Dr. Henry H. Davis

1848-08-16 – 1929
Physician (also Pharmacist; Medical Inspector; Health Director, City of Camden)

Dr. Henry Hill Davis was born at Crosswicks, New Jersey, on August 16, 1848. He began the study of medicine in 1867 in the office of Dr. Alexander Mecray, enrolled at Jefferson Medical College that fall, and graduated in March 1869. At the same time he completed a course in pharmacy at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, and then began practicing medicine in Camden. In 1874 he opened a drug store, which he conducted alongside his practice through at least 1886. In 1881 he joined the Camden County and Camden City Medical Societies and the State Medical Society. He ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Camden in 1883, losing to Claudius W. Bradshaw.

For most of the 1880s Davis made his home and conducted his practice and pharmacy at 299 Kaighn Avenue, at the northwest corner of Third Street and Kaighn Avenue; by the 1890–1891 City Directory he had moved to the southeast corner. He later served as a physician at the Camden City Dispensary, one of the city's early hospitals. The 1910 census recorded him and his wife residing in the apartments at 232 North 2nd Street, at the southeast corner of Second and Penn. He later lived with his wife, the former Harriet Blizzard, at 417 Cooper Street.

Over his career Davis served as a school board member and county coroner, and became Camden's first medical inspector and first chief medical inspector. He spent many years on the Board of Health, serving as its president when the Camden Municipal Hospital for Contagious Diseases was planned and built. He was also Chief of the Medical Department of Camden's public schools and the first School Medical Inspector in the State of New Jersey.

Plans for the Municipal Hospital were drawn in 1910, and construction began in 1912 under a building committee of Raymond L. Warren, John A. Mather Jr., and William H. Kensinger, M.D. The 1912 Board of Health comprised Davis as president, Dr. Marcus K. Mines, E. Winner Collins, Reuben L. Gaskill, Dr. S. G. Bushey, Dr. Melbourne F. Middleton, and Dr. William I. Kelchner. Bids to equip the hospital were let in 1914, and Dr. David Rhone was active in selecting the medical supplies and equipment.

In September 1911 four assistant medical inspectors were appointed in addition to Chief Medical Inspector Davis, and the medical department made significant strides in preserving the health and well-being of the students. In the first full month the five medical inspectors examined more than 2,700 students. The department also kept statistics on the childhood diseases prevalent in the schools and provided vaccinations in greater numbers. A year later the board appointed Dr. Roscoe L. Moore, a graduate of Camden High School, class of 1903, as an assistant medical inspector for the colored schools at a salary of $240 a year.

By the time school opened in September 1911, the district had immigrant pupils from Germany, Italy, England, Prussia, Poland, Romania, and Holland in its classrooms. In one month alone the medical department found 81 children with malnutrition among them, 16 native-born Americans with defective vision, and 84 with periodontal problems. The teachers' club told the board of the medical department's wonderful work, and the teachers agreed that the examinations alone reduced student absences and alerted teachers to medical problems. The department had a great deal of success meeting with parents who were more or less opposed to vaccination, but where parents refused to have their children vaccinated, the board refused the children admittance. The department also had the board pass a rule that a teacher found to have a communicable disease during the school year lost no salary for the time lost, up to 30 days.

In February 1913 scarlet fever reached epidemic proportions in the school district, and in March it was measles. Davis felt that epidemics resulted from there being too many families where diseases existed but who had no physicians to report them. If parents gave immediate attention to every case of a simple sore throat, they could prevent many severe and fatal cases of diphtheria and scarlet fever. He warned parents to be circumspect about the popular movie houses, which might be largely responsible for the spread of contagious and infectious diseases.

Davis held that classroom screens that let fresh air circulate through the room were a health benefit to the students. To prove his point, the board allowed him to open an all-girls open-air class at the Bergen School in September 1913. The teacher held the class outside regardless of temperature, weather permitting. Parents had to sign a consent form, and the students used Rochester, or portable, desks. The board bought suitable clothing for the students and provided milk twice a day and a daily lunch with a changing menu, of foods like cereals, cocoa, baked potatoes, and Horlick's malted milk (which the company kindly donated free). Attendance in the open-air class was much better than in the school's other classes. Davis concluded from this small experiment that the district should create more open-air classrooms, adding that other school districts around the country were establishing them. Nevertheless, because of the very small enrollment in the open-air class at the Bergen School, the committee on teachers discontinued the class as of February 1, 1925.

