Arlington Street

Arlington Street for all intents and purposes disappeared off the face of the earth when demolition was completed of its one block in the second week of February 2004. Running for one block between Broadway and South 4th Street, south of Jefferson Street to Chelton Avenue, Arlington Street was developed some time after 1891 to provide housing for workers at the new industrial sites in the area. It lay adjacent to the Howland Croft & Sons Company textile works, built in the mid-1880s, and a short walk from the Camden Brewery, the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, the Eavenson & Levering wool scouring plant, the McAndrews & Forbes licorice factory, and Samuel Langston's plant, which produced machinery used in making cardboard and paper boxes — all of which began operations between 1890 and 1920. Another factory came to the neighborhood in 1916: the General Gas Mantle factory at 2000 South 4th Street, adjacent to the homes on Arlington Street. Its presence would prove to have an impact that far outlived it.

A working-class neighborhood, Arlington Street, like many others all over the United States, would send its sons off to fight in the conflicts of the 20th century. Howard Cassady lived at 2005 Arlington Street before joining the Marines in January of 1917. He was the son of Joseph P. and Bella Cassady. After basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, he served at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and was then assigned to the USS Reina Mercedes. While aboard ship he was stricken with Spanish influenza and was taken to the United States Naval Hospital at Annapolis, where he died on October 19, 1918. He was survived by his parents and younger siblings Mildred and Theodore. At the time of the January 1920 Census, Joseph Cassady was 73 and working as a special officer at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, while Theodore Cassady worked at General Gas Mantle. Later that year Mildred Cassady married George Titus, a fireman at New York Ship, and lived on Arlington Street for many years afterward, as late as 1969.

2000 Arlington Street was a grocery as early as 1920, when Louis and Jennie Schwartz rented the building and operated the store. Vincent and Helen Bresan, who had come to America from Croatia in 1910, purchased the building at some point in the 1920s. When the Census was taken in 1930, the Bresans were living there with three children between the ages of ten and sixteen, and Vincent Bresan also worked as a machinist at New York Shipbuilding. The Bresan family operated a grocery store there until at least the late 1940s. Helen Bresan remained a Camden resident until her passing in 1968.

When Prohibition became the law of the land, 2051 Arlington Street was soon rented to George Wallace, a Canadian immigrant who was a foreman at New York Ship. With his wife Nora he operated a boarding house at the address, with 12 fellow shipyard employees as tenants in January of 1920. By 1931 Stanley Wojciechowski was operating the Rosemont Cafe at 2051 Arlington Street. After he passed away in October of 1936, his wife Stella operated the business. She remarried by 1947, and as Stella Horner owned the bar into the early 1970s. By 1977 the Rosemont had changed hands and was known as the Frosty Mug. The bar closed its doors once and for all by 1982.

Herman G. Rohde Sr. had come to America from Germany in the 1890s. At the time of the 1920 Census he was working as a machinist at the Samuel Langston Company on South 6th Street. A widower, he married early in 1920; Herman and Freda Rohde had a son born on February 20, 1921, also named Herman. The elder Rohde soon took a job as a stationary engineer at the Camden Brewery at South 6th and Bulson Streets, and the family moved to 2033 Arlington Street, where they remained for many years. The young Herman Rohde began wrestling professionally in 1939 and went on to international fame wrestling under the name Nature Boy Buddy Rogers.

Private George N. Binnix was the son of William and Sarah Binnix. George was born in 1922; his father, a machinist, had been born in Tennessee and had come to Camden to find work, marrying a local girl. George Binnix grew up a few blocks from Arlington Street at 1743 South 4th Street, and his family moved to 2013 Arlington Street sometime in the 1930s. After being inducted into the Army, George Binnix volunteered for service as a paratrooper. A member of the 82nd Airborne Division, he was highly decorated during the brief time he saw action and was killed in action on July 4, 1944, in Normandy, exactly four weeks after D-Day. He was survived by his mother, Mrs. Sarah Binnix, of 2013 Arlington Street, and a half-brother, William Kramer. A memorial service was held for him on Arlington Street on July 30, 1944, organized by his friends and neighbors.

