington. Built in 1904, it was designed by Rankin, Kellogg and Crane of Philadelphia. Halls and columns are of white marble and ceilings are of Italian mosaic. In a second-floor courtroom, decorated in gold, a large oil painting by Nicola D'Ascenzo, Justice and Her Scales, hangs behind the bench.

   After Camden won the hard-fought battle to create Camden County, the site for the courthouse caused a controversy between John W. Mickle, president of the Federal Street Ferry Company, who wanted it on his street, and Abraham Browning, operator of the Market Street ferry, who insisted that the building should be on his road. Under a compromise the courthouse was built on Broadway, equidistant from the two ferry approaches.

3. The FRIENDS SCHOOL (open 9-3 schooldays), 709 Market St., is a small and cheerful building of red brick, erected in 1794. Three stories high and barely wide enough for a row of three shuttered windows on each floor, it stands by itself behind a weathered picket fence, with a churchyard on one side and the schoolyard on the other. Except for a line of dentils in the molding of the cornice, the building is as plain as the one-story frame MEETING HOUSE, painted a dull gray, that stands at the rear of the yard. The school is operated as a private, progressive institution.

   Near this spot a brisk skirmish took place in 1778 during the British occupation of Philadelphia. A regiment of the Queen's Rangers under Colonel Stirling directed heavy fire against General Wayne's foraging party in the woods along the Haddonfield road. The Americans were forced to retire, but the British failed to capture their supplies.

4. JOHNSON PARK, Cooper St. between 2nd and Front Sts., is an attractively landscaped block in the shadow of tall buildings of the RCA-Victor plant. In the center stands the COOPER BRANCH LIBRARY (open 9-9 weekdays), a neoclassic building erected 1919 from the plans of Karcher and Smith, Philadelphia architects. Behind a row of six Ionic columns is a mosaic frieze of opalescent glass, depicting America Receiving the Gifts of the Nations. Composed of 100,000 pieces, the mosaic was executed in the D'Ascenzo Studios, Philadelphia. The library has 22,000 volumes.

   In front of the library is a wading pool and a bronze STATUE OF PETER PAN by George Frampton, with Peter standing on a tree stump. From the crevices of intertwining roots peer field mice, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and fairies. The park, library, pool, and statue were the gift of Eldridge R. Johnson, founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company.

5. The RCA-VICTOR MANUFACTURING PLANT (open by appointment), 201 N. Front St., extends to the river and covers io acres with tall buildings of concrete and brick. The company is the world's largest producer of phonograph records. Other products made by the 14,000 workers are radio and television equipment.

   In 1894 a customer came to the little general repair shop of Eldridge R. Johnson, bringing for repair one of the crude talking machines of the time. Johnson repaired it, studied it, changed it, and finally produced the first Victor talking machine. Leading singers and musicians were brought to Camden from all parts of the world to make the flat disk records that Johnson substituted for cylinders. Johnson sold out in 1927 to a syndicate of New York bankers for $28,000,000 and retired. The company then merged with the Radio Corporation of America.

   Blue-uniformed private guards in the streets around the factory recall turbulent scenes in the summer of 1936 when the United Electrical and Radio Workers struck for union recognition and higher wages. The strike gained wide attention as an issue of the courts vs. organized labor when local judges set bail totaling more than $1,000,000. Federal Judge William Clark reduced bail for individual prisoners from $5,000 to $100, commenting, "It is very unwise to attempt to use the courts in a labor dispute . . ." Settlement was made by agreement for an election, through which the' union won exclusive bargaining rights. The La Follette civil liberties committee reported the expenditure of large sums for strikebreaking and espionage in the strike and pre-strike period. Since that time the company has signed with the union a contract providing for a scale of pay that is one of the highest in the industry and announced a new labor a policy, employing former Assistant Secretary of Labor Edward F. McGrady as director of labor relations.

6. The ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN MANUFACTURING PLANT (open 9-4 weekdays; guides), 8 Cooper St., is the oldest steel pen company in the United States. The company was founded in 1858 by Richard Esterbrook, an Englishman who brought 15 workers to Camden and produced 10,000 pens the first year. In the plant, a five-story structure of concrete and glass, are now employed 250 workers who make 200,000,000 pens annually. Fountains pens have also been added to the output.

