RCA purchased the Victor Company in 1929. The purchase included the Camden manufacturing plant and the trademark of Nipper listening to his master's voice. The building had four windows depicting the Nipper trademark in 1915. In 1968, RCA began using a new corporate logo and de-emphasized the Nipper trademark. The windows were removed the following year and replaced with RCA's new logo painted on large sheets of plywood. Beginning in 1976, partly in response to public demand, the Nipper trademark was reinstated to many RCA products and used again in RCA advertising. On April 10, 1978, RCA held a ceremony in Camden dedicating four new stained glass windows, identical to the originals, which had been reinstalled in the tower. RCA ceased manufacturing operations in Camden in&nbsp;1992. The building was vacant and most other RCA buildings were destroyed. In 2003 tax credits and investment revenue led to the current development plan of retail space and condos.

Stained glass window in the building's tower featuring Nipper listening to the radio. This was an adaptation of a 1901 painting called "His Master's Voice"

Francis Barraud's original painting of Nipper looking into a phonograph and hearing "His Master's Voice"

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Originally constructed between 1909 and 1916, this was a Victrola cabinet factory that build wooden cabinets for record players and radio sets. The Victor, known affectionately as the “Nipper Building” and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was originally built to be the anchor building for the Victor Talking Machine Company, later to become RCA Victor, one of the most successful companies of the early 20th century. It was also the headquarters of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA Victor. It is still known as "The Nipper Building," although its official name became 'The Victor' after it was transformed into retail space and condos. 

The building became known as "The Nipper Building" because of the images of the radio companies adopted the image of a dog named Nipper listening to the radio. The image was an adaptation of the painting "His Master's Voice." 


The Nipper Building

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This walking tour begins at the Walt Whitman House and works its way through the downtown area with stops at historic buildings that offer a glimpse into the city's past. New entries will be added soon. 

Walt Whitman was born
in 1819 and grew up in New York. He became an avid fan of literature early in
his life and worked variously as a printer, a teacher, and a newspaper editor.
In 1855 Whitman self-published his first collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, which received a
favorable review from popular writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over the next several
decades he published a slew of poetry, and expanded his original book Leaves of Grass multiple times. Despite
his success and reputation, Whitman made little money from royalties and often
faced financial hardships; he would sometime rely on donations from friends and
admirers. In the 1870s he moved to Camden, New Jersey in what was meant to be a
temporary stay while he helped tend to his dying mother. A stroke in 1873
impacted his health and he spent the next several years living in Camden with
his brother George. Around 1884 George moved to Burlington, New Jersey. Whitman
decided not to follow him, and instead purchased a home of his own on Mickle
Street (today Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) for $1,750. It was the first
and only house that Whitman ever owned. 

The two-story, Greek
revival style, wood-frame house was built in 1848. Featuring six rooms and a
backyard, it was a typical example of a middle-class Victorian era home.
Whitman lived here for the final eight years of his life. Faced with declining
health, he hired a local widow, Mary O. Davis, to move in to the house and care
for him. Although Whitman’s most productive writing years were behind him, he
did manage to complete and publish the final edition of Leaves of Grass in
1892. He died that same year from tuberculosis on March 26, 1892.

Almost immediately after
Whitman’s death, friends and fans of his work saw the need to memorialize the
poet. In 1894 the Walt Whitman Fellowship (today the Walt Whitman Association)
was created to promote his works and to hold an annual celebration on his
birthday, May 31. In 1921 the City of Camden purchased the home from Whitman’s
heirs, and the Walt Whitman Association oversaw its restoration. They worked to
acquire many of his possessions and items original to the house to furnish it
with. The Walt Whitman House was opened to the public as a museum in 1923. In
1947 Camden transferred ownership of the house to the State of New Jersey,
which designated it a state historic site. In 1966 the house was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. During the 1980s and 1990s the New Jersey
Division of Parks and Forestry conducted research and performed extensive
renovations on the house, repairing or replacing aging infrastructure and
restoring the house to its exact appearance during the time Whitman lived
there. The projects were funded by money from various state agencies and
historical organizations such as the New Jersey Historic Preservation Bond
Program, the New Jersey Historic Trust, the Division of Parks and Forestry, the
Preservation Alliance of Philadelphia, and the Victorian Society of America. Final
restorations were completed in 1998.

Today the Walt Whitman
remains open to the public as a museum and is maintained and operated jointly
by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry and the Walt Whitman
Association. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of Whitman and promoting the
art of poetry. Items in the museum include some of Whitman’s original
furniture, his deathbed, and his earliest-known photograph (from 1848). In
addition to guided tours, the museum also hosts field trips and an annual
poetry contest. The Walt Whitman Association has held a birthday celebration in
the backyard every year since 1892.

The Walt Whitman House is a historical home and museum in Camden, New Jersey. The house was occupied by the famous poet Walt Whitman during the final years of his life, from 1884-1892; it was the only home he ever owned. Whitman is considered one of the greatest American poets of the nineteenth century, and is most notable for his work Leaves of Grass. In the years following his death many efforts were made to preserve the house as a monument to Whitman. The Walt Whitman Association was instrumental in purchasing and preserving the home, as well as gather Whitman’s personal possessions to furnish it. The house has since been restored to match its exact appearance when Walt Whitman lived in it. Today the home is operated as a museum by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, and is open to the public for guided tours. It has been designated a New Jersey State Historic Site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Walt Whitman House

