St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (Polish)
St. Joseph's Church — known in Camden as the Polish church — stands at 10th and Mechanic Streets in the Whitman Park section of the city.
The Founding Years
Saint Joseph's Parish began in 1891, when a group of Polish immigrants won the battle to organize and establish a Polish Roman Catholic church and parish.
On October 24, 1892, Saint Joseph's Church was officially incorporated, and a one-story structure was rented on Broadway near Kaighn Avenue for use as a temporary church.
A tract of land was purchased at 10th and Liberty Streets, and by 1895 a combination church-school building was completed.
Philadelphia architect George I. Lovatt designed a Baroque-style church, which was constructed in 1913 at 10th and Mechanic Streets — the present site. In May 1914, the new church was consecrated.
The exterior of the church is composed of metallic gray New Hampshire granite. A Romanesque entrance follows the traditional styling popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The interior of the church has a 63-foot-high arched ceiling nave, separating two arcades that are supported by pillars. The apse is crowned by a lofty half-rounded cupola above the center altar.
Two other altars stand in niches to either side of the main altar. Facing the three altars is the choir gallery, or organ loft, from where a panoramic view of the interior resembles a cross.
The church can seat 1,000 people and cost $100,000 to build. An additional outlay of $15,000 for interior painting was made in 1923. In later years, the stained-glass windows were donated as memorials.
The three bells in the loft, dedicated December 2, 1917, have been restored. The quarter-ton bell is named Mary; the half-ton bell is named John; and the one-ton bell is Adalbert.
Because of its unique architecture and its strong Polish ethnic community of more than a century, Saint Joseph's Church is on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Sites.
The restoration of the church continues to progress, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of many dedicated benefactors.
Photographs
Parish Photographs
St. Joseph's Church, December 2003
St. Joseph's Church Boy Scout Troop 25 — Summer 1956
This is the Scout Troop #25 (Boy Scouts and Explorers) that stayed for a week at the Iroquois campsite on the Camden County Scout reservation in Pine Hill NJ in the summer of 1956. I was 12 years old. Names that I can remember—all these guys grew up in Whitman Park…
— Frank Kitchmire, September 2009
Front Row (l to r): Chester Emerle, ?, Paul Swierczynski, Robert Schultz, Joseph Lubrant, Robert Nowinski, Frank Kitchmire. Second Row: ?, ?, Thomas Clark, “Sonny” Urbanowicz, Joseph Migliaccio, James Moses, ?. Third Row: Stanley Praiss, David Skand, ?, ?, Frank Chrzanowski, John Schultz, John Smugeresky, ?, William Uecker, the Scout Master. Last Row: John Higgins, Edward Lipinski, John Bish.
Diocesan Restructuring, April 4, 2008
On April 4, 2008, Bishop Galante announced a diocesan restructuring of parishes affecting churches in Camden and Pennsauken:
- Merge the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Camden), Holy Name (Camden), and Our Lady of Mount Carmel & Fatima (Camden), with the primary worship site at the Cathedral and a secondary worship site at Our Lady of Mount Carmel & Fatima.
- Merge St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral (Camden), St. Cecilia (Pennsauken), and St. Veronica (Delair), with the worship site at St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral.
- Merge St. Joan of Arc (Camden) and St. Bartholomew (Camden), with the worship site at St. Joan of Arc.
- Cluster the new parish at St. Joan of Arc (Camden) with Sacred Heart (Camden).
- St. Anthony of Padua (Camden) and St. Joseph Polish (Camden) will remain as stand-alone parishes.
More Polish Community in Camden
Related topics elsewhere in the archive:
- St. Joseph's Parish in World War II — Newsletters & Photos
- 1943 Service Flag of St. Joseph Church
- Memorial Plaque Inside St. Joseph Church
- Polish Heroes War Memorial at Cooper River Park
- The Polish-American Citizens Club
- St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association
- Camden County Polish American Republican Club
- The Casimir Pulaski Monument
- A Camden Story: Rich Brodowicz
- A Polish Camden Kitchen
Tag: st-joseph-roman-catholic-church-polish-camden
Walter J. Koscianski
Private Walter J. Koscianski of 966 Bulson Street, Camden, served with the 63rd Signal Battalion. Born in Philadelphia in 1905, the oldest son of Polish immigrant parents, he drove a truck for the City of Camden's Highway and Parks Departments for five years before his induction in June 1942, and died on February 6, 1943 while driving a truck in Algiers. He is buried at the North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia.
Chester J. Gdowik
Private First Class Chester J. Gdowik of 947 Jackson Street, Camden, served with the 6th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division. A South Camden native who worked in the machine shop at New York Shipbuilding before his induction, he was killed in action in Italy on May 25, 1944.