7. The CAMPBELL SOUP PLANT (open 9:30 and 1 weekdays; guides), S.W. corner 2nd and Market Sts., is the largest maker of canned soups in the world. The plant consists of 42 buildings covering 8 blocks; landmarks are the water tanks on the roof, built and painted as colossal replicas of red and white soup cans. Visitors are shown a $50,000 model kitchen, installed in 1936. The company buys large quantities of vegetables from New Jersey farmers, and on its own experimental land raises young plants which are distributed to growers. In the factory the number of employees varies seasonally from 2,500 to 8,000.

   The industry began in 1869 as a small preserve factory conducted by Joseph Campbell and Abraham Anderson. In 1897 John T. Dorrance joined the company as a chemist at $7.50 a week. He developed the idea of condensing soups for canning, and in 1914 became president of the company. Dorrance amassed a fortune of $117,000,000; on his death in 1935 the State inheritance tax amounted to $15,000,000, which temporarily solved the problem of raising funds for relief.

8. The WALT WHITMAN HOME (open 10-5 weekdays except Tues.; 1-5 Sun.), 330 Mickle St., is an unpretentious frame house set democratically in a solid row of dilapidated red brick houses occupied by Negroes and Italians. In Whitman's time the street was shaded by old trees; today the only tree in the block is an oriental plane before the poet's house. Built in 1848, the gray, flat-roofed dwelling was occupied by Whitman from 1884 to his death in 1892. In 1923 it was bought by the.city and made into a museum for the foremost collection of Whitmaniana.

   Among the exhibits are the cane used by the partially paralyzed poet; the rocking chair in which he sat by the upper story window after his legs became helpless ; a great tin bathtub ; a replica of the first edition of Leaves of Grass; furniture, books, papers, medals and even the poet's corkscrew. When Whitman appeared in Camden in the spring of 1873, his most productive days were behind him, but although his body was stiffened by paralysis, his mind remained agile, and he constantly revised his poetry and even wrote several important prose works.

   As his reputation grew, his home became the Mecca of literary friends and admirers from all over the world. There the poet modestly received their homage and delighted to entertain his dearest companions, John Burroughs, the naturalist, Horace Traubel, the Camden writer who was his Boswell, and Thomas Harned, one of his literary executors. No longer regarded as a dangerous libertine, Whitman sunned himself into old age in the rays of his great friendships.

   He was singularly listed in the Camden directory of 1877: "Whitman, Walt, Poet, 431 Stevens Street." To most of the citizens, however, "Neighbor" might have been an even more appropriate designation. Ignoring the faint sniffs of "the best people," Whitman roamed the streets chatting with any and all who caught his fancy. He specially lingered in conversation with children and workingmen, whom he considered the clearest voices in "the human comedy." Now and then he would drop into a tavern for a short drink -- or champagne on gala days -- and a long tallk. Strange-looking in his broad hat and unkempt beard, Whitman's desire to plumb the souls of his Camden neighbors was considered even stranger.

   In the autumn of 1891 the Good Gray Poet began to build his gray stone tomb. Shortly afterward his right lung became affected; facing death! with the same courage that had marked his life he spoke of himself as "a little spark of soul dragging a great lummox of corpse-body to and fro." With less fortitude than he himself had shown, Whitman's grieving friends saw the long struggle end in March of the following year.

9. In PYNE POYNT PARK, N. end 7th St., is the JOSEPH COOPER HOUSE (open; resident custodian), erected before 1709 by a son of the pioneer William Cooper. It is perhaps the oldest dwelling in the city. Cooper's home apparently set the architectural style for Camden's rowhouses. The original one-story structure, of rough stone with an irregular pattern of thick mortar, has a two-story red brick addition of Dutch Colonial architecture. The two parts have no unity of design, color, texture, or shape. The interior of the older section is one large room, used as a community hall. Dusty and rather forlorn, it is furnished with a few camp chairs, park benches, and a battered upright piano. At one end is a huge brick fireplace with the original wrought-iron crane. The old bricks are painted a brilliant red, meticulously outlined in white; the walls are modernized by an application of green stucco and splotches of gilt. The park, situated at the confluence of the Delaware and Cooper Rivers, contains sports fields and other recreational facilities. Cooper River was the main highway to inland villages during the years of settlement, and it still bears a considerable traffic in towboats and barges serving industrial plants along its shores. The Cooper River Parkway, now under construction (1939) along the waterway, is to be the northernmost link in a series of parkways paralleling rivers and lakes between Camden and the ocean.