Where the SJGET building now stands was once the location of Camden's City Hall, built in 1829. That building also served as the Camden County Courthouse for almost a decade, after the county was formed in 1844. A public stall market was the next building here, added in 1878; it burned to the ground in 1900. The lot was purchased by SJGET in September 1900. Thomas Stephen was the architect who planned the structure to be built for the firm on the site. Stephen trained in his native town of Philadelphia and spent two years studying architecture in Rome and Paris. Stephen also designs included the East Camden Free Library building, the Keystone Leather Company plant, and our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church. The contractor chosen for the SJGET project was J.S. Rogers Company from neighboring Burlington County. SJGET was formed as a public utility in 1900 from the merger of a number of small companies that offered closed gas and electric distribution lines. After the gas lines were linked, the small individual gas generating plants were decommissioned and all gas generation was moved to the Camden plant. The company opened a new coke facility on the last day of 1902, containing 100 Otto-Hoffmann coke ovens, to supply coke to the Lowe water-gas apparatus at the gas works. The gas plant, in South Camden at 2nd and Cherry Streets, was built in 1852 when the Camden Gas Light Company first began operations. The "traction" part of the company name refers to the trolley line that SJGET bought. The trolley line was the Camden, Gloucester, &amp; Woodbury Railway and ran from the ferry at Kaighn's Point in Camden to National Park via Gloucester, Woodbury, and Mantua. The trolley line was a relatively recent addition to local transport and was begun in 1893. In 1903, SJGET became a subsidiary of a newly-chartered organization, the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey (PSC). Although SJGET continued to act as a separate business entity, the company leased all their lines to PSC in 1903. PSC offices were established in the SJGET building at 418 Federal St. in 1903; also in that year, an addition was supposedly made to the building's rear; however, the addition is missing from the 1906 Sanborn map so may be a later date (or was missed or still being built). In 1904, the Camden &amp; Suburban Railway leased its equipment and 84 miles of track radiating from Camden to SJGET. By 1929, PSC was running out of space for its corporate, sales, customer service and operational offices; it once again added onto the rear of the 418 Federal St. building. A local woman recalled attending cooking classes there in the 1940s offered to new brides to learn how to use gas stoves. She also took classes there on wiring electric lamps. Economics caused the halt of the manufacture of gas in the Camden coke plant in 1959, after cheaper sources of natural gas were found in the Gulf of Mexico. In the mid-1960s, PSC closed down the remainder of the Camden gasworks and demolished most of the buildings. White horizontal tanks were installed to hold natural gas. Eventually, PSC got out of the public transport business, selling out to New Jersey Transit in 1980. From 1982 to 1983, PSC closed down its offices at 418 Federal St. The City of Camden bought the Federal St. building in 1983 for $100,000. The city spent one million dollars to rehabilitate the building.to become the new location of the Camden Free Library. Matching funds came from the State Library. The new main public library opened in February 1987, using recycled shelving and books from the dilapidated former library at Broadway and Line St. (an abandoned building; also a Clio entry). The library lasted in this location until 2011 when it closed; the city is now part of the county library system. The 418 Federal St. building is currently vacant, and represents one of the last Beaux Arts commercial buildings still standing in Camden. Currently available for lease are its 28,000 square feet of office/retail space.

The building at 418 Federal Street once housed offices of the South Jersey Gas, Electric and Traction Company (SJGET).  The building opened on September 30, 1901; additions to the building were made in 1903-4 and 1929. The utilities company vacated the structure in the early 1980s. The building's infrastructure was upgraded in the mid-1980s to become the new location for the Camden Free Public Library, when the library's existing building (at Broadway and Line, also a Clio entry) was not suitable for introducing computers to the structure. The SJGET Building was listed in the New Jersey Register in 2004 and the National Register in 2005. The library closed in 2011 and the building is vacant.

South Jersey Gas, Electric and Traction Company Office Building

Two canners formed a company that evolved into Campbell Soup, and one of those canners also created the Central Trust Company, which played a significant role in the history of Camden's banking history. Founded in 1891, it operated in Camden's central downtown business district until 1927 when it merged with Camden Safe Deposit and Trust Company. Thomas Stephan, one of Camden's most renowned architects, designed the building in the Second Renaissance Revival style. Abraham Anderson, a tinner, was one of the nation's earliest canners and went into partnership with Joseph Campbell in 1869 to form a business that eventually became Campbell Soup. Although Anderson and Campbell broke up their partnership, Anderson's canning business continued in Camden. In 1891, Anderson partnered with other business leaders to organize the Central Trust Company, which opened for business in 1892. By 1899, the Trust Company's growth pushed Anderson and partners to pursue the construction of a larger building, so they hired lauded architect Thomas Stephen to design the new building. Stephan designed the one-story, modest-sized bank building in the Second Renaissance Revival style with influence from the Beaux Arts tradition. When it opened, it was only half the size of the building that now stands in Camden. The bank's economic growth soared both before and after the historic bank building opened; deposits grew from $356.88 in 1891 to $2,267,220.64 in 1916. Thus, the bank needed to expand its physical structure, as well. Three years later, in 1919, the bank again expanded when a rear addition doubled its total size. Central Trust Company operated independently until 1927, during the peak of the city's and nation's economic boom. That year, the bank merged with Camden Safe Deposit and Trust Company, which later went by the Camden Trust Company. The newly merged bank served as one of the city's three banks. By World War II, the Camden Trust had acquired two other banks, the American National Bank at Broadway and Amber Street in South Camden, and the East End Trust on Federal Street in East Camden. After the war, in 1948, the Camden Trust stood as the largest bank in South Jersey, and seventh largest in the state.Shortly after the 1927 merger, in 1931, the bank vacated the historic building. The Great Depression made it tough to find a new tenant, hence it remained vacant until a skating arena moved into the facility in 1940. The Equitable Beneficial Insurance company moved into the building in 1947, restoring its purpose as a professional office building. Equitable maintained an office in the building until 2003, thus making it a much longer occupant than the building's namesake, Central Trust Company. Engraved in the stone above the door are words that read "Incorporated 1891" on one side and "Erected 1899" on the other side. The engraving speaks to the building's history as well as the town's economic growth from the late nineteenth century through the 1920s. Other structures such as the Woodruff Law Buildings (1920) and Wilson Building (1926) also demonstrate the city's maturation from a small Philadelphia suburb known for its industry into a growing economic center. The Great Depression profoundly altered the town's history, but the bank (by merging with Camden Trust) continued to expand even in the midst of economic decline.

Central Trust Company was founded in 1891 and the one-story Central Trust Company building opened a few years later, in 1899. One of the bank's founders was also a founding member of the Campbell Soup company. The bank enjoyed robust growth throughout the first three decades of the twentieth century, which mirrored the growth of Camden, New Jersey. The Philadelphia suburb slowly evolved from a small industrial city into an economic center of southern New Jersey. After the bank merged with another institution in the late 1920s,  the bank vacated the historic building in 1931. A skating rink moved into the building in 1940. Equitable Insurance acquired the building in 1947 and operated from the building until 2003.

