Centennial Avenue

Centennial Avenue is a small street that runs east from 310 North Front Street through to North 2nd Street. It originally ran to a dead end mid-block; only in recent years was Centennial Avenue extended through to North 2nd Street.

Centennial Avenue was not listed in the 1872 Camden City Directory but is listed in the 1878 edition, which makes sense, as 1876 was the centennial year of the United States. Four homes were initially built, numbered 2 through 5. A Charles H. Jenness, shoe dealer, is listed at 5 Centennial Avenue in 1878. Other residents included harness maker David Jones at 4 Centennial, and foreman Hugh Reilly (or Riley) at 3. A cooper, George W. Wolfe was at 2 Centennial Avenue in 1878. His widow and then his son, George W. Wolfe Jr., were a presence on Centennial Avenue into the 1930s. Shortly after the 1884–1885 City Directory was published, two more homes, numbered 6 and 7, were built. Harvey Slifer, a cooper, was the first Directory-listed resident of 6, and Joseph Goheen, a blacksmith, first occupied 7 Centennial Avenue. In late 1890 or early 1891 the City of Camden renumbered the six houses standing on Centennial Avenue, which became numbers 109 through 119. These homes were still there as late as April of 1930, and were then all occupied.

It is interesting to note that beginning in the late 1890s and into the early 1930s, a number of families of Finnish immigrants lived on Centennial Avenue. Frank Johnson and John Antilla worked as house carpenters, Alfred Kauppi and John Joki were shipyard carpenters, and Nestor Aalto was a wharf builder. The Aalto family stayed on Centennial Avenue into the 1930s.

In September of 1932, Courier-Post reporter E. Allen Hughes wrote a three-part series of articles about the small streets, alleys, courts and places of Camden, including Coates Alley and Coates Avenue.

The 1940 City Directory shows that only 117 and 119 were standing, and that 117 was the only occupied home, and that 119 was vacant. By 1943 no homes stood on Centennial Avenue.