Shortly before America's entrance into World War II, the General Gas Mantle factory closed its doors. Writing on the impact of General Gas Mantle's presence on Arlington Street, Tom Laflin of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrote the following:

Often what may seem like a “bright” idea at the time can later prove to be a monumental error with many unforeseen consequences. When Dr. Carl Auer von Welsbach first invented a process for making gas lanterns burn brighter in 1885, it seemed like a wonderful discovery. His process of dipping gas mantles into a thorium mixture greatly improved gas lanterns by causing them to burn brighter and give off more light. However, this use of thorium, by two gas mantle factories in New Jersey, has led to the radioactive contamination of hundreds of properties and has created an enormous challenge (for the EPA) to gather and evaluate a massive amount of data.

The Welsbach Factory in Gloucester City began producing thorium-dipped mantles in the 1890s. It was a large manufacturing plant covering 12 acres and employing over 2,600 workers. They produced up to 220,000 gas mantles per day and 25,000 lamps. The mantles were first sewn by hand and then dipped in the thorium mixture. Each mantle was then inspected by hand and packed for shipping. The General Gas Mantle Company of Camden, New Jersey was a small competitor of Welsbach who also used the thorium process in making gas mantles.

As stated above, General Gas Mantle was out of business by 1941, as electric lights became more popular. As the other factories that supported the workers and their families who lived on Arlington Street closed or moved away, the Eighth Ward, and Arlington Street in particular, fell on hard times. As late as 1947 Arlington Street supported a tavern on its south end, known over the years as the Rosemont tavern and the Frosted Mug, and two grocery stores on the north end. Neither enterprise lasted past the early 1980s. Homes fell into disrepair, were abandoned, and became the sanctuary of drug dealers, drug addicts, and prostitutes. Meanwhile, a few homeowners, who lacked the means and resources to leave, desperately tried to maintain a life on a once-vital street.

The final blow came in the early 1990s. In 1992, the building was occupied by Ste-Lar Textiles and used as a warehouse. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection examined the site and determined there was a serious environmental threat due to radiation contamination. As a first step they removed approximately 15,000 bolts of textiles contaminated with thorium, significantly reducing the potential health risks to the public in case of a fire. To protect workers and local residents, in the early 1990s the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection relocated Ste-Lar Textiles from the General Gas Mantle building and installed radiation shielding in the sidewalks and in the industrial building located to the south of the former General Gas Mantle site.

In 1996, the Welsbach and General Gas Mantle Superfund site was added to the National Priority List of the country's most hazardous waste sites by the Federal Department of Environmental Protection. The agency subsequently completed an investigation of the site and issued a record of decision laying out cleanup plans for all affected residential and industrial properties. Overall site plans included excavation and off-site disposal of radiologically-contaminated soil and waste materials at approximately 60 properties, as well as investigation of more than 600 properties to ensure no contamination is missed.

EPA finished demolition of the General Gas Mantle building in February of 2001. The City of Camden cleaned up the street and attempted to seal all the vacant buildings in February of 2002, and it was announced that all eight remaining families would be relocated by July of that year. It was also announced that Arlington Street would be razed from one end to the other. In the summer of 2002 Arlington Street was seized by eminent domain, and the few remaining families were finally relocated.

Announcement of the plans to demolish Arlington Street brought bittersweet reactions from former and current residents.

“They're going to tear down a part of my life,” said former Arlington Street resident Don Stech, 56, who then lived miles away in a sprawling subdivision in Voorhees, but who played stickball and hide-and-seek on Arlington Street only blocks away from the once-booming Camden waterfront. “I went off in 1966 to Vietnam and came back in 1970, and I asked what happened,” Stech remembered. “It was like a different world…. [In some sections of the city I] felt like I was back in Hue.”

Julia Brown, 62, a 34-year resident of the block, dated the deterioration to more recent times. “It was a great neighborhood until 10 or 15 years ago,” she said early last month as she packed up her things to move.

“To me it was the world,” said Stech of his long-ago home on Arlington Street. “Let's hope they do something good.”

Arlington Street remained standing until its historic status could be determined, and for the rest of 2002 and 2003 it stood vacant, inhabited only by drug users and streetwalkers. The demolition of Arlington Street finally occurred in February of 2004.

In 2002 the McAndrews & Forbes Company, which imports licorice root through the Camden port, had announced plans to build a 40,000-square-foot warehouse on the site to replace two that it was renting elsewhere in Camden County. The company has been located at South 3rd and Jefferson Street since early in the 20th century.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps — Arlington Street

2000 Arlington Street — Vincent Bresan Grocery

2000 Arlington Street, the site of Vincent Bresan's grocery (1910s–1940s). 2001 and 2003 Arlington were no longer standing when this photograph was taken. Photographed December 24, 2002.