Central Trust Company

The Georgian Revival A.S. Woodruff and Law Buildings (circa 1920) are two connected buildings that appear as one in central downtown Camden. They are the only buildings in central downtown Camden explicitly constructed as law offices, arriving during the start of Camden's boom years during the 1920s. As the city grew, the number of attorneys in Camden expanded along with the banking and insurance business.Camden grew as an industrial town outside of Philadelphia that, much like the entire nation, boomed after World War I ended in 1918. The erection of the Delaware Bridge in 1926 (now known as the Ben Franklin Bridge) speaks to the "Greater Camden Movement," and the growing investments in the suburban city. Camden also served as the county seat and ostensibly the financial center of southern New Jersey. As a result, the town increasingly needed lawyers to handle a multitude of government, business, and personal needs, and the Woodruff and Law Buildings served as an early step towards accommodating attorneys in Camden. Albert S. Woodruff owned the buildings and worked as an attorney; he maintained his offices there. The twin office buildings originally adjoined on the second floor, but at some point, the opening that connected the buildings was sealed, thus legally becoming two buildings. Prior to its opening, Camden's lawyers worked in homes and various office spaces, often makeshift rooms not truly suitable for law work. By 1926, many lawyers, both in the Woodruff Law Building and scattered around town, moved into the modern skyscraper known as the Wilson Building. As a result, notaries, real estate agents, a dentist, and other professionals moved into the Woodruff Law Building. Camden's success weened during the Great Depression and World War II, followed by many industries' departure during the 1950s. Thus, the second half of the twentieth century proved vastly different for the town than its 1920s boom. Nonetheless, during the first decade of the 2000s, the investors undertook a project to renovate the Woodruff Law Building. In 2006, the acclaimed Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia awarded the project its Grand Jury Award. It remains a functional office duplex in Camden and speaks to the area's rebirth.

This recently renovated office duplex dates back to 1920 when attorney A.S. Woodruff had the two adjoining buildings constructed with the purpose of renting space to the growing number of lawyers and other professionals in Camden during the post-war boom. As the suburban Philadelphia town grew, its need for real estate agents, insurance professionals and attorneys grew, but most worked in makeshift offices. The Woodruff buildings, followed by the Wilson Building skyscraper in 1926, demonstrate the growth of Camden. However, that boom would come to an end in the 1930s and the area saw stagnation followed by a period of decline in the last half of the twentieth century. In recent years, the area has seen a renewed investment. The Wilson Building now houses a High School and the Woodruff and Law Buildings have been fully renovated. 

A.S. Woodruff and Law Buildings

The first Post Office in Camden was established in 1803, when the settlement was still called Cooper's Ferry; the first postmaster was Benjamin Cooper, and the office was in a hotel at the foot of Cooper Street. In 1806, Charles Cooper became postmaster; Charles was succeeded by Richard M. Cooper, who lasted in the position until 1829, when the town became known as Camden. The location of the post office moved about a dozen times, including into buildings constructed to hold the post office in 1875 (420-424 Federal St.) and 1900 (Third and Arch Streets); the 1900 building was projected to cost $100,000 back in 1890. There were thirty letter carriers covering the whole city in 1890. The first of several congressional appropriations for a new post office and federal courthouse building in Camden was for $1.5 million in 1928. Ground was broken in 1931 and the building was finished in 1932, facing Market Street at the corner with North 4th Street. The building occupies space once containing the Temple Bar and Hotel and adjacent Temple Theater. James Wetmore, acting supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury from 1915 to 1933, was the architect for the late 19th/20th century revival style building. The Neoclassical building has Modernist influences as well as Art Deco elements. The exterior is clad in limestone and buff brick and decorated with low-relief terra cotta in Greek fret, chalice, escutcheon, and rosette patterning. The entrance is flanked by bronze sconces and the side entrances are topped by eagles. The building's cornerstone reads: "A W Mellon/ Secretary of the Treasury/ James A. Wetmore/ Acting Supervising Architect/ 1931." The 1932 building's original tenants on 4th and Market Streets were the post office, federal courts, U.S. District Attorneys, U.S. Marshals Service, Prohibition Service, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Army Reserve, and Labor Department. The third floor's ceremonial courtroom features oak wainscot paneling, a stenciled beamed ceiling, and chandeliers. The 1932 building still houses the U.S. Postal Service as well as a Federal Bankruptcy Court, and other support agencies. A new federal courthouse "annex" building was built to the rear of the Post Office in the 1990s (facing Cooper at the corner with 4th St.) and was named for Mitchell H. Cohen. Cohen was named Camden City Prosecutor in 1936, serving in to the 1950s. Cohen also served as a Judge in the city's Police Court in the 1930s. He eventually became Chief Justice of the Federal District Court in Camden. The two buildings are linked by a second-story connection. The Federal Building and Courthouse (the 1932 building facing Market at the corner with 4th St.) was found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in architecture and in politics/government.

The Federal Building and Courthouse at 401 Market Street was designed by James A. Wetmore and was completed in 1932. The building is an example of the Neoclassical style in federal architecture in the Modernist manner. Also known as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, the building was listed in the New Jersey Register in 2011 and the National Register in 2012. The building is still an active Post Office and contains some of the federal courts that didn't relocate to the newer seven-story building to the rear, facing Cooper Street. During renovation in the 1990s, the roof over the open-for-business Post Office needed to be removed, but neither snow, nor sleet, nor lack of roof keeps the U.S. Postal Service from its mission!

