Camden Streets - Cooper Street

COOPER STREET is one of the oldest streets in Camden, and is named after the Cooper family. William Cooper was one of the first settlers in this part of New Jersey. Camden was known as Cooper's Ferries for many years prior to the city being incorporated in 1828.

The curb line of Cooper Street, from Front Street to the tracks of the Camden & Atlantic Railroad Company, were moved twelve feet towards the center, and the street paved with Belgian blocks in 1881. In 1927 the curb lines were moved back twelve feet from 4th Street to 9th Street. This improvement was completed in September of 1927.

Cooper Street runs from the waterfront east to 9th Street, with a short block of homes and business still standing above 11th Street. Prior to the construction of Interstate Route I-676, Cooper Street ran all the way to 12th Street. Cooper Street was for many years one of the most prestigious addresses in Camden, and many homes of historic significance, due to both the residents and the architects of said homes, were and still are on Cooper Street.

The "beginning of the end" for Cooper Street came in the early 1920s, when three mansions were torn down to make room for the Walt Whitman Hotel. On June 30, 1940 all the homes on the south side of the 900 block were destroyed when the R.M. Hollingshead chemical factory, which occupied most of the block, fronting on 9th and on Market Streets, exploded and burned to the ground.

Little known outside of East Camden is the "other" Cooper Street, which runs between North 19th and East State Street. This short street only has one single family home and a block of 13 row homes.

Do you have an Cooper Street memory or picture. Let me know by e-mail so it can be included here.

Phil Cohen

100 Block of Cooper Street
	Cooper Street Looking Northeast from Front and Cooper 1907 Click on Image to Enlarge
	Cooper Street Johnson Park circa 1920 Click on Image to Enlarge
	Cooper Street Johnson Park 1926 Peter Pan Pagent Click on Image to Enlarge The Johnson Library and park were donated to the City of Camden by Eldridge Johnson, founder and CEO of the Victor Talking Machine Company. Built between 1914 and 1930, and first opened in 1918.
	Cooper Street Looking Northeast from Front and Cooper April 2005 Photo by Craig Campbell Click on Image to Enlarge
	106 Cooper Street 1880-1890s William H. Allen
	122 Cooper Street Dr. Samuel Harris
	120-124 & 126 Cooper Street
	126 Cooper Street 1787-1882 William Abels
	128 & 130 Cooper Street
	134 Cooper Street
	122 Cooper Street The Dorcas Society 1872 Click on Images to Enlarge
	120-124, 126, 128, 130 & 134 Cooper Street Click on Images to Enlarge
	100-134 Cooper Street Victor Talking Machine Company Factory about 1920 Click on Images to Enlarge
	Northwest Corner of Front & Cooper Street Victor Talking Machine Company Offices about 1920

