Centennial Mirror 1828-1928


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.

It was in these times that Camden prepare for its 100th anniversary, and in this spirit of optimism that the city fathers under the direction of Mayor Winfield S. Price commissioned the booklet whose text you will find below.

Read more about the first 100 years of Camden and more articles from the Centennial Mirror


Centennial Mirror of the City of Camden, NJ

Published in the interest of a growing city, nineteen twenty-eight.

THE City Commissioners of Camden extend their Greetings to all citizens of the City, State and Nation who may visualize the Camden of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, through this volume which is dedicated to the Cause of Civic Progress.

Commissioners


INTRODUCTION

A Citizen of Camden, N.J., was in conversation recently at Washington, D.C. with a man who is a national figure in business and politics.

Of course the conversation turned on Camden.

“You have one of the finest cities in the country from the standpoint of opportunity,” said the national figure.

“I know it,” responded the Camden citizen, and then he continued, “You are a man who meets with the leaders of the nation. You are prominent throughout the country. Do you ever tell anybody who is not from Camden, that Camden is a city of real opportunity?”

“Well, of course you understand,” replied Mr. National Figure, “It would hardly do for me to preach Camden’s virtues to the people of my home city. What I say to you is in the nature of a confidence from a resident of one city to a resident of another, but you know· how I feel toward Camden when I speak of the opportunities for growth among growing cities.”

That’s the story.

If Camden doesn’t tell the rest of the country about Camden, the other fellow isn’t going to.

Camden this year completed its first hundred years as an incorporated city. A fitting and conservative celebration was conducted by the city. Thousands of Camdenites learned more about their city.

But celebrations soon cake their place on the shelf with the records of things past. Something permanent should remain. Thus this Centennial Mirror devoted chiefly to telling the things about Camden that the other fellow wouldn’t tell for us.

ALBERT A. HAUGH


Read More from the Centennial Mirror

  • Camden Industries

    Camden Industries

    ABATTOIRS ADVERTISING POSTERS ART GLASS ASBESTOS ASPHALT AUTOMOBILES AUTO & TRUCK BODIES AUTO RADIATORS AUTO SPRINGS AUTO TOPS AUTO SUPPLIES AWNINGS BAKERIES BOAT BUILDERS-SHIPS AND YACHTS BOILERS BARRELS BOOKS AND BOOKBINDERS BOTTLERS BOXES BRASS CASTINGS BRICKS BRICK SEWER PIPES BROOMS, WHISK, ETC. BUILDING MATERIALS BURLAP BAGS CANDIES CAP MANUFACTURERS CARBIDE CAKES CARBON BLACK, ETC. CARPET…

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  • Can’t Go Wrong on Camden

    Can’t Go Wrong on Camden

    By Commissioner William D. Sayrs, Jr., Director Of Public Works Streets and domestic water supply and sewage systems. Three basic elements in the existence of a modern city. 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…

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  • Making Health with Parks

    Making Health with Parks

    By Commissioner Clay W. Reesman, Director of Parks and Public Property CAMDEN has passed the stage where the promotion of park spaces and play grounds is listed as a luxury. The city administration realizes that without health there can be no successful effort toward a maximum of happiness and prosperity. Camden offers to all a…

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  • CAMDEN’S “WE”

    CAMDEN’S “WE”

    A city needs two things ­location and men.” “Camden has both.” Arthur Brisbane, noted publicist had this to say about Camden after he had studied the city and its potentialities. $2,000,000 BIRTHDAY PRESENT CAMDEN’S GIFT TO ITSELF Centennial Gift is the first unit of a $6,000,000 marine terminal to be constructed as part of the…

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  • A Stranger Arrives

    A Stranger Arrives

    Appearance of tall, lean man with flowing whiskers created no inkling of Walt Whitman’s identity. Along in the springtime of 1873 there appeared in the streets of Camden a strange, tall, limping man, clad in a somber grey. His general appearance was enhanced by the picturesqueness of his flawing white beard­ his large white collar…

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  • INDUSTRIES QUICK TO APPRECIATE CAMDEN’S DESIRABILITIES

    INDUSTRIES QUICK TO APPRECIATE CAMDEN’S DESIRABILITIES

    City’s Workshops turn out everything from pen points to the Superdreadnaught Battleships A seer once stated that Camden allegedly was a city of possibilities. And then industries started to crop up within the boundaries of the City. The first industry to enter our boundaries came into being when the Browning Brothers established a plant for…

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