Federal Building and Courthouse

Camden Safe Deposit &amp; Trust Company, designed by the Philadelphia Beaux-Arts architectural firm of Rankin &amp; Kellogg, represents Camden's oldest trust company. The bank's founding occurred in 1873, and the historic building opened in 1929. Camden Safe Deposit absorbed other Camden banks during the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, allowing it to emerge as one of the city's three banks by 1940 (and South Jersey's largest for nearly half a century). Samuel H. Grey, who became New Jersey Attorney General; William J. Sewell, railroad industrialist and later U.S. Senator; Charles P. Stratton, New Jersey Supreme Court Justice; and Congressman John F. Starr founded Camden Insurance Safe Deposit &amp; Trust Company in 1873. (Starr served as the first president.) One year after opening, the bank dropped the "insurance" portion of the name.In 1922, Camden Safe Deposit &amp; Trust Company had for several years stood as southern New Jersey's largest bank, only to be displaced by the merger of two other Camden banks (First National and National State). Despite the slide from first to second, Camden Safe's growth continued and pushed its members to build a much bigger space for its headquarters. In 1927 and 1929, respectively, Camden Safe absorbed the Central Trust Company and Security Trust Company (two banks that had been in operation since the nineteenth century) to further its growth. Camden Safe Deposit &amp; Trust Company had weathered the financial panic of 1873 and subsequent recessions. Unbeknownst to the bank's directors, they purchased the land for a new, larger headquarters in 1927 before facing their biggest test -- The Great Depression. They contracted with Rankin &amp; Kellogg, one of Philadelphia's leading Beaux-Arts architectural firms, who had also designed in Camden several commercial office buildings, residences, and public buildings such as the County Court House. Though the new space opened in 1930, just as the Great Depression had commenced, its abundance of marble, granite, and bronze conveyed a 1920s attitude of wealth and success, notably among banks. By the end of the 1930s, Camden Safe Deposit &amp; Trust shortened its name to Camden Trust and absorbed fifteen different banks. Camden Trust proved to be one of three banks to survive the Depression. In fact, by 1948, Camden Trust celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary as South Jersey's leading bank (again) in terms of deposits. Today, the building is occupied by PNC Bank and the Catholic Diocese of Camden. (Although, the Diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020 due to financial losses tied to the COVID19 global pandemic and numerous lawsuits. The status of its place in the building beyond 2021 is unknown.) But, the Camden Trust Company name remains prominent in the brick above the front door. The building stands as a reminder of an era when Camden emerged as a leading Philadelphia suburb and a South Jersey financial hub, and one of the top banks that made it so.

Camden evolved into an southern New Jersey economic hub during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; several banks emerged in the Philadelphia suburb. Camden Trust opened in 1873 and functioned as the largest or second largest bank in southern New Jersey for several decades. During the late 1920s, it absorbed the acclaimed Central Trust Bank and began work on the now-historic building. By the end of the Great Depression, Camden Trust stood as only one of three banks to survive and quickly became the largest bank in South Jersey by 1948. 

Camden Safe Deposit & Trust Company

The Society of Friends ("Quakers") trace their history in Camden back to its early days, when the town was known as Cooper's Ferry in the 1680s. William Cooper, who founded the town in 1679 was an "English convinced Quaker." The Newton Meeting was established in 1682. The first local meeting house was built near Newton Creek in what is now West Collingswood; this structure burned down in 1817. A brick meetinghouse had been constructed in 1801 at Mt. Vernon and Mt. Ephraim Avenues, and became the first church built within Camden. That building stood until 1950 and its graveyard still is there. A division of the Quakers resulted in the formation of two groups: Orthodox and Hicksite. The Orthodox group claimed the brick meetinghouse and the Hicksite group built their own meetinghouse in the 1820s (the subject of this entry). The Newton Friends' Meetinghouse originally was built in 1824 on a lot in the middle of the 700 block of Cooper Street, on the south side of the street. Construction was under the supervision of two of the Quakers who would meet there: Joseph Kaighn and Edward Bullock. Joseph W. Cooper, a non-Quaker, donated the wooded lot. The wood frame building was then one story tall, 31 feet by 28 feet, on a limestone foundation, with an attic space. The building's footprint was enlarged in 1885; the building was extended 14 feet to the east over a new basement containing a furnace, The exterior was clad in regular width clapboarding. A small library wing of 8 by 11 feet was added to the north end of the building (the long side of the building closest to Cooper Street). The attic was removed and iron tie rods were added to the interior truss space to create a single interior main room. An entrance vestibule of 9 by 10 feet also was added to the building's west end. It has been proposed that the renovations were done by the well-known architect Wilson Eyre, Jr., because he was building a house down the street in this time period for Dr. Henry Genet Taylor (also a Clio entry). The property also included a separate building used as a Quaker school, to the west of the meetinghouse; the wood frame, rectangular building was one story tall, with the short side facing Cooper Street. Prior to its construction around 1850, school was held in the meetinghouse. The school building was enlarged around 1870. There was a third building on the lot by the 1880s: a one-story, wood frame, open-air shed along the east lot line, to the rear of the meetinghouse. A fourth outbuilding stood by 1906, a small wood frame building directly north of the school. By the early 1970s, a space heater near the fireplace at the east end of the building replaced the older furnace. The current congregation of Quakers meets twice per month in the meetinghouse. The group has "no formal creed" and worship is unprogrammed, "based on silent seeking for the Inner Light in a communal setting." The garden surrounding the building includes peach and fig trees and vegetables that are donated to Camden's poor. Residents of a local halfway house run by Volunteers of America, Garrett House, maintain the garden and property on Saturdays as part of their community service.

The Newton Friends' Meetinghouse was constructed in 1824 as a place of worship by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The building underwent remodeling in the 1880s by architect Wilson Eyre, Jr. but retains the simple, no-frills esthetic of the Quaker philosophy. The building was moved within the last decade to its current location at 808 Cooper Street. It used to stand further west, at 722 Cooper Street, along with a Quaker School building. Newton Friends' Meetinghouse was listed in the New Jersey and National Registers in 1971. The building still serves as a Quaker church and garden for community services.

