Auburn Street is a small street that runs from Broadway to South Sixth Street between Benson and Washington Streets. There were 19 homes on Auburn Street, beginning with 558 and ending at 594.
Much of Auburn Street was redeveloped by “urban homesteaders,” private individuals who came to Camden in the 1980s and 1990s. The new homeowners demanded proper city services, and for this reason, they were perceived as a threat by those in charge of the Camden City Democratic Organization during these years. The new homeowners were harassed out of town, and finally chased out of town when, through eminent domain, the City of Camden seized all the properties on Auburn Street.
A recent visit shows more neglect than utilization, other than by those drinking or using illegal drugs.
1946 map of Camden. Auburn Street runs from Broadway to South Sixth Street between Benson Street and Washington Streets, just southwest of Cooper Hospital, in the center of the map.Auburn Street, April 2005.588 Auburn Street, 2006.Luvenia “Vennie” Dolson, 588 Auburn Street, 1940s–1970s.
Lois McCall (Teer) Seeligsohn's memoir about growing up in Parkside, joining the urban homesteading movement on Auburn Street in the 1970s, and being ultimately driven out by city corruption and eminent domain.
Dogs sent George Farmer, 46 years old, of 978 Woodland Avenue, and George Zimmerman, 5 years old, of 564 Auburn Street, to Cooper Hospital. Farmer was bitten on the arm, while the boy had his wrist torn.
Members of the Alpha Club hazed two fellow members who married, including Charles M. Alcott Jr. of 584 Auburn Street. The club blackened the faces of the newlyweds on their return from their wedding tours.
