Introduction
Prior to the 1899 merger with Camden, the town of Stockton, which comprised of what is now known as Cramer Hill and East Camden, had a very active, to put it mildly, political scene. After the merger, Cramer Hill became Camden's Eleventh Ward, while East Camden became the Twelfth Ward. Jacob “Jake” Schiller was one of the leading Republicans of the 1890s Stockton-era and remained a force in East Camden Republican politics through the mid-1920s.
The 1906 Camden City Directory shows the Twelfth Ward Republican Club at 2508 Federal Street. There also was another Republican group, the East End Republican Club at 3336 Westfield Avenue, in that year. This group was gone by 1914.
The 1914 Camden City Directory reveals that the Twelfth Ward Republican Club had moved to 2311 Federal Street. By 1924 another move had taken place, to William Penn Hall, 300 North 27th Street, where it would remain through at least the summer of 1933. By 1936 the club had reorganized and was then called the East End Republican Club, and was still active and operating at that address as late as 1947, according to the City Directory for that year. The club did operate for a time at 2709 Westfield Avenue around 1938, however. The club is not listed in the 1956 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory, however.
G. O. P. Club Harvest Home
Camden Courier-Post —
The Twelfth Ward Women's Republican Club will hold a Harvest Home at the Health Center, Thirty-first and Fremont avenue, on Saturday from two until nine o'clock. Members will bring a box supper.
G. O. P. Women to Meet
Camden Courier-Post —
The monthly social session of the Women's Auxiliary of the Twelfth Ward Republican Club will be held on Monday evening at the headquarters, 300 North Twenty-seventh Street. Mrs. Mercy Bolton is arranging a surprise program for the evening. Refreshments will be served.
G. O. P. Club to Take Outing to Shore
Camden Courier-Post —
The Ladies' Auxiliary to the Twelfth Ward Republican Club will hold its annual outing to Atlantic City tomorrow. Buses will leave the clubhouse, 300 North Twenty-seventh Street, promptly at eight o'clock in the morning.
East End Auxiliary to Meet
Camden Courier-Post —
The Ladies Auxiliary to the East End Republican League, 300 North Twenty-seventh Street, will hold its regular business meeting on Monday night. Mrs. Reba Raymore will preside and Mrs. Bertha Clayton, outing fund chairman, will be in charge of social arrangements.
G. O. P. Auxiliary Dates Business Meet, Benefit
Camden Courier-Post —
The monthly business session of the Auxiliary of the East End Republican Club will be held Monday evening in the headquarters, 300 North Twenty-seventh street. Mrs. Catherine McKeever, president, will be in the chair.
Mrs. Helen Wells, chairman of the outing fund committee, has announced an afternoon of games for Wednesday in the clubhouse. Refreshments will be served.
12th Ward G. O. P. Backs Selection of Woodruff
Camden Courier-Post —
The Twelfth Ward Republican Club last night passed unanimously a motion to endorse the action of State Committeeman Frank B. Hanna in advocating election of former Senator Albert S. Woodruff as a member of the Delaware River Joint Commission.
The club also passed unanimously a resolution urging Woodruff's appointment.
The motion to endorse Hanna's action was made by Police Chief Arthur Colsey and, the resolution was presented by Charles S. Wright.
The resolution:
“Whereas a vacancy on the Delaware River Joint Commission exists, and
“Whereas this vacancy must be filled by a resident of the State of New Jersey, and
“Whereas former Senator Albert S. Woodruff worked diligently and energetically for legislation creating the original bridge board and is wholly conversant with the activities of said commission, and
“Whereas in the opinion of the members of the Twelfth Ward Republican Club, City of Camden, State of New Jersey, the best interest of the citizens and taxpayers of our section of the State of New Jersey will best be served by a member from this locality, now therefore
“Be it resolved, that former Senator Albert S. Woodruff be appointed to the vacancy existing in the Delaware River Joint Commission and that this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this organization and copies be sent to Sen. Albert E. Burling, Assemblymen Rocco Palese, Millard E. Allen and Lawrence H. Ellis, State Committeeman Frank B. Hanna, State Committeewoman Florence Baker and the Courier-Post Newspapers.”
G. O. P. to Hear Smullen
Camden Courier-Post —
Kenneth Smullen, physical director at the Camden Y. M. C. A. will be the guest speaker at the meeting of the Twelfth Ward Republican Club, 2709 Westfield Avenue, tonight. His topic will be “Keeping Fit” and the public is invited to hear the lecture.
Camden Clee Vote Called Good Omen
Camden Courier-Post —
Driscoll Says It Proves County is Republican If Candidates Are Right
The overwhelming vote Camden county gave Senator Lester H. Clee last November proves “beyond a doubt” that Camden county will support Republican candidates “when they are qualified to hold office,” Alfred E. Driscoll, Haddonfield commissioner, declared Tuesday.
Addressing members of the Twelfth Ward Republican Club, at 2709 Westfield Avenue, Driscoll said the vote for Clee “demonstrated conclusively that Camden county is Republican-minded.”
“If we offer candidates qualified for the offices they seek,” Driscoll said, “they will be elected. Voters quite rightly are thinking nowadays of a candidate's qualification for office. If the candidate is the man or woman for the job, the people will elect him.
“There was a time when a one-man endorsement of a candidate was all that was necessary. That day is gone and with it went one-man domination of the Republican party in Camden county. The so-called political leaders who boast they carry their districts ‘in the bag’ are equally passé.
“The Republican party in Camden county is definitely on its way to the greatest strength it ever had. The ‘come-back’, if you want to call it that, was made because our people are thinking as they vote.”
Driscoll also expressed the opinion that anytime a common enemy threatens the United States, its people as a nation will toss overboard any “isms” they may have prescribed to and rush to the defense of the country.
“The freedom and liberty guaranteed by our Constitution,” he said, “are too firmly implanted to be set aside. There is a lot of talk about ‘communism’ and ‘fascism’ but if either of them ever become a real threat, the vast majority of our citizens will rise up to defeat them.”
E. End G.O.P. Auxiliary
Camden Courier-Post —
Members of the Auxiliary to the East End Republican League who are planning to participate in the group's trip to New York City on September 4 and 5, have been requested to attend the regular meeting of the organization on Monday night, at the clubhouse, 300 North Twenty-seventh street. Mrs. Mildred Sacco, outing fund chairman, is in charge of arrangements for the trip, assisted by Mrs. Edith Burger. Mrs. Helen Wells, president of the auxiliary, will preside at the meeting.