Edward Kasper
Private Edward Kasper, born Edward Kasperowicz to Vincent and Estella Kasperowicz of Camden's Polish St. Joseph Parish, served as a radio operator with Company I, 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division. He was killed in action in France on October 27, 1944, at the age of 24, and is buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in Gloucester Township, NJ.
Benjamin W. Dyl
Technical Sergeant Benjamin William Dyl of Woodlynne, New Jersey, who grew up at 1524 Mount Ephraim Avenue in Camden's Polish community, served with the 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. Wounded and captured while leading a patrol in January 1945, he died in a German prisoner of war camp on February 5, 1945, after only ten months in the service.
Roman Drapinski
Staff Sergeant Roman Drapinski of 1468 South 10th Street, Camden, served with the 53rd Armored Engineer Battalion, 12th Armored Division, U.S. Army. Born in the United States in 1918 and raised and educated in Poland, he returned to Camden in 1938 and was killed on July 18, 1943 by a premature dynamite explosion while instructing soldiers at Camp Campbell.
Louis Bontkowski
Private First Class Louis Bontkowski of 1191 Liberty Street, Camden, NJ served with Company A, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, joined the division in April 1944 in time for the D-Day landings, and died of wounds on September 13, 1944. He is buried at St. Joseph Cemetery, Gloucester Township, NJ.
Stephen V. Koscianski
Technician 5th Class Stephen V. Koscianski of 966 Bulson Street, Camden, served with the 31st Signal Construction Company. Born in Philadelphia in 1907 to Polish immigrant parents, he ran an auto salvage and used car business beside the family home before his induction in October 1942, and was lost on November 27, 1943 when the troopship HMT Rohna was sunk in the Mediterranean.
Gustave Dziengowski
Private Gustave Dziengowski of 1476 Louis Street, Camden, served with the 469th Flying Training Squadron, U.S. Army Air Forces. A Camden High School athlete who worked twelve years for Public Service before his induction in April 1942, he was killed on January 6, 1943 when his B-24D broke up and crashed near White City, Kansas.
Camden County, NJ HMT Rohna Memorial
Twelve soldiers from Camden County, NJ died when the troop transport HMT Rohna was struck by a German guided glider bomb and sank off the coast of North Africa on November 26, 1943 — one of the greatest maritime disasters of World War II.
Polish Heroes War Memorial
The Polish Heroes War Memorial at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, N.J. (Park Drive and Route 130) unites three monuments — to Casimir Pulaski (1936, moved here 1984), Thaddeus Kosciusko (1984), and, since 1995, the members of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church of South Camden who died in World War II.
St. Joseph's Parish WWII War Memorial
A bronze plaque in the vestibule of St. Joseph Church at 10th and Liberty Streets in Camden, presented by the Catholic War Veterans, St. Joseph's Post 418, and dedicated April 3, 1949, honoring the parish's heroic war dead of World War II.
Casimir Pulaski Monument
The Casimir Pulaski Monument was dedicated in Camden, N.J. on October 11, 1936 at Pulaski Park (Benson Street and Haddon Avenue), the former City Hall site. In 1984 it was moved to Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, where it stands as part of the Polish Heroes War Memorial.
Joseph J. Piotrowski
Machinist's Mate First Class Joseph J. Piotrowski of 1167 Chase Street, Camden, served aboard the cruiser USS Helena (CL-50), survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was killed in action on July 6, 1943 when the Helena was sunk at the Battle of Kula Gulf. He is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery.
Monsignor Arthur B. Strenski
Biography of Monsignor Arthur B. Strenski, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Camden who established the parish cemetery, St. Mary's Home for the Aged, and St. Joseph High School.
Polish American Citizens Club
The Polish American Citizens Club (P.A.C.C.), organized in 1914, provided social and educational resources for the Polish-American community centered around St. Joseph's Church in the Whitman Park section of Camden, NJ.
St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association
The St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association was a Camden athletic and social club affiliated with St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church at South 10th and Liberty Streets, sponsoring sports teams and social events in Camden's Polish community.
St. Joseph's Polish Church — World War II Newsletters
Three parish bulletins from St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (the Polish parish) at 10th & Mechanic Streets in Camden, NJ — dated November 29, 1944; February 7, 1945; and the VE Edition of May 1945.
A Polish Camden Kitchen
A personal memoir by Deborah Large Fox about the childhood hours she spent in her grandfather Watson Burdalski's produce store at 1545 Mount Ephraim Avenue, in Camden's Polish neighborhood — a recollection of the sights, sounds, and smells of the shop and his kitchen.
