The city of Camden was hit by tornadoes, or as they were then called, cyclones, on two occasions, August 3, 1885 and April 2, 1912. The first storm destroyed the Tabernacle Baptist Church at North 3rd and Pearl Street, and caused damage to buildings at North 3rd and Main Streets and elsewhere.
The second storm damaged homes and business throughout North Camden. The storm traveled in an easterly path from the Delaware River at Elm Street all the way to North 10th Street, where a factory was badly damaged, five smoke stacks being toppled and the building's roof blown completely away.
The atmospheric conditions that led to the two tornadoes striking in almost the same places seem to have been altered by the construction of what is now known as the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in the 1920's. No calamities of this nature have struck the city since then.
Dwellings, Vine Street, above 4th Street, Camden, N.J. Damaged by Wind Storm, April 2nd, 1912Rear of N.E. Cor Vine Camden Cyclone 4-2-12 #12Store and Dwellings, S.E. Cor. 4th and Vine Streets, Camden, N.J. Damaged by Wind Storm, April 2nd, 1912Dwellings, Nos 215 and 217 Elm Street, Camden, N.J. Damaged by Wind Storm, April 2nd, 1912Store and Dwellings, S.W. Cor. 4th and Vine Streets, Camden, N.J. Damaged by Wind Storm, April 2nd, 1912Stable, corner 3rd and Main Streets, Camden, N.J. Damaged by Wind Storm, April 2nd, 1912Camden Cyclone, 1912. Unknown location.Dwellings, N.W. Cor. 4th and Cedar Streets, Camden, NJ. Damaged by Wind Storm, April 2nd, 19122nd Street, North of Elm Street3rd Street North of Main StreetLooking Southwest from the corner of 3rd & Vine in the aftermath of the Cyclone of April 1912.
From Left: 607 and 609 North 3rd Street; 234, 232, 230, 228, 226 Main StreetNortheast Corner of North 6th & Vine Street After the Cyclone of April 2, 1912Dwellings, Vine Street above 4th Street. Damaged by Wind Storm April 2, 1912Vine Street, West of 5th Street. Cyclone of April 2, 1912