Newton Friends' Meetinghouse

The LEAP Academy University Charter School was open by Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago in September 1997 and since then has grown to educate 1,560 students. They have accomplished a 100% graduation and college placement rate. Dr. Santiago has expertise in early childhood development, urban education policy, and charter schools all of which come into play as she guides the LEAP Academy. She has worked for the betterment of poor families, minorities and communities throughout her career and even has won many awards for her work such as the Cabrini Ivy Young Willis &amp; Martha Willis Dale Award for her contributions in the field of Public Affairs and Community Development. Her acumen has allowed her to accrue over 100 million dollars in fundraising. The LEAP Academy is located in Camden NJ, a city which homes many disadvantaged minority families to have an institution such as the LEAP Academy that not only educated children and prepares them for college, but does it at no cost to the families that live in Camden. If we analyze the demographics of the families that live in the city we see that 47% of its population is Latino which is also the most common group living in poverty in Camden, NJ. These are families that may not be able to afford to send their kids to college so having this institution which gives these children access to a high quality education opens them up to the possibility of gaining much needed scholarships. These scholarships and even just the education will make a huge difference in the opportunities available. It is important to enable the vertical mobility of disadvantaged groups for a multitude of reasons. First of all by giving the children that grow up in the city access to education and opportunity, crime overall will decrease as they now have other options to survive. Many might not have much of a choice otherwise without an institution such as LEAP in the city. It is proven that education has a direct impact on crime rates. Crime rates go down as education quality increases. This is consistent with the declining crime rate in Camden. Increasing the quality of art supplies in the area for people who would otherwise be forced to attend a school that may not even have enough funding to give every student access to these modernized tools. Another important factor is the reality that many bright minds which could help shape the future could be trapped due to circumstances beyond their control. Usually families in cities similar to Camden do not have access to high quality education, such as what is offered by LEAP, with there maybe only being schools lacking the funding to properly prepare its students for the future.They may not have enough computers or laptops. Having the option to take AP exams for free as your school pays for them is a huge advantage in of itself. There are much needed resources that only students who have attended well-funded schools will have.

          Since they began in 1997, the LEAP Academy has been supporting and facilitating the growth of young minds in Camden NJ, where 30% of the population was Latino at the time. As the number of Latinos has grown to 47% in 2010, the LEAP Academy continues its important mission to ready its kids for college and life. In a city like Camden where there has been little economic opportunity and high unemployment which then creates a situation for crime to grow, the LEAP Academy plays a vital role by equipping its kids with all they need to succeed, as shown by 100% of its students graduating, which then creates economic opportunity, lowers unemployment which then prevents the growth of crime.


LEAP Academy University Charter School in Camden, NJ

The Wilson Building arose during the economic boom of the 1920s as Camden's first skyscraper. When it opened in 1926, the twelve-story, Neo-Classic Wilson Building served the Philadelphia suburb as its largest and most luxurious office building, including a high-speed elevator and 150 offices. Construction of the building not only spoke to the national economic expansion but the growth of the suburb -- the Greater Camden movement, tied to the erection of a new bridge connecting Camden to Philadelphia. John O. Wilson, a Camden attorney, served as the Wilson Corporation president and felt confident that the industrial city's growth would continue, thus worthy of his investment. Until the Wilson Building construction, most lawyers and professionals maintained offices in small buildings, often requiring renovations and re-designs. Wilson thought that the growing suburb needed more adequate facilities to host businesses, notably luxury office buildings, so he, along with Joseph Bernhard, spent $1 million (1926 dollars) on the skyscraper that now bears his name. The skyscraper's Neo-Classical brick and limestone exterior exemplified the architectural trends of office-building construction throughout the nation's largest cities during the 1920s. The inclusion of high-speed elevators and an interior abound in spacious offices and ornate detailing speaks to Wilson's desire to attract tenants, which he did effectively. Offices mainly served attorneys and insurance agencies, but investment firms, real estate agents, and the Camden Bar Association Library also occupied office spaces within the Wilson skyscraper. Wilson likewise maintained an office on the top floor, which offered him a scenic view. The Wilson Building also attracted lawyers and investors due to its proximity to the Camden County Court House, City Hall, and notable banks. By 1929, the city directory showed the Wilson Building as fully occupied. That same year, not long before the Great Depression began, the Wilson Corporation sold the building to the West Jersey Trust Company for a $150,000 profit. In 1939, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took possession of the building, followed by the Broadway-Cooper Corporation and then Dr. Joseph Waldmen in 1948. By the 1950s, much of Camden's industry and manufacturing enterprises either ceased operating or moved. The void of industrial jobs, urban blight, and "white flight" affected Camden, a town known for its decline and crime more than anything positive. And the Wilson Building suffered alongside the city, slowly deteriorating and showing signs of aging during the second half of the twentieth century, although it remained functional until the 1990s. By then, the building stood vacant and part of a community that no longer thrived as it had done during the 1920s. Although a few owners and plans (including one to demolish the building) came and went, it wasn't until 2014 that the building received new life again. The Leap Academy charter school purchased and renovated the building and now uses it as its high school, and it stands as a mark of community revitalization. The Wilson Building stands today as a monument to 1920s optimism and twenty-first-century rejuvenation. The building arose when speculators, such as John Wilson, saw Camden as a suburban city primed for growth. However, the Great Depression, World War II, and industrial decline changed the city's outlook for much of the twentieth century. But, led by the charter school, Camden has rebounded. The renovated Wilson tower remains Camden's tallest and most prominent building.

The Wilson Building was completed in 1926 amidst a nationwide economic boom and local investment in the growing industrial town of Camden which was growing into a bustling Philadelphia suburb. At twelve stories, the Wilson Building stood as the town's first, large office building. John Wilson planned the construction of this building in recognition that  Camden could support a high-rise structure to accommodate professionals such as lawyers, investors, insurance agents, and real estate agents. When it opened, the building had high-speed elevators, ornate detailing, and modern office spaces. The Great Depression, World War II, and industrial decline changed the narrative for Camden, resulting in urban blight. Once facing low occupancy rates, a 2014 renovation of the Wilson Building led to new tenants including the High School for the LEAP Academy charter schools.