2005 Arlington Street — Joseph Cassady Family

2005 Arlington Street, Camden NJ. Facing south from Jefferson Street, 2005 is the first building on the right, as 2001 and 2003 were no longer standing when these photographs were taken. December 2002.

2013 Arlington Street — Private George N. Binnix

2013 Arlington Street, Camden NJ. Home of Private George N. Binnix, 82nd Airborne Division, killed in action July 4, 1944, in Normandy. Photographed December 24, 2002.

2045–2051 Arlington Street, circa 2000

2045, 2047, 2049 & 2051 Arlington Street, circa 2000.

The Frosty Mug, formerly the Rosemont Cafe — 2051 Arlington Street

The Frosty Mug, formerly the Rosemont Cafe, 2051 Arlington Street. 1930s–1970s the Rosemont Cafe; 1970s–1980s the Frosted Mug. Photographed December 24, 2002.

Arlington Street — December 24, 2002

Green building, at left, 2000 Arlington Street — 1920s to 1940s Vincent Bresan's grocery. Left: from Jefferson Street, facing south. Right: from Chelton Avenue, facing north. Photographed December 24, 2002.

General Gas Mantle Company

Camden Public Works Cleaning Up Arlington Street — February 4, 2002

Camden Public Works employees cleaning up Arlington Street, February 4, 2002.

Demolition of Arlington Street — February 5, 2004

Left: EPA official Jane Kenny (right) speaks at a press conference about cleanup efforts on Arlington Street as resident Carmen Almodovar (left) holds a protest sign. Right: Max Leuzzi uses a hose to suppress dust as a house is demolished. Camden Courier-Post, February 5, 2004.

Through the Door of 2000 Arlington Street — February 7, 2004

Through the door of 2000 Arlington Street — left inside, a chair, a table, and a wall calendar from December of 2002. February 7, 2004.

The Death of Arlington Street — 2000–2010, February 7, 2004

2000–2010 Arlington Street. February 7, 2004.

The Death of Arlington Street — 2048–2054, February 7, 2004

2048–2054 Arlington Street. 2051 Arlington Street: 1930s–1970s the Rosemont Cafe; 1970s–1980s the Frosted Mug. February 7, 2004.

The Death of Arlington Street — Interiors, February 7, 2004

2048–2054 Arlington Street interiors. February 7, 2004.

The Death of Arlington Street — Radioactive Hot Zones, February 7, 2004

Fluorescent paint indicates radioactive “hot zones.” February 7, 2004.

The Last House Standing — February 7, 2004

The last house standing on Arlington Street, February 7, 2004.

The New View from Chelton Avenue & Arlington Street — February 7, 2004

Looking north at the Howland Croft & Sons Company Mill from Chelton Avenue & Arlington Street, February 7, 2004.

Tag: arlington-street

Herman Rhode (Buddy “Nature Boy” Rogers)

Herman G. Rohde Jr. (1921–1992), born in Camden and a former Camden police officer, became pro wrestling’s first televised star as Buddy “Nature Boy” Rogers — NWA World Champion and the first WWWF (WWE) World Champion.

June 14, 2026

Jefferson Avenue

Jefferson Avenue, also called Jefferson Street, runs from the Delaware River east to South 10th Street in Camden, one block north of Chelton Avenue; construction of I-676 severed the street, wiping out all structures east of the railroad tracks to Master Street.

November 26, 2023

Binder Family Memory of Arlington Street

John "Chick" Binder recalls growing up at 2030 Arlington Street through the World War II years — the Rohde family across the street, air-raid drills, and V-J Day on a now-vanished block.

August 25, 2013

Regl Family Memory of Arlington Street

John Regl traces nearly fifty years of his family's history at 2054 Arlington Street, from his great-grandfather's arrival from Hungary in 1906 to the family's departure in 1958.

February 1, 2005

Pace of Cleanup Worries Residents

As crews demolished radiation-contaminated rowhomes on Arlington Street in February 2004, Waterfront South residents told officials they feared a redevelopment plan would drive them from their longtime homes.