Medical suites were more or less established when the board consented to the purchase of medical cabinets and examination screens for the schools. Many girls were embarrassed to be examined with boys present, but with the screens in place the examinations continued, and the medical department found children with malnutrition, vision problems, tuberculosis, and lice, and children whom Davis classified as “dull or deficient.” The teachers' club urged the board to hire full-time nurses to follow up on the work of the doctors. Davis echoed the request: nurses would help eradicate the lice problem by visiting the children's homes and instructing parents on what to do, and could give advice on minor diseases caused by dirt and lack of good hygiene. He told the board that in one New Jersey city the use of school nurses was so successful that the number of nurses rose from 8 to 38, and he proposed one nurse for every 5,000 students.

The board hired Miss Sarah Kroenwetter as the district's first nurse on January 19, 1914, at a salary of $625 a year, and Davis assigned her to the Central School. Within three months Nurse Kroenwetter examined every student in the school and visited 101 homes of pupils sent home for treatment of lice. Davis also assigned her to visit the homes of children the medical department had identified as mentally deficient, to obtain family histories, and she spent time working with parents on how to keep their own hands, and their children's, clean. Because of her excellent work and her continued training at the University of Pennsylvania, the board granted her an annual $100 salary increase starting in January 1915.

After looking over the historical records of the Camden County Board of Health, Davis found that Camden had never been freer from disease than at present. He was delighted that parents were calling physicians when their children became ill, and could say with pride that as of February 1915 not one school had reported the death of a child from an illness. He attributed this to the medical department's early detection and isolation of those infected. The board directed him to prosecute parents who sent their children to school with dirty hands, and to this end he held “court” each Wednesday, summoning parents and their children through the courts.

With the start of the 1915–1916 school year Davis needed three more nurses, and when an assistant medical inspector resigned, he pleaded to replace the inspector with a nurse. The board hired Nurse Rebecca O. Kandle, who qualified by competitive examination and held a New Jersey certificate, at a starting salary of $720 a year.

In September 1918 Davis reported that the so-called Spanish Influenza was an epidemic, and the severity of the disease caused many deaths among the students (more than 600,000 Americans lost their lives in the 1918 flu epidemic). Average daily attendance dropped by almost 2,000 students, and the disease affected teachers and janitors as well, yet Davis knew of many instances in which teachers rendered heroic service. Because of the medical emergency, the board gave Davis the authority to decide when, or whether, a school should close during the epidemic, and he closed both the day and evening schools from October 1 to November 6, 1918. A second influenza epidemic broke out in January but abated by March, allowing Davis to declare the epidemic ended; only after that announcement did attendance, for both students and staff, improve significantly. Influenza returned in February 1920, depleting staff attendance as well as student attendance, but this time there were no fatalities.

Meanwhile, the Camden Municipal Hospital for Contagious Diseases was officially opened in 1916 under Davis, who by then held the title of Health Director of the City of Camden. Dr. Rhone treated more than one hundred polio patients in the large epidemic of that year, and a Dr. Jungman was employed as full-time Medical Director.

In 1917 Dr. Jungman was called into military service, and the hospital was run by Davis and Dr. John Leavitt. During the influenza epidemic of 1918 the hospital was filled to overflowing, and patients were housed in the doctor's bungalow and the nurses' home, as well as in the armory on Haddon Avenue. Additional nurses and physicians were assigned from the New York Shipbuilding Corporation during the epidemic. Davis did notable work with Dr. Marcus K. Mines when the influenza epidemic of 1918 hit Camden.

Epidemics of smallpox occurred in Camden, and not infrequently, before 1910. Under Davis's supervision, vaccination of the whole population was pressed, and the disease became less common. However, the periodic influx of migratory workers has always been a public health problem in South Jersey, and an outbreak of smallpox in Camden in 1925 brought 97 cases and 44 deaths. There was one fatal case in 1933 and one in 1947. In 1923 Davis was succeeded as Health Director by Dr. Arthur L. Stone.

The Henry H. Davis School, the largest elementary school in Camden, was built in 1925 at 3425 Cramer Street in East Camden, designed by architect Benjamin Howell Lackey. Davis Street, adjoining the Municipal Hospital property, was also named in his honor.