Wilson Building in Camden, New Jersey

Formerly, a rowhouse stood at 525 Cooper Street. A man named Joseph Fearon, Sr. lived there in 1897 when he passed away at age 77. Fearon was the warden of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. Charles S. Boyer lived at this address by 1910 with his wife of six years, Anna (Derousse), and their family. Boyer was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1869 but grew up in Camden on North Second Street south of Linden. Boyer became the first president of the Camden County Historical Society and wrote a number of historical books. He also worked in his father's worsted yarn company, B.F. Boyer Company, and became company president upon his father's death. Boyer moved to Moorestown, New Jersey in his later years. The three-story brick current building sits on a granite foundation and was constructed from 1925 to 1927. The building was three bays wide with two commercial doors and a display window on the ground floor. The main facade was altered later in the twentieth century and the window was covered. The second-floor central bay features a three-part window with decorative ironwork, flanked by two smaller windows covered in ironwork. Three sets of French doors on the third level access a shallow iron balcony. When the building was documented for the National Register in 1988, there was a small garden to the rear of the building. The first occupants of the new building was the legal firm of the Kraft Brothers, Inc.; they remained in the building into the 1930s. Frank Neutze was born in Camden in 1894 and studied law at Temple University. The Camden local man served in the U.S. Army during World War I. By 1940, Neutze's law offices were at 525 Cooper Street, with Frank F. and George F. Neutze. The Neutze legal offices remained here into the 1970s. Joseph and William Lipkin, both attorneys, had their law offices at 525 Cooper in 1940, as did Edwin Segal. Two new legal offices, of Edward I. Berry and S. Thurman Lovitt, were at 525 Cooper St. by 1943. Herbert Richardson, Sr. was an attorney who was born in Camden in 1891 and graduated from the law school at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1913. For many years, Richardson served as the sergeant at arms of the Chancery Court. Richardson's law offices moved from 540 Cooper to 525 Cooper Street by 1943; he retired in 1951 and was honored at a testimonial dinner attended by 250 people. Howard R. Yokum, an attorney, had legal offices in the building by 1943; in 1940, his office was across the street at 540 Cooper. His firm was known as Yokum and Yokum. Legal firms still occupied the building in the 1990s. VOADV Property, Inc. paid $135,000 for the Boyer building in 1999 and still owns it.

The building at 525 Cooper Street was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of a themed nomination of buildings in Camden related to banking, law, and insurance, dating from 1873 to 1938. It is also within the Cooper Street Historic District. This commercial building was built in the mid-1920s and held multiple law offices into the 1990s. The Mission/Spanish Revival style building was designed by architect Robert Wells. The Charles S. Boyer Building recently housed the organization Volunteers of America of Delaware Valley (VOADV), part of a national non-profit agency; the main local offices of the agency is two doors down, at 531 Cooper Street. VOADV has owned the Boyer building since 1999.

525 Cooper Street

Henry Genet Taylor was a Camden physician who founded the city's first hospital. Dr. Taylor was born in New York State in July 1837. He had the Cooper Street house designed in 1884 by Philadelphia architect William Eyre, Jr. The house has been dubbed one of the most distinguished of Eyre's Arts and Crafts style townhouses. Eyre also co-founded Philadelphia's T-Square Club in 1883, served as President of the Philadelphia American Institute of Architects, and co-founded and edited House and Garden Magazine in 1901. In 1900, Dr. Taylor (age 62) shared the home with his wife of 21 years, Helen C. (53), a New Jersey native. Two of the three children of the couple survived: sons Henry G. Jr. (16) and Richard C. (14); both were born in New Jersey. Two servants completed the household: German-born Kate Jilijowrski (50) and Mary Boylan (20), a Pennsylvania native. Dr. Taylor died in 1916. His obituary described him as a Civil War veteran who died at age 79 from "the grip," several years after retiring from his medical practice. Dr. Taylor was a descendant of "Citizen" Genet, a French statesman who represented French interests to America in the early years of the new nation. Dr. Taylor's descendants continued to live in the Cooper Street house until the late 1950s. In 1927, the house was occupied by Dr. Taylor's widow; his son, Henry G. Jr. and wife, Maude D., and their family. The house was divided into apartment housing in 1938 and several fireplaces were removed. Henry Jr. and Maude still resided at 305 Cooper Street in the mid-1940s. In 1970 the apartment building was owned by residents Edward and Mildred Teitelman; Mr. Teitelman was a Preservation Officer of the Camden County Historical Society. The 3-1/2 story masonry structure with a full basement is 39 feet wide by 60 feet deep. The main architectural elements are an oriel window, a central chimney with a window, a deeply arched entrance, and a Flemish Renaissance gable. The ground floor is faced in ashlar. The original plan of the interior rooms (before the reconstruction of the interior by Rutgers in 2015) was an asymmetrical "T" with the larger rooms to the east. The first floor contained the entrance porch, vestibule with an alcove and built-in bench, two rooms for the doctor's office, and rooms for the home's parlor, dining room, and kitchen. A curving oak staircase led to six bedrooms, a nursery, bathrooms, a library, storage, and maids' rooms on the upper levels. A sunporch was added to the rear of the dining room in 1891 and the second-floor windows were lowered 18 inches in 1888, apparently trying to brighten up the home's interior.

The historic house at 305 Cooper Street was once the home of Dr. Henry Genet Taylor, a local physician. The house was built for Dr. Taylor in 1885 and housed his descendants until 1959. The structure combines elements of early English Renaissance style in limestone, tan tapestry Roman brick, and terra cotta. The building is now part of the Camden campus of Rutgers University as the Writers House, containing the MFA program and some English department classes. The university completed renovations to the building's interior in 2015.  The Taylor House was listed in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in 1971. It also is part of the Cooper Street Historic District, listed in the National Register in 1989.

Dr. Henry Genet Taylor 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.

The Edward Sharp House is at the corner of Cooper and N. Second Street, opposite Johnson Park and adjoining the Camden campus of Rutgers University. The house was built from 1810 to 1812 and is the only remaining late Federal style home in the City of Camden. The local architect was Gideon Vanwinkle Stivers, a master carpenter and bridge-builder. Sharp served in the legislature from Gloucester County (a pre-cursor to Camden County) in the 1810s. Dr. Samuel Harris bought the house at auction in 1825 and established a medical office in a new wing built in back of the home. The Edward Sharp House was listed on the New Jersey Register in 1979 and the National Register in 1980; much of the interior and exterior was still original at that time. The house has been turned into five rental apartments.

