Coates Court

Coates Court was a short alley that ran north from 313 Division Street for about half a block before it dead-ended. It appears on Sanborn Maps as early as 1885, simply called “ALLEY,” with wood frame tenements occupying the west side, and two two-story dwellings on the east side, one a stand-alone building at the end of the court, and the other a structure attached to 315 Division Street.

By the 1920s there were three dwellings on Coates Court, with at least one occupied as late as 1931. By 1940 these were no longer listed in City Directories, although Coates Court itself was still being mentioned. By 1961 it no longer appeared on Sanborn Maps, and present-day aerial photos show no signs of former physical existence of Coates Court.

Coates Court should not be confused with Coates Avenue, originally known as Daubman Alley, which is, or rather was, a one-block street that ran parallel to Broadway and South 5th Street from Cherry Street south to Walnut Street. Nor should Coates Court be confused with Coates Alley, which runs parallel to Broadway and South 5th Street from Cherry Street north to Division Street. The two similarly named throughways do not, however, line up and are, or rather were, distinct and separate streets. A similar circumstance existed from the mid-1870s through about 1906, when Welsh Street, which was sometimes referred to as Welch Street, another non-contiguous street that ran from Division Street north to Pine Street, was sometimes referred to as Coates Avenue.

Coates Court was possibly named for Camden businessman John Coates, who parleyed a bricklaying business into real estate and investments, and was one of Camden’s wealthiest men when he passed in 1903.