Antrim Hardware Company
Antrim Hardware Company, Federal Street, East Camden, June 30, 2003.
The Antrim Hardware Company operated on Federal Street in East Camden for almost 100 years, before being bought up by a Philadelphia based firm in the mid-1980s.
Elwood Antrim was born in Jobstown NJ in Burlington County in 1860. Married to S. Janett Pennock in 1882, the Antrims lived in Red Lion, near Vincentown, in Burlington County. He came to Camden and founded the Antrim Hardware Company at “Cooper’s Creek and Federal,” the 1500 block of Federal Street, in 1889, in what was then Stockton Township. The following year he opened a second store at 26th and Westfield Avenue, in the more populated Wrightsville section. His younger brother, B. Frank Antrim, later joined him in the business, and the Antrims later settled in Merchantville.
Antrim Hardware — 1889 & 1890
Left: Antrim Hardware Co., 15th & Federal Street, 1889. Also visible is the Richard F. Smith & Son Lumber Yard. Right: Antrim Hardware Co., 2601 Westfield Avenue, 1890.
Elwood Antrim — 1897 Business Envelope
Named: Elwood Antrim business envelope, 1897. “Hardware, Paints, Oils, Glass, Agricultural Implements, Plumbing Goods &c., Cooper’s Creek & Federal St., Camden, N.J., and Branch Store, 26th St. & Westfield Ave., Cramer Hill, N.J.”.
Antrim Hardware, 2601 Westfield Avenue — 1915
Antrim Hardware Co., 2601 Westfield Avenue, 1915.
Elwood Antrim Advertisement
Camden Courier-Post —
Be Prepared to Combat Winter’s Thirst
Get One of These Fruit Presses — No. 1 Press, $11.00 — No. 2 Press, $15.00 — No. 3 Press, $20.00 — 5-Gal. Cedar Kegs $2.25 — 10-Gal. Cedar Kegs $3.50 — Stone Crocks, 85¢ to $2.50
Elwood Antrim — “Camden’s Two Leading Hardware Stores” — 1514 Federal Street — 2601 Federal Street
Alarm Chases Robber
Camden Courier-Post —
Bell Rings and Would-Be Burglar Flees Hardware Store; Suspect in Custody
A burglar who attempted to break into the Elwood Antrim hardware store, 1541 Federal street, was frightened away when a burglar alarm went off. After a chase, police arrested a suspect, who is being detained at headquarters pending investigation.
The suspect gave his name as Walter Gibbs, 214 Friends avenue. He was arrested at Seventeenth and Federal streets by District Detectives Schlam and Donnolley.
Worthing Truland, a watchman, 1616 Federal street, was awakened when the alarm went off. He then saw a man leaping the back fence.
The detectives happened to be passing at the time and started a search of the neighborhood. A half hour later they saw Gibbs, at Seventeenth street and placed him under arrest. Gibbs will be given a hearing tomorrow.
Norge Refrigeration Advertisement
Camden Courier-Post —
NORGE Rollator Refrigeration
Economical, Powerful, Beautiful, Efficient — Many Models to Select From — Terms as Low as 15¢ a Day — 45 Years of Reliability Backs Your Purchase
Antrim Hardware Co. — 26th & Federal St., Camden
Merchant Praises East Camden For Business District
Camden Courier-Post —
E. Hulings Antrim Likens Section to Second ‘Sixty-ninth Street’ — Area Growing Fast
“There are many distinct advantages for shopping in East Camden. Prices of merchandise are as low as anywhere else, and the quality is of the best, the parking facilities, all free, are excellent and the section is easy of access from any part of South Jersey.”
Thus did E. Hulings Antrim, who for 10 years was president of the East Camden Business Association, today refer to the business area of the Eastern portion of the city, that section from Westfield avenue and Federal street, west from Twenty-seventh street at the top, and Westfield avenue and Federal streets composing the sides, and Federal street the bottom. This includes the area known as the “L.” with Twenty-seventh street at the top, and Westfield avenue and Federal streets composing the sides, and Federal street the bottom.
“This section is rapidly becoming another Sixty-ninth street, so well known for its progress across the Delaware river, and there is no reason why in the future that we will not have one of the finest business areas in this part of the state,” said Antrim.
“Merchants out here in East Camden, alive to the opportunities afforded them, have well stocked stores and seek to serve the growing list of customers as they themselves want to be served when they go shopping.”
“There isn’t a part of South Jersey that cannot be reached quickly from this point, and that means, of course, that shoppers can arrive here without undue traffic difficulties.”
