HERMAN Z. CUTLER is best remembered in Camden for the company he founded, Cutler Metal Products Company, which operated at 1021-1025 Line Street into the 1980s.
Herman Cutler was born January 6, 1888 in the town of Ilintsy, in what is now the Ukraine. This town had a relatively large Jewish population at that time, and was known in Yiddish as Linitz. He came to America in 1906.
By 1915 Herman Z. Cutler owned a business, Camden Auto Radiator, which was located at 505-509 Arch Street. He then lived in the next block at 412 Arch Street. Camden Auto Radiator was one of several auto repair establishments that operated on and just off of Arch Street in the 1920s and 1930s. Other shops included George’s Auto Service and the Cooperson Brothers auto body shop.
The 1920 Census shows Herman and Yetta Cutler living in Camden’s Parkside neighborhood, at 1240 Princess Avenue with their children Dorothy, Harry, and Abraham. Also living with the Cutler family was a cousin, Abe Ostroff, who worked as an auto mechanic. Within a few years two daughters would come, Sarah and Anna. During the 1920s the family had moved to 1147 Langham Avenue. They lived a few doors away from Robert Rosengarten, who co-owned a typewriter and business machine business in Camden.
Herman Z. Cutler was involved in the fundraising drive that culminated in the building of the Walt Whitman Hotel at Broadway and Cooper streets in 1925.
Herman Cutler was also able to bring his parents to America from Soviet Russia, in 1929. This was no mean feat, both in getting them out of Russia and into America. The Cutler family was still in Parkside in April of 1930, at 1147 Langham Avenue.
The 501 block of Arch Street was razed around 1930 during the construction of City Hall to make way for Roosevelt Plaza Park. The Parkade Building was erected on the site in the 1950s.
When the 1947 City Directory for Camden was compiled, Herman Z. Cutler was living in a large house at 1501 Baird Boulevard in Parkside. He was active in the affairs of Congregation Beth El, and served as president of the synagogue in 1946 and 1947. Many prominent Camden citizens lived on this and the 1400 blocks, which lie between Kaighn Avenue and Park Boulevard. Herman Z. Cutler’s next door neighbor was Jacob Naden, of The Naden Store. During the 1950s, many families left Camden for the suburbs. No exception, Herman Z. Cutler moved to 266 Bewley Road in Haddon Heights NJ.
On March 25th of 1955, funeral services were conducted in the main sanctuary of Congregation Beth El for past president Herman Z. Cutler whose years of leadership were inspiring and filled with great accomplishments.
Herman Z. Cutler’s new business, Cutler Metal Products Company, occupied a large buildings at 1021-1025 Line Street, between the Fleck Plumbing Supply building and Camden’s original Convention Hall, which was destroyed by fire in the early 1950s. Cutler Metal Products remained in operation until 1985, when it folded in the wake of the then-current recession. Cutler Metal Products manufactured a wide variety of metal items. Their main product was the manufacture of diesel fuel tanks and air brake tanks for trucks. The firm also produced metal television cabinets, shower stalls, and bathroom partitions.
The former Cutler Metal Products building, as of January 2006, is occupied by the Alpha III Group and the Exotherm Corporation.
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