Davis served as president of both the Camden County and Camden City Medical Societies, was a member of the American Medical Association, among other professional organizations, and was an active member of Camden Lodge No. 293, B.P.O.E..

Dr. Henry Hill Davis died in 1929, a much loved and respected figure who served the city faithfully for many years; a later account records that he was killed by an automobile in his eightieth year.

Advertisement

In the Newspapers

The newspaper articles and documents below record Dr. Davis's work as county coroner and, later, as a Camden health official.

Matilda Scholl, Death Certificate

Death Certificate of Matilda Scholl, May 29, 1885

Death certificate of Matilda Scholl, killed accidentally by a train, May 29, 1885
Death Certificate of Matilda Scholl, May 29, 1885
View transcription
[illegible] ink, and write plainly, [illegible] 5165 1. Full name of deceased: Matilda Scholl 2. Age: 31 years 3. Color: W Occupation: Housewife 4. Married 5. Birthplace: Germany 2 years 6. Last place of residence: Camden 7. How long resident in this State: 2 years 8. Place of death: Line Ditch & W. J. R. R. Camden 9. Father's name: Country of birth: 10. Mother's name: Country of birth: 11. I hereby certify that I [illegible] ... and that she died on the 29 day of May 1885; and that the cause of death was Accidentally killed - at Line Ditch & W. J. R. R. Length of sickness: Sudden W. N. Davis Coroner Residence: Camden Name of Undertaker: E. E. Jefferis Residence of Undertaker: Camden Place of Burial: Camden Cemetery

Read the article: Matilda Scholl, Death Certificate

Nothing Done Yet, Camden Daily Telegram, October 8, 1892

Camden Daily Telegram clipping Nothing Done Yet, about Miss Bitter left in her City Hall cell, October 8, 1892
Nothing Done Yet, Camden Daily Telegram, October 8, 1892
View transcription
NOTHING DONE YET. Miss Bitter's Relatives Leave Her in Her Cell. Nothing has yet been done to relieve the unhappy plight of Miss Caroline Bitter, the invalid aunt of Colonel D. B. Murphy, of this city, and she still sits in her cell at the City Hall because she has no where else to go. Kind-hearted Janitor Charles Moffett, of the City Hall, has done what he can to make the old lady comfortable, and this morning three gentlemen, realizing the crying shame of a lady educated and gently reared seeking the shelter of a cell because of the unnatural heartlessness of her relatives, made a small purse of three dollars and presented it to the unfortunate invalid. Dr. H. H. Davis, whose wife is Miss Bitter's niece, was telephoned to this morning, but was out.

Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900

Newspaper illustration of firefighters at burning rowhouses and a ruined arched building, headed Destructive Work of Flames in Camden.
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900
View transcription
DESTRUCTIVE WORK OF FLAMES IN CAMDEN WHERE THE FIRE RAGED ALONG TAYLOR AVENUE

Read the article: Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire

Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 2

Headlines of the Philadelphia Inquirer's May 14, 1900 report on the Camden fire: Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire.
Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 2
View transcription
Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire FLAMES' WILD LEAP Three Blocks Were Burning, When Aid Was Summoned From Philadelphia 4 ENGINES RESPONDED Quaker City Fire Fighters Mastered the Foe and Were Heartily Cheered ESTIMATED LOSS $225,000

Ruins of the Market House and Old Postoffice Building, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 3

Newspaper illustration of firemen and a hose wagon before the burning ruins of the Market House and old Post Office, Camden, 1900.
Ruins of the Market House and Old Postoffice Building, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 3
View transcription
RUINS OF THE MARKET HOUSE AND OLD POSTOFFICE BUILDING

