CAMDEN – A Great City Growing Greater

Feb 13, 1928

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Evening Courier – Centennial Anniversary Edition – February 13, 1928

Just one hundred years ago today, a little group of men went before the Legislature and asked that body to incorporate as a city the straggling and struggling village of Camden. If these men could now visit the city born that day through their efforts, they might well feel that their labor of love was not in vain. For the village of 1,143 people in 1828 has become a great city of close to 200,000 today. By estimate of the United States Census Department, the population on July 1, 1927, was 133,100. This does not include the thickly populated interlocking suburbs, neither does it make allowance for the enormous influx of home-seekers who have followed Camden Bridge to the Jersey side of the Delaware since 1926.

The few scattered cabins on the banks of the river in 1828 have grown into mile after mile of well planned, well kept streets and boulevards, lined on either side-by homes as fine as the nation can boast.

The tiny horse-driven ferries of a century ago have been replaced by the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge, a $40,000,000 project and the engineering marvel of the world.

One hundred years ago a majority of Camden’s citizens were engaged in agriculture, with a very small percentage of the population employed by the two or three small industrial concerns then in existence. Today Camden has 354 industries, widely diversified in their products, and employing more than 40,000 people.

Camden is the county seat of Camden county, the fourth largest city in the state, and ranks fifth among New Jersey cities in the value of its manufactured products.

Some of the Reasons

There are many reasons for Camden’s growth, and many reasons why new industries are locating here every month of the year.

Ideally located on the east bank of the Delaware river, 55 miles from its mouth, Camden offers both rail and water shipping facilities second to no city in the east.

Two steam roads, the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad (Pennsylvania System) and the Atlantic City Railroad (Reading System) and one electric railroad have their terminals in Camden; also an interurban trolley system centers here. Automobile buses operate throughout the city and 60 miles into the outlying country. Many inter-state bus lines operate through Camden.

The city occupies a position of constantly growing importance in the world’s markets, Camden’s industries do business with the world, buying and selling. Diversification is one of the big outstanding factors in the industrial structure of the city, virtually everything “from writing pens to battleships” being manufactured in the city. New industries are coming into Camden constantly, and there is room for others. There are 354 manufacturing concerns in Camden, many of them international leaders in their particular line of activity, and the annual output is estimated at $300,000,000, with the city ranking fifth in the state in the value of manufactured products.

Four of the largest advertisers in the world today are Camden industries.

These are some of the reasons for Camden’s growth. Among the many others are:

Camden has had for years the lowest tax rate in the state.
Unsurpassed labor market, with serious strikes unknown in industries.
Municipal park system of 184.49 acres.
Fifteen playgrounds.
Motorized fire department, one of the first in the United States.
Low fire insurance rates.
Artesian wells—136—supply water which has been designated by the United States Geological Survey as “among the best in the United States, and certainly the best in this part of the east.”
Health conditions good. Malaria eliminated, typhoid fever virtually nil.
Trunk line highways, stretching out spoke-like from the city.
Gateway to world-famous seashore resorts. Vast number of parks, lakes, camping and picnic grounds nearby.
Camden leads the cities of the State in home ownership, with more than 42 per cent.
Buying population estimated 400,000.
Nine active civic organizations, many neighborhood business associations.
1927 building program one of the greatest in history of the city.
Millions of dollars are being spent in and around the city by the city and state in new boulevards.
A city plan is being worked out.
Ideal factory sites are available.
New industries and home-buyers are coming to Camden and nearby territory drawn by the giant suspension bridge—Camden Bridge—connecting Camden and Philadelphia, opened July 1, 1926.
Public schools– 41, including 1 senior High; 3 junior High and 37 elementary; 9 parochial; 1 Friends and 3 business colleges.
Churches, totalling [sic] 111, of almost every denomination.

Port Development

The water front in Camden—6¼ miles along the Delaware River—is being developed. Development within the city would seem to indicate that it will be rapid.