10. The BENJAMIN COOPER HOUSE (open 9-4 weekdays), NE. corner Erie and Point Sts., was built in 1734, and is excellently preserved. The rough-cut stone has weathered to a rich brown, blending with the gray woodwork. The mansard roof is a particularly graceful and wellproportioned example of the Dutch version of, that style. Used now as an office for the John H. Mathis Shipbuilding Co., the tranquil old house has narrow lawns on each side of its stoop that merge abruptly with the gravel and cinders of the shipyard. During the Revolution the building, also known as the Old Yellow House and The Stone jug, was the headquarters of Lieutenant Colonel Abercrombie, who commanded the British and Hessian outpost during the occupation of Philadelphia.

11. NEWTON FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (not open), N. side Mt. Vernon St. between Mt. Ephraim Ave. and Camden Cemetery, built in 1801i on ground donated by Joseph Kaighn, was the first house of worship in Camden. It is a two-and-one-half-story rectangular building, of post-Colonial design, constructed of red brick with white trim. Quakers met here until 1915. In 1935 the building was restored with PWA funds under the direction of the Camden County Historical Society and is now wed by the city for storage.

12. In HARLEIGH CEMETERY, Haddon Ave. and Vesper Blvd., is the TOMB OF WALT WHITMAN, a simple vault of rough-cut stone designed by Whitman "for that of me which is to die." Above the grilled door is a massive triangle of stone with the poet's name. The tomb is largely concealed by trees and shrubbery.

13. CHARLES S. BOYER MEMORIAL HALL (open Mon., Wed., Fri., 1-4; other days by appointment), NE. corner Euclid Ave. and Park Blvd., contains the Camden County Historical Society Museum. Erected in 1-26 by Joseph Cooper, Jr., the tapestry brick structure of Georgian Colonial design is two and one-half stories in height, with a double chimney at either end. White trim contrasts with the dark brickwork; the lawns and trees of Farnham Park form a pleasant background.

    On the first floor is a collection of Indian relics, Colonial kitchen utensils and Civil War mementoes. A library on the second floor contains hundreds of volumes on south New Jersey, maps and rare manuscripts; and on the same floor is a completely furnished Colonial bedroom. A large collection of newspapers is kept on the third floor.

14. HADDON CRAFTSMEN PRINTING PLANT (open by arrangement), NW. corner 19th and Federal Sts., is a modern, office-type building of brick construction. Two wings with steel framework and glass sides are equipped to produce 15,000 books daily in addition to thousands of magazines and pamphlets. The plant is the, only one in the United States that prints Gregorian music.

    WESTFIELD ACRES, N. side of Westfield Ave. between Dudley and 32nd Sts., was financed with $3,000,000 of PWA funds. The model housing project covers 25 acres and includes 18 units with a total of 514 apartments of 3 to 5 rooms. The buildings are three-story brick structures of simple design, with many large, steel-framed windows. Spacious inner courts provide adequate sunlight and ventilation. Kitchens are equipped with electric ranges and mechanical refrigerators.

15. The NEW YORK SHIPBUILDING PLANT (open by permission), 2448 S. Broadway, ranks first in size among privately owned shipbuilding plants in the Nation. Here were built the 888-foot Naval aircraft carrier U.S.S. Saratoga at a cost of $40,000,000, and the 668-foot transatlantic liners Manhattan and Washington, largest merchant vessels flying the American flag. The plant has facilities for simultaneous work on 28 vessels, ranging from tugs to warships. More than 5,000 workers are normally employed. A 5-month strike in 1935 won higher wages and the 36hour week for members of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America.

16. The DELAWARE RIVER BRIDGE, N. end of Broadway, was the ingest suspension bridge in the world when it was opened by President Coolidge in 1926. The main span of 1,750 feet was designed by Ralph Modjeski and built as a joint enterprise by the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The bridge is noteworthy for the beauty of its lofty steel rowers, sweeping cable lines and the decorations on the anchorages (large carved seals of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Camden, and Philadelphia). The rowers are 385 feet above high water; the piers extend 61 feet below sea level to bedrock on the Philadelphia side, and 85 feet on the Camden side. Twin cables 30 inches in diameter support the 57-foot roadway, two rapid transit tracks and foot walks with a clearance of 135 feet above the channel. The entire structure is 8,536 feet long; it took 41/2 years to build and cost $40,000,000.

Grave of Peter J. McGuire, Arlington Cemetery, 4.6 m., Central Airport, 2 m., Red Bank Battlefield National Park, 10 m. (see Tour 19); Thackara House, erected 1754, 1.9 m. (see Tour 23); Indian King Inn, Haddonfield, 8.3 m. (see Tour 27).

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