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 4

Two newspaper columns reporting how children's matches started the May 1900 Camden fire along Taylor Avenue.
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 4
View transcription
Children playing with matches started a conflagration in Camden yesterday afternoon that destroyed nearly half a hundred buildings, rendered about forty families homeless and caused the destruction of $225,000 worth of property. It was the biggest fire in the history of the city and for a time threatened the destruction of several blocks of buildings in the heart of the city. So rapidly did the fire spread that the local Fire Department was unable to cope with the flames and called on Philadelphia for aid. Chief Baxter sent four engine companies across the river and it was due to their valiant efforts that the fire was mastered, and the block bounded by Federal and Fifth streets and Broadway and Hudson street was saved from destruction. The flames started about 3 o'clock in the rear of the Market House, the south side of Federal street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. Arthur Rose, 6 years old, of 325 Taylor avenue, and Thomas Pinkerton, 3 years old, of 408 Taylor avenue, were playing in the rear of the market house, which extended through to Taylor avenue. The Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone Company used the rear half of the building as a storage house for valuable electrical appliances, telephones, batteries, etc. Just outside the building were piled up 300 wooden cross arms for electric poles. Fun for the Boys The lads had some matches and set fire to a string hanging out of a barrel filled with excelsior. Then they stepped back and clapped their hands in childish glee as they saw the fire creep slowly up the string. In a moment the excelsior had caught fire and the barrel burst into flame setting fire to the pile of cross arms and some equally inflammable material inside the market house. The children, trembling with fear when they saw the result of their playful deed, ran to their homes. Young Pinkerton rushed into his house, directly across the street, and told his father, William Pinkerton, that the market house was on fire. But a square away, at Fifth and Arch streets, is the headquarters of the Camden Fire Department. It took Pinkerton but a minute or two to run there and give the alarm. This was at 3:05 o'clock. As quickly as possible the firemen responded. So rapidly did the flames spread that by the time the firemen reached the burning building the market house, with a frontage of about 100 feet on Federal street and extending through to Taylor avenue, was like a roaring furnace. The building had a high, oval roof. Fanned by a strong westerly breeze, the flames rushed through the shell like building and began to spread on both sides. The flames also leaped across Taylor avenue, a fifteen-foot thoroughfare, and began to gut a row of fifteen two-story brick and frame buildings on the south side. As soon as Chief Elfreth arrived on the scene he saw that he had a desperate battle before him. Alarm after alarm was sent in in quick succession, until every piece of fire apparatus and every fireman in the city was summoned to the scene. This force included four combined engine and hose companies, three additional hose companies from the East Side and South Camden, two chemical engine companies and two hook-and-ladder truck companies. Then the big extra engine kept at fire headquarters for emergency purposes was brought out and pressed into service. Scores of old volunteer firemen lent a hand with the hose, and the entire police force was called out. Still the flames could not be gotten under control, and continued to spread. Within fifteen minutes after the firemen arrived on the scene the roof of the market house fell with a roar that could be heard for squares. Now the fire took a great leap and assumed the proportions of a conflagration. The westerly breeze had carried a shower of sparks up Taylor avenue, and, jumping Fifth street and Samuel Davis' livery stable, on the west side, they set fire to the roof of Joseph Swing's house, at 509 Taylor avenue. The dwelling was soon in a fierce blaze and the flames extended to the rear of the wholesale drug and patent medicine store of William Cowgill, at 518 Federal street. By this time it was seen that the entire block of business houses and dwellings on Federal street east of Fifth was in danger. The local firemen had all they could do to cope with the flames in the lower block, as the fire had leaped across Federal street to the roofs and fronts of several buildings on the north side. Aid was needed, and Chief of Police Foster, at 4:20 o'clock, telephoned to the Electrical Bureau in Philadelphia. Word was telegraphed to Chief Baxter, of the Fire Department, and although he had just subdued a big blaze in his own city and many of his men were still at work, the Chief promptly dispatched Engine Companies Nos. 6, 21, 22 and 43 to Camden, in charge of Assistant Chief Edward A. Waters. Philadelphia to the Rescue Too much credit cannot be given the Philadelphia firemen for the work they did, as it was due entirely to their efforts that the block above Fifth street was saved. As the Quaker City fire companies dashed up Federal street they were greeted with cheers from the crowd of spectators that drowned the roar of the flames. The engines were quickly put in service and streams were turned on the blazing Cowgill store, which was then nothing but a shell. The fire in the rear had destroyed the dwelling houses, Nos. 509-11-13-15-17-19-21-23 Taylor avenue, and Nos. 516 and 520-22 Federal street were gutted. Foreman George Hood, of Engine Company No. 6, of Philadelphia, in trying to escape from a falling roof while fighting the flames in William Grosscup's house, at 510 Federal street, ran outside and collided with a hitching post with such force as to break one of his ribs. Twelve members of the Camden Emergency Medical and Surgical Corps, with Doctor H. H. Davis at their head, were present. After examining Foreman Hood, they sent him to Cooper Hospital. The Emergency Corps also rendered aid to a man who went into convulsions over the excitement of seeing his house burning and to Mrs. James Morris, of No. 1 South Fifth street, who ran a nail through her foot. Fire's Wild Sweep With the addition of the Philadelphia fire fighters to their force the Camden firemen tackled the fire with renewed energy and soon the streams from the nine engines got the mastery of the flames. Then it was merely a matter of drowning out the blazes in detail. The wide swath cut by the flames may be judged from the fact that 47 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged, and the fire's ravages extended to four blocks. The market house, on Federal street, above Fourth, was burned to the ground only the front wall being left standing. The old postoffice building on the east was gutted and M. S. Irvin's grocery store and dwelling adjoining was badly damaged. On the west of the market house B. F. Sutton & Sons jewelry store and dwelling and Barber Charles Williams' residence, at 412 and 410 Federal street, were damaged in the upper stories. The flames burned the fronts and roofs of Nos. 415 to 423 Federal street, on the north side. On Taylor avenue a row of thirteen brick and two frame houses on the south side and Nos. 403 and 427-29 on the north side were gutted. Houses Nos. 1 to 15, on the west side of South Fifth street were burned out in the rear and the roofs were destroyed. Cowgill's drug store, at 518 Federal street, was burned to the ground, and Nos. 514, 516, 520 and 522 were gutted. On Taylor avenue, above Fifth street, Nos. 519-11-13 were destroyed, nothing but the brick chimneys being left standing. The fire gutted Nos. 515 to 523. The roof of the wholesale and retail drug