Camden has built her first municipally owned pier, a half-million dollar structure modern in every detail at the foot of Spruce street, comparing favorably with any municipal pier in the country. From bulkhead to bulkhead and from end to end it measures 480 by 101 feet. This inside floor area, completely protected by roofing, covers 33,636 square feet. The floor is capable of holding a load of 600 pounds per square foot. A well designed sprinkler system affords protection against fire. Authoritative soundings show 35 feet of water at low tide.

Facilities for unloading cargo are railroad track runs along the concrete strip on the south side of the pier to the very pier end, this track being directly connected with a belt line leading to both railroads.

The Municipal Pier is now in operation by Camden Terminal Company. Several ship lines make Camden a regular port of call.

Work now is being rushed forward on a huge nine-story fireproof cold storage warehouse, the first unit of the Camden Rail and Harbor Terminal, one of the most gigantic enterprises of its sort in the world.

In all there are 56 wharves on the Camden Delaware River front, two of which are owned by the city.

Good sites are available on the Delaware River for shipping lines and manufacturers.

Ranking high in efficiency, the transportation facilities in Camden move a vast army of busy workers each year, the estimated total being 100,000,000. Combining to make up the transportation system are trains, buses, trolleys, ferries and Camden Bridge.

Camden enjoys the unique distinction of being the only city in the United States which has a five cent fare in the city limits on buses and trolleys.

Besides the 150 trolley cars and 100 buses of the transportation corporation, there are several independent bus lines. Buses operate out of the city 60 miles into the outlying country.

The Atlantic City Railroad (Reading System) and the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad (Pennsylvania System) operate trains in and out of Camden, with an electric road operated by the West Jersey as well.

Climate Is Ideal

According to George S. Bliss, meteorologist of the U. S. Weather Bureau in the territory in which Camden is located, the section of the country possessing the nearest to ideal climatic conditions is that in which this city is located—a portion of the Atlantic Slope lying between New York City on the north and Washington, D. C. on the south. The mean annual temperature for this district is between 54 and 55 degrees, which is a fairly satisfactory condition. The rainfall usually comes within desired limits and is reasonably dependable. Severe drought periods are rare, and there are usually from 8 to 12 days each month with an appreciable amount of rain.

“Camden’s water is among the best in the United States, and certainly is the best in this part of the East.”

This was the declaration of Dr. W. D. Collins, chemist for the United States Geological Survey, after he had examined the water.

Camden is not losing sight of the fact that recreation centers are necessary for the health and enjoyment of her constantly increasing population, In this respect, Camden has taken her position in the forefront of American cities.

An indication of the steps taken to provide public play places is contained in the amount of total park acreage now owned by the city, which stands at 163¼. Twenty-four years ago it was less than half that amount.

Forest Hill Park is the largest in Camden, with a total of 108 acres, including an athletic field.

Johnson Park, at Second and Cooper streets, is another delightful recreation point.

Pyne Poynt Park has a total of 21 acres

Fifteen playgrounds provide the open spaces for the children of Camden to get recreation, play their games unmolested by traffic in the streets and gain health.

The city realizes the value of the playgrounds as a check to juvenile crime and delinquency.

The playgrounds are under the supervision of a staff of trained instructors.

Population Increasing

The population of Camden increasing steadily. An estimate of the United States Census Bureau placed it at 133,100 as of July 1, 1927, as compared to 181,000 as of July 1, 1926,

Camden has an enviable reputation for the fairness of labor in its industries, There has never been a strike of long duration in any industry. Being near the big labor markets of the East, Camden manufacturers never have any difficulty in getting additional employees when they are required.

This city enjoys the distinction of being one of the first in the United States to have a completely motorized fire department, also it was one of the first cities of the country having a city fire department. There are 15 fire companies in the city with 200 firemen.

An efficient police department is the boast of Camden, with officials doing everything possible to keep the organization at the highest point of efficiency. Besides headquarters there are three branch stations. There are 300 men in the department.

Business History

The first business established in Camden—or near enough to Camden to justify its being claimed by this city, at least—was a bank of issue, the oldest in the new world.

Mark Newbie, who lived on a farm where Woodlynne now stands, brought with him from London to the new world a large number of copper coins, made in Ireland by the Roman Catholics after the massacre there in 1641. These were known as Patrick’s halfpence. In May, 1682, the New Jersey Assembly passed a statute authorizing the circulation of these coins by Newbie, thus establishing the first bank of issue in America. The Patrick half-pence were legal tender to the amount of five shillings, and Newbie mortgaged 300 acres of his farm to guarantee their redemption on demand.

