Ross Plumbing & Heating Company
Ross Plumbing was the business of the Ross family, and bore the name of its founder, Isreal Ross, who went into business as a plumbing and heating contractor in 1918. He had previously partnered with Francis Bicker Jr., son of Dr. Francis Bicker, a well known physician in Camden’s Eighth Ward. He may still have been in business with Bicker into the 1920s.
By January of 1920 Isreal Ross and his wife, the former Annie Silverman, had bought a house at 1145 Baring Street. Annie Silverman was the daughter of Becky Silverman, who owned and operated a clothing business at 299 Kaighn Avenue, the corner of South 3rd Street and Kaighn Avenue.
A set of journals that begin in 1924 seem to indicate that the partnership with Francis Bicker Jr. had dissolved, and that Isreal Ross had started his own business. These journals, presented here, show every job that Isreal Ross undertook, indicating that he worked for many people who were or would become well known in Camden. He also had begun doing work for various real estate operators.
Sometime after the fall of 1936 Israel Ross acquired the building at 1142 South 6th Street, where the Tarter family had once conducted a bottling business. Isreal Ross lived and operated his business here, the Ross Plumbing & Heating Company, through at least 1947. By that time sons Edward and Leonard had joined the business.
Ross Plumbing and Heating did a great portion of its business with Camden real estate operators and landlords. Some of the larger and more notable clients in the 1930s and 1940s included Benjamin Natal, Theodore Tiedeken, Samuel Gelfand, Louis Richelson, Louis Dorflinger, Ellis Goodman, Zellie Ellis, Joseph and William Lipkin, and Alex Malamut. There was also institutional work, for the Talmud Torah building, churches and synagogues, and Belleview Hospital. They also did work for several Camden physicians, including Dr. Ulysses Wiggins, Dr. William Lashman, and Dr. Marcus Wheatland. Commercial accounts included Trilling & Montague, a company involved with many of the bar businesses in Camden, Quality Drugs, and several businesses on Broadway, Kaighn Avenue, and throughout the city. They also worked for several Building and Loan Associations and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s real estate operation.
Isreal Ross passed away on April 12, 1962. He was buried the following day at Crescent Burial Park in Pennsauken NJ. He was survived by his wife and sons, who carried the business forward. Anna Silverman Ross passed away in Cherry Hill NJ in 1993.
The Ross Plumbing and Heating Company was still operating on South 6th Street as late as the fall of 1977, and owned the property into the late 1990s.
For more about the family and business of Isreal and Anna Ross, please visit:
Journal & Transaction Images, 1924–1941
The following is an index of scanned journal pages from the Ross Plumbing & Heating Company records, covering 1924 through 1941. Click any image link to view the full-resolution scan.
1142 South 6th Street
1142 South 6th Street, March 14, 2004. In the 1920s this was the site of the S. Tarter Bottling Company; in the 1930s–1990s, Ross Plumbing & Heating Company; by 2003, Sank Inc. Tire Repair.
As you can see in the picture, 1142 was a fairly large house, depth-wise. Prior to the 1980s, this photo would not have been possible, because the fenced-in lot, 601 Kaighn Avenue, was the site of a bar from the days prior to Prohibition through the early 1980s. As of this writing I’m not sure when the garage to the immediate left of 1142 South 6th Street was built, other than it was up by 1947.