“Many of the stores have made improvements in fronts and interiors, and more changes are contemplated. In our own case, for example, with the Antrim hardware store at Twenty-sixth and Westfield avenue and Federal street, we will make alterations in the front of the store. ‘The alterations to our own store—we have been in business at this location for 47 years—should have been done by this time, but we have been so busy, business has been increasing so rapidly, that we have not been able to make the much needed changes. However, by Spring we hope to have the alterations complete.’”
“The vast improvement which Kotlikoff’s have made in their store at 2503–05 Federal street,” said Antrim, “but bears out the progress in business which East Camden is registering, and such improvement is not only of benefit to Kotlikoff’s but to the entire business area as represented by East Camden.”
Antrim Named Head of Hardware Group
Camden Courier-Post —
Heads Dealers — E. Hulings Antrim
Camden Man Elected at Convention of Dealers From Two States
E. Hulings Antrim, of the Antrim Hardware Company, Camden, was elected president of the Pennsylvania and Atlantic Seaboard Hardware Association at its recent annual convention and exhibit at Philadelphia Convention Hall. Antrim is secretary-treasurer of the local concern, which has operated here for almost a half century.
Prominently identified for many years with this association of hardware dealers, Antrim served on the board of directors and as vice-president last year.
In addition to the four-day session, dealing with problems affecting the hardware industry, more than 100 firms engaged in the hardware and house furnishing business filled the entire hall with exhibits of their products.
Other officers elected were: George C. Corcelius, Huntingdon, Pa., first vice president; H. D. Whieldon, Greenville, Pa., second vice president; Charles J. Ritterhoff, Baltimore, third vice president; George H. Albright, Harrisburg; H. J. Murdock, Waynesburg, Pa, and N. G. Toomey, Erie, Pa., executive committeemen.
$100,000 Fire Sweeps Store of Antrim Co.
Camden Courier-Post —
Several Firemen Hurt; Oil Plant and Homes Are Menaced
Fire swept the wholesale store of Antrim Hardware Company, 1514 and 1516 Federal street last night, damaged the stock to the extent of $100,000, injured several firemen, menaced homes and the plant of the Standard Oil Company opposite. It was the first three-alarm fire in Camden since January, 1937.
One of the firemen, Ralph Bingaman, of Truck Company No. 1, was cut severely on the right hand and foot by falling glass and went to the Cooper Hospital. Another hoseman, Ray Smith, of headquarters, also was cut on the right hand but stayed to his fire fighting after his wounds were dressed.
Huge choking billows of smoke that rolled over the fighters balked them several times in their efforts to check the fire, but they remained at their posts and finally subdued the blaze after a battle of several hours.
Chief John H. Lennox declared the fire started midway on the first floor from some unknown cause and spread so rapidly before its discovery efforts of the firemen were greatly hindered. Louis Gold, proprietor of the Federal Automobile Company, which adjoins the Antrim place, discovered the blaze and sent an alarm at 7 p.m.
He then telephoned to Councilman E. Hulings Antrim, of Merchantville, treasurer of the concern, who raced to the fire, together with his mother, Mrs. Elwood Antrim, widow of the founder of the firm. Later B. Frank Antrim, president of the firm, arrived. The members of the family conferred and decided to reopen today their other store at Twenty-sixth and Federal streets, and to secure if possible an unoccupied floor of a chain store building to carry on the business. The stock, according to Antrim, was fully insured.
The firm was created on December 1, 1889, and had made arrangements to celebrate its golden anniversary. Mrs. Antrim, mother of the treasurer, stated she had half the anniversary number ready for publication “but the first fire we ever had has ruined all that now.”
When Gold, accompanied by his son, Marvin, discovered the fire, the latter smashed in two front windows on the first floor to permit the smoke to roll and and [sic] to prevent an explosion inside, he said. Meanwhile, Leroy Garrison, who lives at 50 South Twenty-fourth street, was driving past in his automobile. He saw smoke rolling upward from the first floor and ran to the rear of the structure and threw open the door to permit the smoke to roll free at the rear.
Eight minutes after the first alarm was sounded Chief Lennox ordered a second, then a third at 7:33 p.m. Six engines and two hook and ladder trucks responded and the fight began to keep the flames from spreading in the neighborhood. With the wind blowing north, the tanks of the oil company across the street seemed threatened, but the interior of the structure was bulked with two firewalls which held and gave the firemen a chance to get into action and beat down the flames.