It was not until 130 years after this incident that the inhabitants of the thriving little hamlet at Cooper’s Ferry were provided with banking facilities. Meanwhile, however, business ventures of other kinds had begun to spring up in the little settlement on the east bank of the Delaware.

In Camden today are a dozen or more businesses more than 100 years old, and many others rapidly nearing the century mark. A few of the older ones which come to mind at the moment are the carriage company at Front and Arch streets, founded by Joseph S. Collings in 1827; the First Camden National Bank and Trust Company, which, as the First State Bank, began in 1812; the William S. Scull Company, a huge coffee and tea house which grew out of the little grocery store established at Second and Federal streets in 1831 by Joab Scull. C. Schrack & Co., the oldest varnish house in America; the Esterbrook Steel Pen Company, founded in 1898; the American Dredging Company, established in 1867, and many others.

Camden’s real growth as an industrial center, however, began not with these so much as with the coming of the great manufacturing concerns which today furnish employment to so many of the city’s inhabitants.

Early Shipbuilding

Always a shipbuilding center. Camden stands today in the very front rank in that branch of industry. The old Dialogue shipyard at Kaighn’s Point had turned out many a wooden ship before it built the first iron steamer, the Colfax, in 1871. Other shipyards dotted the shores of the Delaware but all long since have gone.

In 1899 the New York Shipbuilding Company acquired the property now occupied by the American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation, and started Camden’s first great modern shipyard. Since that time this yard alone has delivered 324 vessels, including 51 warships of 337,738 gross tonnage, and 273 merchant ships of 828,662 gross tons.

At the outset, the Camden builders decided to break away the accepted traditions of shipbuilding practice and establish a yard in which could be applied the most up-to-date machinery and methods of structural steel construction. This involved four fundamental principles then considered radical departures, but since generally adopted: First, the general application to shipbuilding of the bridge-builders’ practice of fabricating steel from templates; second, the routing of material through the yard in an uninterrupted course from receipt in a raw state to finished assembly on the ship; third, the installation of an overhead traveling crane system effectively serving every part of the yard; fourth, the housing of the principal shops and the ways under a continuous roof so that all parts of the work could be carried on regardless of weather conditions.

Naval Construction

From the beginning, New York Ship obtained its proper proportion of business in competition with the other yards of the country, and in 1912 it was fourth among the shipyards of the world in point of tonnage produced that year. In 1903, there came the first opportunity to bid upon and undertake naval construction—the forerunner of a great line of fighting ships of our own and foreign governments, for which the yard has become famous. Two armored cruisers were to be built and New York Ship was awarded the Washington while a yard then better-known got the Tennessee. Despite many expressions of doubt of the ability of New York Ship to do this work properly and promptly, her cruiser was delivered to the League Island Navy Yard on July 30, 1906, ten days in advance of contract time. This ship and her sister ship, the Tennessee, delivered the same month, were the first two such vessels which had ever been delivered to the Navy Department within contract time. On their speed trials, the Washington made 22.16 knots, giving her the title of the fastest ship then in the U. S. Navy.

A few months later, bids were opened for three warships of the Kansas type, and New York Ship was awarded the Kansas, which at the time was rated as a first-class battleship. Soon after her delivery to the Navy she gave a particularly good account of herself on the historic ’round-the-world voyage of the American fleet.

Since then, not a single year has passed when there has not been some ship for the U. S. Navy in the process of construction at the plant.

Speed Record

The battleship Kansas was shortly followed by the New Hampshire and the Michigan. A building record of 33½ months from the date of signing of the contract was established the delivery of the Utah on August 30, 1911. This record and that of the Arkansas, which was built by New York Ship the following year in 35 months have not been bettered by any yard for ships of their size. The keel of the U. S. S. Oklahoma, the last of the reciprocating-engined battleships, and also the first of the ships to carry fourteen-inch guns, was laid in October, 1912. Then came the Idaho, delivered in 1919, and which established a record as the premier ship of the Pacific feet.