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 5

Two printed lines of newspaper column text naming the store of George M. Beringer at Fifth and Arch streets catching fire.
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 5
View transcription
store of George M. Beringer, northeast corner of Fifth and Arch streets, caught fire, but the flames were quickly ex-

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 6

Newspaper column on the Camden fire: furniture saved, water supply, and Philadelphia firemen cheered; May 14, 1900.
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 6
View transcription
tinguished. The building is filled with chemicals and valuable drugs. The residents along Taylor avenue are of the poorer class and they made desperate efforts to save their possessions. Furniture was carried out and piled promiscuously in a heap on Fifth street. Much of it is so badly damaged that it is useless. Plenty of Water There was a scarcity of water when all the engines first started to work on the fire, but this was quickly remedied by Chief of the Water Department F. Walter Toms telephoning to the Pavonia Pumping Station and having the five-million gallon emergency pump put to work sucking water from the Delaware River and adding it to the artesian well supply. When the Philadelphia firemen found they had a pressure of from 100 to 139 pounds from a 10-inch main with five other engines taking a supply from the same source they declared they would like to have an equal force at some of the fires in their city. The flames were gotten under control about 5:45 o'clock and shortly after 7 o'clock, after they had rendered all the service possible, the Philadelphia firemen returned across the river. They were greeted with rousing cheers as they drove back to the ferry. Camden Lodge of Elks, at Broadway and Federal streets, kept open house for the firemen and the restaurants of Edward Foster and S. B. CONTINUED ON 15th PAGE—2d COL.

The Burned District in Camden, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 7

Hand-lettered map of the burned district in Camden with the fire area shaded between Taylor Avenue, Federal and Arch streets.
The Burned District in Camden, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 7
View transcription
BRIDGE AVE P.R.R. TRACKS BROADWAY HUDSON ST 5TH ST FOURTH ST TAYLOR AVE FEDERAL STREET ARCH STREET THE BURNED DISTRICT IN CAMDEN

Destructive Work of Flames, continued, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 8

Newspaper column headed Destructive Work of Flames, continued from first page: thieves at work during the Camden fire, 1900.
Destructive Work of Flames, continued, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 8
View transcription
DESTRUCTIVE WORK OF FLAMES Continued From First Page Morris furnished food to the firemen without cost. THIEVES AT WORK. Sneak thieves took advantage of the flight of those whose homes were being burned out and began to pillage the houses of valuables under the guise of carrying furniture out to places of safety. Mrs. Robert Wible, of No. 3 South Fifth street, reported to the police that a gold watch and three gold rings were stolen from her house. Several articles of value were carried off from other houses, but the owners could not tell what was missing until they got their goods straighten out from the pile in which they were thrown. Policeman Toy caught a man who is said to have taken a pocketbook out of Charles Foulon's residence, at 524 Federal street.