Edward Sharp House

The former Cooper Library sits within Johnson's park and on land that has served Camden as a transportation hub for centuries, dating back to 1688. It first served a ferry company for nearly a century before the British used it during the American Revolution. After the war, a stagecoach terminal emerged on the spot, followed by a railway hub. Completion of the library took place in 1918 and stands as one of Camden's finest Neo-Classical designed structures and is home to an abundance of fine artwork -- arguably existing as the southern New Jersey's preeminent cultural facility when it opened.Starting in 1688, Cooper's Ferry transported goods between Camden and Philadelphia. After the British captured Philadelphia in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War, the British used the spot as a transportation hub used by British and Hessian (German) troops. After the war, the grounds served first as a stagecoach terminal, followed by a railway terminal, notably from 1834 to 1854 for the Amboy Railway Company. On December 31, 1915, Camden City Council accepted a proposal by Eldridge Reeves Johnson to build a library in Cooper Park. (On May 27, 1920, City Council changed the name of Cooper Park to Johnson Park.) Johnson, a University of Pennsylvania trustee, erudite, explorer, inventor, political activist, and machine shop operator, was also a profound philanthropist. In addition to his ties to the library, he contributed one million dollars to establish the Eldridge R. Johnson Foundation for Research in Medical Physics. The Cooper Library is an exemplary Neo-Classical building and artistic center. The building was designed by the acclaimed Philadelphia firm of Karcher and Smith. Walter Karcher (1881-1953) and Livingston Smith (1880-1961) worked as partners for fifty years and completed numerous projects in Camden. The artwork within the library and grounds are not only noteworthy but speak to Camden's growth during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Although a Philadelphia suburb, Camden evolved into a distinctly industrial, economic, and cultural center during the late nineteenth century and into the 1920s.Much of the artwork enjoys a unique story. The mosaic frieze, "America Receiving the Gift of the Nations," represents growing Nationalism within the U.S. and a feeling of its growth as a world power. The "Peter Pan" statue, created by Sir George Frampton, is a replica of his original statue in London. Frampton donated his replica to the children of Belgium in 1924, which Cooper Park later purchased. Frampton and Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan, sent congratulatory messages to Camden prior to the sculpture's dedication on September 24, 1926. The grounds also include numerous animal sculptures created by Philadelphia's Albert Laessle, with the two most famous being "Turtle," "Billy," and "Dancing Goat." As noted in the nomination form to the National Register of Historic Places, "So accurate were the artists's depictions that he was falsely accused of casting his subjects from life. These works show an acute understanding of animals and the strong influence of nature." In 1920, Eldridge Johnson, founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, commissioned Laessle to create the bronze "Dog and Gramophone" sculpture, the Victor Talking Machine Company's trademark. From 1950 to 1970, during a period of economic struggle and high crime rates for Camden, Johnson Park was gravely neglected and vandalized. Graffiti filled the park, and numerous valuable bronze statues had been ripped from their bases and either stolen or severely damaged. During the 1990s, renovation projects sought to restore the park and structure's beauty, all part of Camden's renewed growth. After the Cooper Library closed in 1975, it became the Walt Whitman Cultural Arts Center -- named for the poet who lived and was buried in Camden. The Arts Center hosted theatrical performances from the 1970s through 2010. Starting in 2010, Rutgers University–Camden began the slow conversion of turning the building into a classroom facility and move its art performances to another location.

The Cooper Library, also known as the Walt Whitman Arts Center, first opened in 1918, with construction on the park and artwork additions continued through 1930. Before the park and library emerged, the land where the library sits served Camden as a transportation hub from 1688 through the late nineteenth century, first for a ferry company, then for the British during the Revolutionary war, followed by a stagecoach center and railway hub. Since it opened, its purpose transitioned to becoming a center for art and culture with mosaics, sculptures and artwork present in the library and on the park grounds. Though vandalism and theft during from the 1970s to the 1990s hurt its place as a cultural hub, a renovation project by its current owner, Rutgers University in Camden, has brought back its prestige.  

Cooper Library in Johnson Park (A.K.A. Walt Whitman Arts Center)

By 1766, around 800 captive people had been sold here at the Coopers Street Ferry and two other nearby ferry landings. This was part of a global network of chattel slavery in Africa where approximately 24 million men, women, and children were captured and marched to coastal prisons. Only half survived the journey. These 12 million survivors then endured deplorable conditions on the Middle Passage ocean crossings, where an additional two million died from disease, malnutrition, dehydration, drowning, suicide, and abuse. By 1800, New Jersey's enslaved African population exceeded 12,000. New Jersey was the last Northern state to emancipate its slaves, adopting a gradual abolition law in 1804 that took many years to take effect. Slavery began in the future colony of New Jersey in the early 17th century when Dutch colonists imported African slaves for labor to develop the colony of New Netherland. Around 1704, after East Jersey and West Jersey unified, the Province of New Jersey passed a slave code prohibiting slaves and free Blacks from owning property, further restricting the rights of Africans and people of African descent.&nbsp; It is important to note that New Jersey, like many other colonial governments, awarded settlers land based on the number of persons they brought to the "New World." For example, while New Jersey was working to attract settlers of wealth, the colonial government awarded 60 acres of land for each person transported to the colony. By 1726, there were more than 2,000 enslaved individuals. In 1676, the colony was divided into two sections with East Jersey being settled by English immigrants and transplanted Puritans and West Jersey. In 1744, the colony refused to place a tariff on the importation of slaves which encouraged the trade. Many years later, Pennsylvania slave traders relocated to avoid paying the taxes on slave sales. Leading families operated the Camden ferry landings that also doubled as slave auction sites. During this period, the newspaper advertised sales and invited prospective slave buyers to come to Camden's ferry to view the people who would be auctioned. After the Revolutionary War, New Jersey banned the importation of slaves in 1788. However, the newly freed African Americans were banned from settling in the state. In the early 1800s, New Jersey passed laws that gradually emancipated enslaved persons in the colony, leading many slave owners to sell enslaved persons to slave traders who transported them to other states where slavery was still legal. The gradual emancipation law required persons born into slavery to remain as slaves until their 21st or 25th birthday, leaving many enslaved children to become wards of the state in the 1820s and 1830s. New Jersey ratified the 13th Amendment on January 23, 1866. In 2008, the&nbsp;New Jersey legislature&nbsp;acknowledged the state's role in the history of slavery in the United States.

This historical marker was dedicated on November 28, 2017, and became the first of its kind in the state of New Jersey. The marker recognizes Camden's role in the slave trade and was made possible by the efforts of local historians whose research revealed that this was the site of Cooper Street Ferry where enslaved people were sold at auction. The first known slave auction at this site occurred in 1727 and the marker's title declares "Enslaved Americans Once Sold Here." 