The Colorado and the Washington, superdreadnaughts of the most powerful type, and the first to embody fully the experience gained in the naval operations of the World War. were authorized for construction, and contracts were awarded to New York Ship. Finally came the Saratoga, originally laid down as the largest and most powerful type of fighting craft ever built, and recently completed as an airplane carrier, the first to be launched for use as a first-line ship with the fleet.

Attesting to this ability to build large ships well is the record of the merchant fleet turned out by New York Ship, numbers of which, built to meet war demand have since been applied to peace-time requirements.

Many of these ships made conspicuous contributions to America’s achievements in the War. Among them may be named the SS. Mongolia and Manchuria, which converted into transports in their fourteenth year, rendered important service in the carrying of troops and supplies; the tanker Gulflight, which proved her staunch construction by her performance after being torpedoed, and also the collier Tuckahoe, a 333-ft. vessel delivered during the War in record-breaking time of 37 days to completion.

During 1917 and 1918, the years of our active participation in the War, among the ships built and delivered by New York Ship were 20 merchant vessels totaling 175,965 tons deadweight, and the U. S. mine planter, Gen. William M. Graham. Service records of destroyers built by New York Ship prior to the War led the Navy Department to place an order in 1917 for 10 of these vessels. This order was shortly followed by a supplementary order for 20 more of a slightly larger type.

New Management

On October 19, 1925, upon change of ownership of a majority of the stock of the company in connection with a plan to develop the manufacture of Pierre apparatus, the name of the company was changed to The American Brown Boveri Electric Company. In addition to operating today one of the largest self-sustained shipbuilding plants in the world, where specialists in 146 trades co-operate in the intricate tasks in perfecting its organization for the design and manufacture of complete utility, railway and industrial electrification equipment, with the distinct purpose of enlarging the American market and making readily available here those practices and devices which abroad have demonstrated their economic utility and satisfactory operation. The group of modern shop buildings at the south end of the company’s property, comprising what is known as the ”South Yard” have been extended and equipped for this electrical work at the expenditure of approximately $1,500,000. In these buildings, having a total manufacturing floor space of 500,000 square feet, have been installed some of the most efficient tools and apparatus for the manufacture of electric equipment that are available in either the American or European markets.

The corporation is now manufacturing and producing electrical apparatus for some of this country’s best known industrial concerns.

“His Master’s Voice”

Furnishing employment for 9,000 people in its Camden plant, and carrying the fame of this city to the four corners of the earth, the Victor Talking Machine Company has played a most important part in the development of the community.

Started in 1896 by Eldridge R. Johnson, who had a tiny machine shop in the rear of the Collings Carriage company’s factory, the Victor plant has grown into a $50,000,000 enterprise, and Camden’s leading industry.

Some interesting facts and figures concerning the Victor organization follow.

It is the largest organization in the world devoting its facilities to the manufacture of musical instruments.

Its Camden plant consists of thirty-one large modern buildings with a floor space of 2,534,000 square feet, and equivalent of fifty-eight acres.

16 Acres of Lumber

In the main Victor lumberyard, which covers an area of sixteen acres, is stored the most valuable stock of selected hardwood lumber in the world. Much of it is African mahogany of which the Victor Company is the largest user in the world. The Victor cabinet factory is the largest woodworking plant in the world devoted exclusively to the manufacturing of fine cabinets. The floor space covers an area of 606,000 square feet. More than 5,000 employees have been engaged at one time in producing Victor cabinets in this one building.

The Victor Company maintains:

A complete printing and bookbinding plant occupying a seven-story building.
An intra-plant electric gauge railroad with three locomotives.
A complete water plant including distillation equipment furnishing 17, 000,000 gallons of water each working day.
A fire alarm system, more extensive and complete than that in many cities having a population in excess of 100,000.
A fully manned fire department with motor equipment on duty day and night.
A watch (or police) force of over 100 men operating on the three platoon system.
A symphony orchestra as a part of its recording laboratory force.
A completely equipped restaurant in a building especially designed for that use, with cafeteria service throughout the factories.

