Category: Businesses
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Radio Station WCAM
Camden’s oldest radio station dates back to September 1925 when it signed on as WFBI at 1270 AM under the ownership of Robert Galvin. The city government became involved soon afterward. The official dedication of the now municipally-owned radio station, rechristened WCAM, occurred in Convention Hall, occurred on March 29, 1926. The station moved, sometime…
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Merchants Trust Company
The Merchants Trust was organized in November of 1911. It was a small bank that catered to Camden’s business community, and was one of many small and medium sized banks active in the 1910s and 1920s. From its founding through his death in 1924 the president of the Merchants Trust was Charles Reynolds. He was…
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First Camden National Bank & Trust
This bank traces is roots back to June 16, 1812 when Camden’s first bank was incorporated. It was known as The State Bank at Camden, and retained that name until June 2, 1865, at which time it became a National Bank and its title was made The National State Bank of Camden. This bank did…
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Mother’s Koffee House
Mother’s Koffee House was a wholesale tea and coffee concerned, founded in 1927 by three partners. The business was located at 1913 Broadway in Camden’s Eighth Ward, and was a fixture on Broadway as late as the fall of 1959.
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Camden Hardware Company
The Camden Hardware Company operated at 1107 Kaighn Avenue from about 1910 into the 1960s. It was founded by Simon Cybulski and his wife Martha. The Cybulskis were among the earliest Polish immigrants to Camden. The 1906 City Directory shows the family living at 1443 South 10th Street, not far from St. Joseph’s Church.
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Aquinas Club
The AQUINAS CLUB appears to have been a social club that existed in North Camden prior to World War I. My best guess is that it consisted mostly or entirely of young Catholic men from the Holy Name parish, although there also were a few older members. The club apparently disbanded around 1915.
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Towne Park Motel
The Towne Park Motel stood in the 800 block of Market Street in Camden NJ. Built after World War II, its business declined as Camden’s economy fell off. By the early 1990s it had devolved into a rooming house, inhabited mostly by junkies. prostitutes, and other undesirables. It was razed early in the 2000’s.
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Third National Bank
One of the last banks to be organized in Camden, Third National Bank was organized in January of 1928. The new bank survived the depression, and remained in business as the Third National Bank & Trust Company until the 1970s, when it was merged into the United Jersey Bank. Unlike the other Camden banks that…
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Camden Trust
The Camden Trust traces its origin back to July 1, 1873, when the The Camden Insurance, Safe Deposit & Trust Company, first opened for business, at 224 Federal Street. Over a period of seventy-five years, the bank merged with other local banks such as the Security Trust Company, Central Trust Company, East End Trust Company,…
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Krystal Lounge
789 Chestnut Street apparently was a bar before Prohibition. In 1887 and 1888 Philip Barr is listed in the Camden City Directory as operating a saloon at this address. The 1908 directory shows a John A. Gorman, and the 1918-1919 directory reveals that Walter D. Leonard was the proprietor at that time.
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Three-O-Three Bar
The Three-Oh-Three Bar was at, not coincidentally, 303 Kaighns Avenue, operating from the late 1930’s to the 1970’s under various names.
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6th Street Lounge
Charles F. Sattler had a liquor license for 109 North 6th Street as early as 1938. Shortly after he renewed his license in June of 1939, the bar appears to have changed hands. The 1940 Camden City Directory shows the bar as being called The Tavern, and that the proprietors were Taggart and Davis.