February 5, 2004

Thomas J. Driscoll

Obituary for Thomas J. Driscoll, 72, of 2030 Arlington Street, Camden. Survived by his wife Virginia, one son, two daughters, two sisters, and five grandchildren. Funeral at Sacred Heart Church.

June 22, 1972

Mrs. Julia A. Galm

Obituary for Mrs. Julia A. Galm, 75, of 2032 Arlington Street. Survived by five sons, two daughters, three sisters, 20 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Requiem Mass at Sacred Heart Church.

May 21, 1967

Mrs. Nellie Stenner

Obituary for Mrs. Nellie Stenner, 73, of 2006 Arlington Street, a 55-year Camden resident. Survived by her husband Frank J., a son, three daughters, and ten grandchildren.

November 16, 1960

Grain Warehouse Swept by Blaze in South Camden

A two-alarm fire sweeps a grain pit at Camden Grain Co. on Kossuth Street. The blaze, discovered at 4 a.m. by night watchman Caspar Krispin of 2046 Arlington Street, spreads smoke and fumes over a mile-wide area.

August 27, 1951

Mayor, City Aides to Confer Monday on Weed Removal

Mayor Brunner called a July 1950 conference to coordinate city departments in clearing high grass and weeds from Camden — a campaign during which crews uncovered and destroyed more than 200 wild marijuana plants on a city lot at Chelton Avenue and Arlington Street.

July 22, 1950

Hospital Cases

A Camden Courier-Post "Hospital Cases" column of July 31, 1941, listing emergency-room admissions to Cooper and West Jersey hospitals — among them Patricia Titus, 8, of 2005 Arlington Street.

July 31, 1941

Herman G. Rohde

Death notice of Herman G. Rohde of 2033 Arlington Street, who died December 5, 1939 — father of the professional wrestler Herman "Dutch" Rohde, better known as "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.

December 5, 1939

City Bureaus Keep Costs Within Budget for 1937

Brunner Lauds Rulers for $40,000 Saving by Co-operation in Offices $302,000 IS VOTED ON STREET BONDS All departments of the city government were operated within the budget appropriations during 1937 and the city's saving, as a result, was $40,000, Mayor George E. Brunner announced yesterday.

February 11, 1938

4 Holdup Suspects Are Denied Bail

A Camden Courier-Post report of August 1, 1936: four men, three of them brothers, were held without bail by Police Judge Lewis Liberman for a holdup that began at Jefferson and Arlington streets.

August 1, 1936

Woman Clears Man of Paternity Charge

A Camden Courier-Post report of October 29, 1935: Sue Carroda of 2040 Arlington Street told Police Judge Lewis Liberman that Leon Lokaj was the father of her child, after earlier clearing another man.

October 29, 1935

Thomas L. Griffith Endorses Walter Sekula

Thomas L. Griffith of 2002 Arlington Street wrote to the Courier-Post's "Mail Bag" endorsing Walter Sekula, Republican candidate for Camden County freeholder from the Eighth Ward.

May 2, 1934

3 Masked Holdup Men Line 4 Against Wall, Get $6 Loot from Cafe

A Camden Courier-Post report of August 10, 1933: three masked, armed men robbed Stanley Wojciechowski's Rosemont Cafe at 2051 Arlington Street of $6.

August 10, 1933

Joseph R. Ackley

Death notice for Joseph R. Ackley, 86, of 2012 Arlington Street. Funeral services June 16, 1932; interment at Old Camden Cemetery.

June 16, 1932

Frank M'Laughlin Dies, One Time Boxer Here

Frank J. McLaughlin, 32, of 2003 Arlington Street, a former amateur boxer, died June 2, 1932 after several years of ill health.

June 3, 1932

Boy Discovers Blaze as He Hunts Wallet

Frank Stenner, 18, of 2006 Arlington Street discovers a fire in a vacant house at 2025 Arlington Street while searching for a lost wallet.

June 2, 1932

Family of 7 Flee From Fire in Home

A family of seven is driven from their home at 2010 Arlington Street after a fire breaks out at 5:30 a.m. A nine-year-old boy, John Moore, wakes his parents and brothers to safety; neighbors at 2006 and 2008 Arlington are also displaced.

March 11, 1932

Here and There in Camden

A July 1916 Philadelphia Inquirer note reports a damage suit begun on behalf of Mrs. Mary McDonough of 2008 Arlington Street against the Public Service Railway Company.

July 16, 1916