Has Own Hospital

A medical dispensary and emergency hospital with ambulance service.
An intra-plant trucking service including 31 motor vehicles and 38 motor truck trailers.
A beneficial association, in which all employes are members, providing sick and death benefits.
A completely equipped factory for the production of motors, spring and electric attachments.
A complete metal working plant, an electrotyping plant and a fully equipped electroplating plant.
Research laboratortes where all experimental work is conducted.
Research laboratories where all experimental work is conducted.
A photographic gallery, engineering department, electrical department, copyright department and a matrix factory.
Show rooms housing a complete exhibit of Victor products are maintained for the convenience of the public in a modern, fully equipped building at 1731 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, N. J. A concert auditorium seating five hundred people is used daily except Sunday, for demonstrating purposes.

Victor owns and operates:

A complete recording laboratory and record pressing plant at Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic.
A new recording laboratory and a record pressing plant is owned and operated in Oakland, California.
The entire top floor of a large office building in New York is maintained as a recording laboratory in addition to the large recording laboratory in Camden.
Victor maintains its own power, heating and lighting plant. Its power generating units have a capacity of more than 16,000 H.P.

Victor consumes in the course of a year over 60,000 tons of coal and has a storage capacity for over 40,000 tons in a specially constructed coal wharf which extends into the Delaware River to facilitate the unloading of barges.

It records and publishes talking machine records in over thirty-five different languages and dialects.

It is said to be a larger consumer of first grade shellac than all other industries in this country combined.

From Soup to Success

The Campbell Soup Company had its inception in 1869 when Joseph Campbell and Abram A. Anderson, under he firm name of Anderson and Campbell, established a canning and preserving plant at 41 North Second street, Camden. The building is still standing in good condition and is in active use by the company, whose plants and warehouses now cover the major part of five city blocks.

Abram A. Anderson retired from the firm in 1873 and Joseph Campbell continued the business under his own name until 1882 when a co-partnership was formed under the title of Joseph Campbell & Company, consisting of Joseph Campbell, Arthur Dorrance, Joseph S. Campbell and Walter Spackman. The business was incorporated in 1891 under the title of Joseph Campbell Preserve Co. The products then were tomatoes, peas, preserves, etc.

As the years passed, new lines were added until, at the time of the introduction of Campbell’s soups, over 200 varieties of food products were packed and merchandised by the company. With the assurance of the success of condensed soup, the other lines were eliminated one by one, until all effort was concentrated on the production of soups, pork and beans and spaghetti.

Joseph Campbell was president until 1895 when he was succeeded by Arthur Dorrance. John T. Dorrance entered the employ of the company in 1897. To him belongs the credit of originating Campbell’s soups.

Learning From Europe

Dr. Dorrance majored in chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he took his degree of Bachelor of Science in 1895 and at the University of Gottingen, Germany, where he graduated as Doctor of Philosophy in 1897. During the years that he spent in Europe he became impressed with the importance of soup in the European diet. His was the idea of commercially canning a broad line of condensed soups and his the vision of the possibilities that that idea opened up.

The production of Campbell’s Soups was begun in 1898, In 1905 the corporate title was changed to Joseph Campbell Company. In 1914, Arthur Dorrance became chairman of the Board and John T. Dorrance was made president of the company. Arthur Dorrance retired from business in 1915. In 1923 the business was reorganized under the name of Campbell Soup Company.

In 1897, the two properties at 30-32 North Front street had been acquired. These connected through the block with the original property and gave a floor space of 4,500 square feet.

In 1908 this had been increased to 201,465 square feet. In 1914 it amounted to 408,375 square feet. Floor space as of December 15, 1927 was 822,754 square feet or 18¾ acres,

To a well planned campaign of informative advertising must be credited much of the success of the company. In 1898, sales expense accounted for 7½% of total costs; advertising for 14%. With the growth of tonnage, sales costs were reduced to 2% and advertising costs to less than 3%. This should be of interest to those who want to know who pays for the advertising. Large production has also accounted for a reduction of 80% in the overhead cost per can.

Back in those days of the Spanish-American War the company produced five varieties of soup, with a total yearly output of 500,000 cans. Today’s production is often that much in an hour.

