Edward Sharp House

Edward Sharp served in the New Jersey Assembly from 1815 to 1817. He wanted a bridge to be built across the Delaware River from Camden to Windmill Island, where a ferry boat would continue the trip to Philadelphia. Sharp formed a company, purchased land in Camden, and created Bridge Street...While permission for the bridge to be built was granted in 1819, economics resulted in the project not being accomplished. Sharp lost his house to debts, and the new owner in an auction in 1825 was Dr. Samuel Harris.

Gideon V. Stivers, the architect of the Edward Sharp House, also is said to have designed and built the first city hall in Camden on Federal Street in the 1820s, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Market Street in the 1830s. Stivers and Dr. Samuel Harris were among the first directors of the Camden and Philadelphia Steamboat Ferry company, incorporated in 1836.

Samuel Harris was born in 1781 to Dr. Isaac Harris, a surgeon during the American Revolutionary War, and Isaac's second wife, Anna Moore. Samuel Harris studied medicine with his father, who died in 1808. Samuel moved from Philadelphia and settled in Camden in 1811 as its first resident physician. Dr. Harris first practiced from a brick building on Cooper Street above Front Street. He kept some of his patients from Philadelphia and used a rowboat to reach the other side of the river to visit them. Dr. Harris opened a medical office and drug dispensary in the Sharp House after buying it and adding a wing to the rear of the structure. A pharmacy was not established in town until 1832, so the Harris office was the sole source for medicines for a number of years. A history of medicine in Camden called Samuel Harris a "polished gentleman and a man of ability" with a large local medical practice. Dr. Harris married Anna, the daughter of John and Keziah Kay. Dr. Harris was one of the founders of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 1830 and served as a vestryman until his death in 1843. Samuel and Anna Harris had no children. The 1840 census of Dr. Harris' household in Camden included six people: one free white male in his 50s (Samuel); one free white woman in her 40s (Anna); one free white woman in her 20s; a free "colored" male age 24 to 35; a free "colored" woman age 36 through 54; and a free "colored" female child under age 10. One member of the household was employed as a professional (Samuel). The couple likely lived with three adult servants, one of whom had a child. The widowed Anna Harris lived until 1868. Dr. Harris' estate was bequeathed to four nieces of his wife.

The State Bank temporarily conducted its business from the Sharp House when its nearby bank building at Second and Market Streets was being remodeled. When the Edward Sharp House was documented in the late 1970s for National Register eligibility, the building contained 13 rooms and 10 fireplaces. The first and second floor parlors still retained the original marble fireplaces; wooden fireplace mantels in the upstairs bedrooms also were the originals; one was faced in marble. Most of the wood trim and door hardware also was original.

Greenberg, Gail. NRHP Nomination of Edward Sharp House, Camden, NJ. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1979.

Stevenson, John R. The History of Medicine and Medical Men of Camden County, New Jersey. Philadelphia, PA. L.J. Richards & Company, 1886.

U.S. Census. Household of Samuel Harris in City of Camden, Gloucester County, NJ, District of John W. Mickle, p. 2, line 20. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1840.