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 9

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping on the May 1900 Camden fire: relief shelters, a collection, and the boys who started it
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1900, panel 9
View transcription
He was locked up and gave the name of Harry A. Miller, of 235 Berkley street. When Chief of Police Foster telephoned to Philadelphia for assistance Superintendent Quirk generously offered to send a squad of policemen across the river to help the Camden blue coats protect property. While appreciating the offer Chief Foster thought the Camden policemen would be able to handle the situation. After the flames were gotten under control Post 5, G. A. R. Hall, at Fifth street and Taylor avenue, and the old armory building, at West and Bridge avenue, were placed at the disposal of the homeless. Kind neighbors provided temporary quarters for the little ones. During the services in North Baptist Church last evening a collection was taken for the fire sufferers that netted $110.89. John W. Cheney, C. W. Nichols and F. W. Potter were appointed a committee to distribute the money. Additional subscriptions will be received by the New Jersey Trust and Safe Deposit Company, at Third and Market streets, where Mr. Potter is paying teller. The fire was so hot that the first line of hose run down Taylor street was burned up before a stream of water could be sent through it. The boys who started the fire were parolled by the police in the custody of their parents. Each lad accused the other of applying the match to the string.

Fürst Bismarck, 1903

Photograph of the Fürst Bismarck at anchor, 1903
Fürst Bismarck, 1903
View transcription
Fürst Bismarck Germany [illegible]

School Staff and Administration

Alfred Cramer School dedication plaque, Board of Education and staff, 1913

Marble dedication plaque listing the 1913 Camden Board of Education members and school officials.
Alfred Cramer School dedication plaque, Board of Education and staff, 1913
View transcription
ERECTED MDCCCCXIII BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION CAMDEN, N.J. E.E. READ, JR. PRES. H.C SHARP V-PRES. T. HARRY ROWLAND WILLIAM J. FOX EDWIN P. CARSON KIRBY GARWOOD HARRY C. DOLE CHARLES H. MILLS DANIEL M. STEVENS J.W.F. BLEAKLY, SECRETARY JAMES E. BRYAN, SUPERINTENDENT H.H. DAVIS, M.D. MEDICAL INSP'T'R GEORGE A. FREY, CUSTODIAN

Read the article: School Staff and Administration

Tag: dr-henry-h-davis

Kaighn's Point Ferry and trolley, early 1900s

Kaighn Avenue

One of Camden's major east-west streets, running from Kaighn's Point at the Delaware River east to Admiral Wilson Boulevard and the Airport Circle in Pennsauken, with block-by-block address histories from the 1860s through the early 2000s.

Coriell Institute for Medical Research on Davis Street, Camden

Davis Street

Davis Street runs southeast from north of Sheridan Street to Ferry Avenue in the East Camden/Morgan Village area, named for Dr. Henry Hill Davis — Camden's first medical inspector and School Medical Inspector in New Jersey.

Lincoln-School

Lincoln School

aka Claudius W. Bradshaw School; aka Challenge Square Academy; aka Met East High School 1151 Kaighn Avenue Camden had become an industrial city by the 1880s, and although the country went into an economic slump in the early 1890s, generally referred to as "the panic of 1893," the city continued to grow and with it the need for new schools.

Sepia postcard photo of a damaged brick building and debris on a street, labeled "Camden Cyclone."

2nd Street

2nd Street extends north-south between Front Street and 3rd Street, running parallel to the Delaware River until Mechanic Street. In the early 1970s, several buildings were cleared on the east side of North 2nd Street below Mickle Street to make way for the Royal Court townhomes and Mickle Tower senior citizens apartment building.

Four Prominent Physicians

Ben Courter's 1931 Camden Courier-Post reminiscence of four leading South Jersey physicians — Drs. Godfrey, Iszard, Davis and Gross — recalling how Dr. H. H. Davis transformed health care for Camden's schoolchildren.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, October 7, 1918, Camden opens hospital in Battery B Armory

Camden Opens Hospital in Battery B Armory

President H. H. Davis of the Camden Board of Health selected the Battery B Armory as an emergency hospital during the 1918 influenza and pneumonia epidemic.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, May 17, 1918, clean-up week appeal by Dr. H. H. Davis

Dr. Davis Urges Annual Clean-Up Week

Dr. H. H. Davis, president of the Board of Health, urged residents to observe the city's annual clean-up week and to “can the rubbish and help can the Kaiser and other filth.”