Camden New Jersey Slave Trade Historical Marker

A bank building has stood at the corner of Market and Second Streets for centuries. The "State Bank at Camden" first opened for business on the corner of Market and Second on June 16, 1812. The bank was located then in the same location as now (the northwest corner of Market and 2nd St., then called "Queen St.") in the former Peter Farrow house. Capital stock was originally $800,000 and the Cooper family was involved in the bank's creation. In the early years of the bank, a shed building to the rear of the bank building held the town's first fire engine, the "Perseverance;" the engine was built by a Philadelphian, Pat Lyon, and was purchased secondhand in 1810. The city kept that engine in service for nearly forty years. New federal laws in 1865 allowed for the bank to become a national bank, with the name "National State Bank, at Camden." The predecessor to the current building at the site was another bank building constructed around 1875. In 1890, the bank was one of five major banks in the city. Its Cashier, Wilbur F. Rose, also served as Treasurer of the Camden City Board of Trade in the 1890s. Heulings Lippincott was the bank's president in 1915. F. Morse Archer rose from Vice President to President in 1918; Archer's great-grandfather, James Sloan, had been the bank's second president. The bank's Cashier in 1915 was A.D. Ambruster; Assistant Cashier was Stanley C. Kimble. The bank merged with First National Bank of Camden in 1922; another merger in 1927 resulted in formation of First Camden National Bank &amp; Trust Company. The architects of the 1913 building were Paul Armon Davis III and his older brother, Seymour. Paul studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in the 1890s; Seymour trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The brothers' partnership of Davis &amp; Davis only lasted a brief time, from 1910 to 1914. Contractors were Stacy Reed and Sons. The three-bay wide main facade faces Market Street and features a central entrance. Besides the main block, there is a rear wing with an exterior matching the main block. The gleaming white granite is absent from the rear facade of the wing, which is painted brick. The building was still being used as a bank when it was documented for the National Register in 1988, as Midlantic National Bank. The 1913-era bank vault, marble wainscoting, and other interior features were intact. The central portion of the bank interior space, which originally held the tellers' area, had been changed and a dropped ceiling had been installed. The original door surround of bracketed entablature and plain pilasters was intact, with a replacement glass door. A rusticated flat arch with scrolled keystone topped a large window on both sides of the entrance. While the 1913 windows had been replaced, the window pattern was unchanged. City Invincible Architecture, Interiors and Urban Design, the architectural firm formed in 2016 that renovated and occupies the former bank building, was acquired by Spiezle Architectural Ggroup, Inc. in late 2019. Their new name is "City Invincible, a Spiezle Company." With the acquisition, Spiezle grew to 95 team members in its employee-owned architectural firm.

The stately building at 123 Market Street was built in 1913 as a bank. Davis & Davis was the Philadelphia-based architectural firm who designed this Classical Revival, one-story granite building with a full basement. The bank was one of six established after New Jersey's banking law of 1812, as the State Bank of Camden. The building was still being used as a bank in the early 1990s. The National State Bank building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 as part of a nomination of multiple bank, legal, and insurance-related buildings in Camden. City Invincible, an architectural/ tech startup firm, undertook extensive restoration of the building and moved into the new space in February 2017.

National State Bank

The USS New Jersey (BB-62) was constructed in
the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and launched on December 7, 1942, the one-year
anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The 887-foot long, 45,000-ton ship
was part of the Iowa-class of
battleships commissioned during World War II, which also included the Iowa, the Missouri, and the Wisconsin;
they were the last battleships commissioned for the United States Navy. The New Jersey soon saw action in the
Pacific Theater&nbsp;in 1944, fighting against the Imperial Japanese Navy in the
Marshall Islands, Marianas Islands, the Philippines, and Okinawa. After the
war the New Jersey was decommissioned and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
in 1948.

In 1950 the New Jersey was recommissioned in 1950 to
serve in the Korean War. During this time it mostly provided artillery support
for ground forces. The ship was decommissioned again in 1957, and then
recommissioned once more in 1968 for the Vietnam War. It was the only
battleship to fight in Vietnam, and was the only active battleship in the world
at the time. The ship provided was in service only briefly before being
decommissioned again in 1969. In 1982 the New
Jersey was recommissioned a final time to support U.S. forces in the
Lebanese Civil War. At this time the ship was given upgrades, including
Tomahawk and Harpoon missile launchers. On February 8, 1984, the New Jersey launched the largest shore
bombardment since the Korean War on a command post east of Beirut. In 1991 the
ship was decommissioned for the final time. In 1999 it was struck from the Navy
rosters and towed to Philadelphia. Over the course of her career the New Jersey
was awarded 19 battle or campaign stars; nine for World War II; four for the
Korean War; two for the Vietnam War; three for the engagements in Lebanon; and
a Navy Unit Commendation for service in Vietnam.

In 1999 a stipulation
included in the Strom Thurmond National Defense Act required that the Navy
transfer ownership of the USS New Jersey
to a non-profit entity in the State of New Jersey for the purpose of becoming a
museum. As renovations were conducted on the ship in Philadelphia, two
different groups petitioned for ownership, the USS New Jersey Battleship
Commission of Bayonne, and the Home Port Alliance of Camden. In 2000 the Navy
announced that it would give the New
Jersey to the Home Port of Alliance; on October 15 the ship arrived at the
Camden Waterfront. 

The Battleship New
Jersey Museum opened to the public in 2001. It is operated by the non-profit
group Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial Inc., formerly known as the
Homeport Alliance. Hundreds of volunteers are required to operate the museum
and keep the ship in satisfactory condition. Interactive tours are available
for visitors, and the museum also offers rental spaces for events, and
youth-oriented overnight programs. Recently the Museum has undertaken a number
of different projects, such as the conversion of its heating system to increase
efficiency; the opening of additional portions of the ship to the public; the
reactivation of the ship’s whistle; and the opening of a café. In 2017 the
Museum acquired an original Quad 40s anti-aircraft gun from the New Jersey and fully restored it to
working condition.

The Battleship New Jersey Museum was developed to preserve the famous USS New Jersey at its permanent resting place in Camden, New Jersey. The Iowa-class battleship was introduced during World War II and also saw action in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Lebanese Civil War. With a total of 19 battle and campaign stars, it is the most decorated battle ship in the U.S. Navy’s history. The New Jersey was decommissioned for the final time in 1991. In 2000 the ship was moved to Camden and converted into a floating museum. Today the ship remains open to the public and offers interactive tours, meeting spaces, educational programs, and overnight stays. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Downtown Camden New Jersey Walking Tour

The Nipper Building

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information