Paint, chemicals and tar paper stored on the second floor made a dense, choking smoke that completely concealed the neighborhood and the hundreds of spectators that thronged the vicinity to watch the fire. Two tenants in nearby houses, Miss Agnes Mitchell and Mrs. Roy Dilks, 72, living in 1510 and 1508, respectively, were unaware of the fire right next door until the police sent them to safety.
Mrs. Dilks, alone in the house at the time, refused to leave. She told the police she didn’t want to go, because the family had lived there but a month and her relatives were away. Finally she was urged to depart and did, finding refuge with Mrs. Albert Bowne, whose husband runs a printing shop a few doors below.
When Councilman Antrim arrived on the scene he attempted to rescue records of the firm which he said could never be replaced. Five times he entered the smoking building and five times he was turned back by the firemen. Finally two firemen, Andrew Ballantine, Chief Lennox, and Ladderman John Strauss, of Truck Company No. 4, forged their way through the dense smoke and retrieved the records.
Antrim fixed his damages from smoke and water at $100,000 which he said was the amount of stock in the building. Mrs. Antrim, his mother, stood under an umbrella near the burning building, and refused to leave. “We’ll open tomorrow,” said the energetic woman, “and not let this bother us. This firm was created in 1889 when Hulings, my son, was four, and B. Frank Antrim, now president, and myself ran the business and we’re not going to let this get us down, you bet.”
Antrim said he was the last person to leave the building at 5 p.m. He said nothing appeared to be all right then. The burglar alarm with which the building is equipped did not sound, so Antrim says no one could have entered the building after he departed.
After Engine Company No. 10 was sent home the apparatus was sideswiped by a traveling sandwich wagon, owned and driven by Emido Martelli, of 1315 Thurman street, at Eleventh street and Newton avenue. Martelli’s wife and 25-months-old son were aboard the wagon at the time but none was injured.
When Engine Company No. 9, at Twenty-first and Federal streets, the first engine to respond to the alarm, reached the hydrant the firemen found an automobile parked there, and locked. They had to push the car out of the way, in order to get a hose to the hydrant.
People mentioned: Ralph Bingemann — John Lennox — Andrew Ballantine — John Strauss — Ray Smith — Lou Gold — Marvin Gold — Leroy Garrison — Emido Martelli — Agnes Mitchell — Mrs. Roy Dilks — Albert Bowne
B. Frank Antrim
Camden Courier-Post —
E. Hulings Antrim and his mother S. Janett Antrim both passed away within two and one-half years of the fire. In February of 1942, B. Frank Antrim passed away. Other family members stepped up to carry on the business.
B. Frank Antrim — Camden Courier-Post, February 18, 1942.
Later Years
The Westfield Avenue location was always a more retail orientated operation. At some point after 1947 the Antrim Company concentrated the retail hardware and electrical appliance sales there. By 1956 the store had moved to 14 North 26th Street. By 1970 the Antrim Company had left this location, and concentrated their efforts on industrial hardware.
With factory after factory continuing to close in Camden and the surrounding area during the 1970s and 1980s, the industrial base that had supported Antrim Hardware for so many years eroded. The business was sold to a Philadelphia based firm in the mid-1980s. Within a few years Antrim Hardware closed its doors for the last time. The building has stood vacant ever since, and has been damaged by fire.
Antrim Hardware also supplied the asbestos lumber used in the construction of the operating and screen room of a new outdoor automobile moving picture theatre on Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Antrim was the exclusive distributor for this fireproof and weatherproof material, which also eliminated painting and, because it did not vibrate, improved sound effects. — Camden Courier-Post, June 10, 1933
The Antrim Hardware Building — June 30, 2003
The Antrim Hardware Building, Federal Street, East Camden — June 30, 2003.
Two-Alarm Fire at the Antrim Hardware Building — April 2, 2005
While Camden Firefighters were responding to another incident, Rescue Co. reported a heavy smoke condition in the area of Federal Street and River Road. Camden County Communications advised they were transmitting the box for 1525 Federal Street. Engine Co. 9 arrived and reported a 60 x 150 with heavy fire through the roof. Within minutes the 2nd alarm was dispatched and this had Engine Companies 9, 11, 6, Squad Company 7, Tower Ladder 3, Ladder 1, Rescue 1, Battalions 1 (Rossi), 2 (Wilson) and Car 3 (Price). Companies operated for an extended time with multiple master streams and portable monitors. No injuries were reported at the scene.
Two-alarm fire at the Antrim Hardware Building, April 2, 2005.