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, October 25, 1917, school nurse appointments by Dr. H. H. Davis

Two School Nurses Appointed

Dr. H. H. Davis, chief medical inspector, appointed Edna M. Moore and Mary F. Snyder as public-school nurses, bringing the district to three.

Marble dedication plaque listing the 1913 Camden Board of Education members and school officials.

School Staff and Administration

Marble dedication plaque of the Alfred Cramer School listing the 1913 Camden Board of Education members and school officials, including H.H. Davis, M.D., medical inspector.

One of the New Schools Opened - Camden Daily Courier, November 26, 1907

One of the New Schools Opened

The Camden Daily Courier reports the opening of the James M. Cassady School, with Health Physician Davis explaining the closing of the Dudley School during a diphtheria outbreak. (Transcription incomplete.)

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, September 5, 1903, Royal Welcome for Ex-Sheriff Baird

Royal Welcome for Ex-Sheriff Baird

The Philadelphia Inquirer's account of the enthusiastic welcome given State Assessor and former Sheriff David Baird on his return from Europe; Dr. H. H. Davis was among the Camden men in the greeting party.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, May 14, 1900, Destructive Work of Flames in Camden - Taylor Avenue fire

Boys Playing With Matches Started a Big Fire

Boys playing with matches behind the Market House on Federal Street started the biggest fire in Camden's history on May 13, 1900, destroying nearly half a hundred buildings along Federal Street and Taylor Avenue before four Philadelphia engine companies helped master it.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, August 25, 1898, Obsequies of Henry B. Wilson

Obsequies of Henry B. Wilson

An account of the funeral of former Postmaster Henry B. Wilson, at which Dr. H. H. Davis served as one of the pallbearers.

Camden Daily Telegram clipping, May 12, 1898, Side-Splitting Farce Goes On - Police Committee hearings

Side-Splitting Farce Goes On

The Camden Daily Telegram's account of the Police Committee's hearings on charges against city policemen, at which Dr. “Mark Hanna” Davis was noted as absent from the Reformers' deliberations.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, January 31, 1890, Dr. Henry H. Davis dog attack case

Boy Attacked by Dog on Spruce Street

A ferocious dog nearly killed six-year-old Walter Vanstavern on Spruce Street near South 7th Street; Coroner H. H. Davis took charge of the case.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, July 1, 1886, Dr. Henry H. Davis inquest

Coroner Davis Holds Inquest in Child's Death

Coroner Davis held an inquest on a colored girl believed to have been murdered; the jury found she came to her death from shock at the hands of persons unknown.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, July 21, 1885, Dr. Henry H. Davis coroner items

Infant's Body Found on Broadway

Coroner Davis took charge of the body of an infant found on Broadway near Branch Street, and of the recovered body of William Knowells, drowned off the Chestnut Street wharf.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, June 2, 1885, inquest verdict for Matilda Scholl

Camden News — June 2, 1885

A Philadelphia Inquirer column of Camden news, closing with Coroner H. H. Davis's inquest verdict of accidental death in the killing of Mrs. Matilda Scholl.

Trenton Evening Times clipping, June 2, 1885, about Matilda Scholl's death

Throughout the State

A Trenton Evening Times statewide news column noting the death of Mrs. Matilda Scholl, struck by a train on the West Jersey Railroad in Camden.

Philadelphia Inquirer clipping, May 30, 1885, about Matilda Scholl's death

The Day Inquest

A Philadelphia Inquirer column of Camden items, including the death of Mrs. Matilda Scholl on the West Jersey Railroad, of which Coroner H. H. Davis took charge.

Death certificate of Matilda Scholl, accidentally killed at Line Ditch and West Jersey Railroad, May 29, 1885

Matilda Scholl, Death Certificate

The New Jersey death certificate of Matilda Scholl, a 31-year-old Camden housewife accidentally killed at Line Ditch and the West Jersey Railroad on May 29, 1885; Coroner W. N. Davis signed it.

Killed on the Rail newspaper clipping, Camden Post, May 29, 1885

Killed on the Rail

The Camden Post's account of the death of Mrs. Matilda Scholl, struck and killed by a West Jersey Railroad train near the ferry; Coroner H. H. Davis took charge of the case.

Advertisement

Comments