A Camden Story: Reflections and Memories of Richard Brodowicz
Richard Brodowicz's personal memoir of growing up in South Camden in the 1960s and 1970s, covering Polish family life, St. Joseph's Church and School, neighborhood games, and childhood memories on Tioga and Mechanic Streets.
Veteran of one war remembers casualty of yet another
Korean War veteran Stan Bednarczyk of Audubon remembers his Camden next-door neighbor Chester Gdowik — the big kid who invented "Mr. Muscles", played third base for the Falcons, and was killed in Italy in 1944 — in a Memorial Day column for the Courier-Post.
Tickets Available for Parish New Year's Eve Party
A December 1970 Camden County Record notice of St. Joseph's parish New Year's Eve party, sponsored by the Holy Name Society in the grade school lower hall at 10th and Liberty Streets, Camden.
Pulaski Day Observed In Camden
A crowd estimated at nearly 3,000 witnessed Camden's Pulaski Day observance in October 1966, featuring 40 bands and floats depicting Polish history, followed by a Pontifical Mass celebrated in Whitman Park by Archbishop Celestine J. Damiano.
V. Raczykowski Dies at 78
Camden Courier-Post - January 1964 Vincent Raczykowski, 78, founder and owner of the Newport Bottling Works, 1101 Morton Street, died Wednesday in West Jersey Hospital.
Polish Girl Scouts
A December 1957 Camden Courier-Post item about Girl Scout Troop 419 of St. Joseph's School, South Camden, which "adopted" an elderly woman at St. Mary's Home in Haddonfield as their "Grandmother" and threw her a birthday party.
Pfc. Louis Bontkowski Rites Set Thursday
A requiem high Mass for Pfc. Louis Bontkowski of 1191 Liberty Street was set for St. Joseph's R.C. Church, with burial in the veterans plot of St. Joseph's cemetery at Chews Landing and military honors by Laskowski-Wojtkowiak Post 74, American Legion.
Military Rites Set For Pvt. Gdowik
The Camden Courier-Post announces a full military funeral for Pvt. Chester J. Gdowik, killed in action in Italy on May 25, 1944, with High Mass at St. Joseph's Church and burial at St. Joseph's cemetery, Chews Landing.
St. Joseph's Church Keeps in Touch with Men and Women in Armed Forces
A 1944 Camden Courier-Post feature by Frank Sheridan on St. Joseph's Church (the Polish parish at Tenth and Mechanic Streets), whose 1,154 mothers gave sons and daughters to the war — four killed, two missing, one a prisoner — among them Joseph Piotrowski, lost when the cruiser Helena was sunk at Kula Gulf.
Lozowski's Body Is Returned Here
The body of Marine Private John Lozowski, 20, killed in a training-flight plane crash at Atlantic Field, N.C., was returned to Camden for burial from St. Joseph's Church.
Funeral Tomorrow for Sgt. Dzingoski
A January 1943 Camden Courier-Post notice that Sgt. Gus Dzingoski — the first World War II casualty of St. Joseph's Catholic Church — would be buried with full military honors, with an American Legion ritual in his mother's home and a Solemn High Mass of Requiem at the church.
Campbell's Soup Wins Slugfest from 12th Ward, 12 to 8
A June 1939 Camden Courier-Post account of Kobus Twilight League baseball, in which St. Joseph's Polish routed the Polish American Citizens Club, 13 to 1, at Broadway and Everett Street, and Campbell's Soup beat the Twelfth Ward.
Polish Hero Honored Here
More than 5,000 persons — the biggest Polish gathering in Camden's history — attended the October 11, 1936 unveiling of the Casimir Pulaski monument in Pulaski Square, with speeches by Mayor Frederick von Nieda, Monsignor Arthur B. Strenski, Congressman Charles A. Wolverton, and Polish consul Dr. Szygowski.
South Camden P.T.A. to Hold Card Party
A February 1936 Camden Courier-Post notice that the Parent-Teachers' Association of St. Joseph's Polish School, Tenth and Liberty Streets, would sponsor a card party.
South Camden Couple Wed by Msgr. Strenski
A February 1936 Camden Courier-Post notice of the marriage of Dorothy Harczynska and John Walker, solemnized at St. Joseph's R.C. Church in Camden with Monsignor Strenski officiating.
Miss Wyzykowski Wed to Albert J. Gawronski
A September 1935 Camden Courier-Post notice of the marriage of Leonora Marie Wyzykowski and Albert J. Gawronski at St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church, Tenth and Liberty Streets, Camden.