Almost 4,000 Camden and South Jersey people are employed in the Campbell plant.

Making the World’s Pens

In 1858 Richard Esterbrook, the founder of the pen-making industry in America, came to this country with a little band of master workmen to establish the tiny shop that was the start of the great plant that bears his name. Up to that time all the steel pens used in the western world were imported from England. No one in America had been able to make them.

Not only did Richard Esterbrook establish himself as the leader of the pen-making trade, but the leader in pen-quality as well. Quality was his thought. He would not accept anything but the best in material—or workmanship. He knew that there was but one way to build a permanent business. And he left this quality of intent as a legacy of integrity.

This legacy has been zealously guarded and maintained by his successors until the business has grown to be international in scope and Esterbrook Pens are recognized in all countries of the world as the standard line of pens for all purposes.

The Esterbrook factories in Camden are the largest and most modern pen factories in America, as well as the oldest. More pens are produced in them than in all the other pen factories in America combined.

Esterbrook steel, pens received the one and only Grand Prize ever given in America for Pens. This prize was awarded at the International Exposition in St. Louis by a committee composed of representative American stationers. The highest honors were also awarded at London, Buffalo, Chicago, Philadelphia, Charleston and other expositions.

The Esterbrook plant employs 350 people, while another Camden pen factory, that of C. Howard Hunt, employs 125.

Camden a Leather Center

Although far removed from the sources of supply, and almost equally as far from the factories where the finished product is utilized, the Camden district is recognized as the light leather center of the United States. Glazed kid, colored kid, patent feather, and other light leathers for uppers are produced in enormous quantities here and in neighboring towns. In Camden alone, more than 2,500 people find employment in the tanneries and allied plants of the leather industry.

The largest of Camden’s plants is that of John R. Evans & Co., located at Second and Erie Streets. Here more than 17,000 goat skins, from India, China, Spain, Russia, Venezuela, the Argentine, and numerous other countries, are tanned and glazed into upper shoe leather each day. The process employed is known as chrome tanning, invented by Robert F, Foerderer in 1884.

C. Frederick Stout, as president of the Evans company, heads what probably is the largest privately owned kid leather tannery in the world. Mr. Stout is an outstanding authority on leather tanning, and during. the war, as head of the hide and leather division of the war industries board, he controlled the leather output of the nation. An average of 1,000 people are employed in the Evans plant.

A trip through the Evans plant leads one into a room where are stored approximately 1,000,000 goatskins awaiting the tanning process. These are softened in vats, cleaned, tanned and then, after mechanical treatment to straighten out the fibers, are glazed or otherwise finished. Throughout these processes, which take about sixty days, every piece of machinery through which they pass is electrically operated with its own individual motor. One must abandon all the old conceptions of a tannery. It no longer is a smelly, dirty place. At least the Evans plant isn’t.

Temperature Extremes

One of the interesting features of the plant is an oven, open at both ends and many yards long, through which the skins pass to be dried at the end of the tanning process. It really is a heated tunnel, through which the skins hung upon rods that are carried by endless chains move very slowly, taking three hours to traverse the length of the oven and emerging at the far end completely dried. Contrasting with the oven, is the cold room for storing the patent leather. Ventilation of the room which is refrigerated by electric machinery, makes it possible to disregard the well-known tendency of patent leather to stick together in hot weather.

The Evans company has its own electric power plant with a dock on the Delaware for unloading coal. An immense water tank, high above the roof, gives fire protection. The buildings are substantially constructed and splendidly ventilated. A dining room and cafeteria, spotlessly clean, are provided, and for the workmen there are shower baths and a locker room that shows what careful attention has been given to their welfare.

Other large plants in Camden engaged in the tanning and dyeing of glazed kid are the Keystone Leather Co., employing 506, and the Castle Kid employing 250 people. Numerous smaller establishments are to be found throughout the section.

The R. M. Hollingshead Company, employing 456 people, had a very modest beginning in 1892, manufacturing oil, soap and kindred products for the fine harness and carriages of the day. This now is the largest organization of its kind in the world, manufacturing all kinds of chemical specialties for automobiles.