Twelfth Ward Republican Club

The Twelfth Ward Republican Club, aka East End Republican Club, has a long and interesting history. Prior to the 1899 merger with Camden, NJ, the town of Stockton, which comprised of what is now known as Cramer Hill and East Camden, had a very active political scene. After the merger, Cramer Hill became Camden’s Eleventh Ward, while East Camden became the Twelfth Ward. Jacob “Jake” Schiller was one of the leading Republicans of the 1890s Stockton-era and remained a force in East Camden Republican politics through the mid-1920s.

The 1906 Camden City Directory shows the Twelfth Ward Republican Club at 2508 Federal Street. There also was another Republican group, the East End Republican Club at 3336 Westfield Avenue, in that year. This group was gone by 1914.

The 1914 Camden City Directory reveals that the Twelfth Ward Republican Club had moved to 2311 Federal Street. By 1924 another move had taken place, to William Penn Hall, 300 North 27th Street, where it would remain through at least the summer of 1933. By 1936 the club had reorganized and was then called the East End Republican Club, and was still active and operating at that address as late as 1947, according to the City Directory for that year. The club did operate for a time at 2709 Westfield Avenue around 1938, however. The club is not listed in the 1956 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory, however.

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