200 Block of Cooper Street
	Cooper Street Looking East from N 2nd Street 1st house on right: 210 Cooper 1st House on left: 215 Cooper Click on Images to Enlarge
	200-230 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 Click on Image to Enlarge
	200 Cooper Street The Edward Sharp House Click on Images to Enlarge
	200 Cooper Street The Edward Sharp House Click on Images to Enlarge
	200 Cooper Street The Edward Sharp House Click on Images to Enlarge
	200 Cooper Street The Edward Sharp House Click on Images to Enlarge
	200 Cooper Street The Edward Sharp House Click on Images to Enlarge
AUTOIST HELD IN CRASH AS LICENSELESS DRIVER Charged with driving without a li cense, Arthur Benjamin, 28, of 430 Liberty Street, was held in $10 security for a police court hearing following a collision at Twenty-third and High Streets shortly after noon yesterday, One man was cut on the head and legs. Policeman James Banks made the arrest after Benjamin's car struck and overturned the machine of C.R. Finney, 62, of 201 Cooper Street. Finney was treated by Dr. A. Lincoln Sherk. Benjamin was ordered to appear before Judge Garfield Pancoast June 29.	201 Cooper Street 1933 C.R. Finney Camden Courier-Post June 23, 1933
	201 Cooper Street 1933 Turin Grotto mid-late 1930's John Lynch Saloon 1947 Palace Restaurant
	204 & 206 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 Click on Image to Enlarge RIGHT: 204 Cooper Street was the home of the College of South Jersey Law School in 1947, the predecessor to Rutgers Law School LEFT: Henry S. Ford lived at 206 Cooper Street in the 1930s and 1940s
	205 Cooper Street Richard Pancoast 1880s-1900s
	207 Cooper Street
	209 Cooper Street Womans Club of Camden 1896-1901
	210 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 Charlotte C. French 1920s-1930s Click on Image to Enlarge
	210 Cooper Street Charlotte C. French 1920s-1930s Click on Image to Enlarge
	212 Cooper Street
	214 Cooper Street 1900s-1910s Captain John B. Adams & Family John B. & Phoebe Adams Clarence Adams
	214 Cooper Street George W. Jessup 1920s-1932
	215 Cooper Street
	215 Cooper Street 1890s-1920s Dr. Dowling Benjamin & Family Dr. Dowling & Sarah Benjamin Sarah Benjamin Ada Benjamin Helen Benjamin
	217 Cooper Street
	220 Cooper Street Samuel Smith Ice 1890s
	218-222 Cooper Street The Chalcar Apartments 1925 Byron Edwards & Alfred Green Architects Edward A. "Dick" Malan 1940s-1950 Click on Image to Enlarge
	218-222 Cooper Street The Chalcar Apartments Edward A. "Dick" Malan 1940s-1950 Click on Image to Enlarge
	218-222 Cooper Street The Chalcar Apartments 1955 Manchester Laundry & Dry Cleaning Co., Inc. 220 Cooper Street 1955 New Jersey Bell Telephone Yellow Pages Listing
	218-222 Cooper Street The Chalcar Apartments February 7, 2004 Byron Edwards & Alfred Green Click on Image to Enlarge


	224 & 218-222 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 Click on Image to Enlarge
	223 Cooper Street
	224 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 Click on Image to Enlarge
	228 & 224 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 Click on Image to Enlarge
	227 Cooper Street
	228 Cooper Street February 7, 2004 1877-1888 Nathan F. Cowan Family Nathan & Sallie Ann Cowan William Cowan Edgar Cowan Herbert Cowan Click on Image to Enlarge
	229 Cooper Street
	230 Cooper Street
	232 Cooper Street 1910s-1920s Frank J. Hineline
	232 Cooper Street 1910s-1920s Ludwig Kind 1910s-1920s Charles H. Greer 1910s-1920s William MacFarland 1910s Philip Wilson

	Streets of Camden, NJ Cooper Street
Unit, 100 & 200 Blocks	300 Block
400 Block	500 Block
600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, & 1200 Blocks
1900 & 2000 Block


The Victor Plant Cooper Street, Camden N.J.	Cooper Park, 2nd & Cooper Streets circa 1907

"The Camden factories of the Victor Talking Machine Company"	The Victor Plant, Johnson Park in the foreground Now known as Walt Whitman Poetry Center

Cooper Park Library - circa 1910	Cooper Park Library - circa 1912

Cooper Park Library - circa 1916 The Cooper Park Library was replaced by a large building (right ). donated by Eldridge Johnson of the Victor Talking Machine Co.	The Cooper Free Public Library Known today as The Walt Whitman Poetry Center

Unit Block of Cooper Street
	10 Cooper Street The Esterbrook Pen Company The Esterbrook Pens Co. plant stood at Cooper Street and Delaware Avenue in Camden for several decades. Founded in 1858 in Camden by Richard Esterbrook, the plant was moved to Cherry Hill in 1964. In 1967, it became the Venus- Esterbrook company and by 1969, it closed its Cherry Hill plant. Photo circa 1920.
	10 Cooper Street The Esterbrook Pen Company When Esterbrook Pen left Camden, the old plant was acquired by RCA. Known as RCA Building 16, it was demolished in January of 1971.
	43 Cooper Street Rev. William H. Burrell 1880s-1900s

The Helene Apartments at 125 North 3rd Street & 232 Cooper Street Southwest Corner of North 3rd & Cooper Streets