Rand Street

Rand Street is in East Camden, and runs parallel to Marlton Avenue and the Admiral Wilson Boulevard, from Watson Street across Westminster Avenue, Baird Boulevard and Thorndyke Street to the city limits, between Boyd and Pfeiffer Streets, and continues for a short distance into Pennsauken.

Rand Street dates back prior to 1899, when Stockton Township was joined to Camden. The street was originally called George Street, but by 1906 had been renamed Rand Street. As late as 1924 there were no homes standing on Rand Street. Around 1927 twenty houses were built by the firm of Markeim, Coles, and MacEwan in the 200 and 300 block of Rand Street. By the time the 1929 City Directory had been compiled 18 homes had been built and occupied. Thirteen other homes were occupied east of Baird Boulevard, in the 400 block. Many more houses on Rand Street were built by 1947, including a number of duplexes. Construction was still going on for a time thereafter, as another series of duplexes were built in the 500 and 600 blocks.

In 1954 the Peter J. McGuire Gardens public housing project was built on the land between Watson Street and Westminster Avenue. By the 1980s the project had become a notorious haven for drug dealing and other criminal activity. This soon spread along Rand Street all the way across Thorndyke Street. Although McGuire Gardens was literally razed and rebuilt beginning in the late 1990s, the area remains a hotbed of criminality and has been the site of several murders, the last two taking place in June and July of 2007.

Gertrude and Harry Bass lived at 299 Rand Street. We’re not sure of the years, but they probably lived there from the 1930’s to 1960. Harry was a clothing cutter. They had 2 children, Albert Bass (future coach and Dean of Students at Woodrow Wilson High School) and Edith Bass Mackler (married to Edward Mackler). Harry died in 1967; Gertrude died in 1980. Al Bass died in 2008; Edith Bass Mackler died in 2006.

Ilene Mackler, December 13, 2010

305 Rand Street — Employment

10 Help Wanted—Female

HOUSEWORK—General, sleep in, references. Apply 305 Rand St, Camden. Phone 1729-W. — Camden Courier-Post, February 17, 1938

Steal Merchant’s Auto and Cash, Get Only Tin Box From Bus Driver

Three masked men, one with a nickel-plated revolver, held up Edward Rosenfeld, wholesale grocer, as he was backing his car into the garage in the rear of his home, 308 Rand street, last night. They took $12 from his pockets, forced him out of his new machine and drove it away.

Rosenfeld told police the bandits had handkerchief-type masks, but appeared youthful, of medium height.

A short time before two men similarly masked, one also brandishing a nickel-plated revolver, approached Sidney Bauman, of 272 Boyd street, a block distant from the Rosenfeld house as he was putting his car into his garage.

“They told me it was a stickup,” Bauman reported to police, “but I gave them an argument and they turned away and beat it. One was wearing a cap and one a hat. It was hard to get an accurate description in the dark, but they seemed youngish and about five feet five or six.”

At 1:00 AM today a car answering the description of the one stolen from Rosenfeld was used by masked men who held up Edward Heaton, 824 Woodland Avenue, a bus driver, as he was turning in his receipts at the Newton avenue car barn of Public Service.

There were four men in the machine, Heaton told police. Two jumped out, each handkerchief masked and with a revolver, and stood on either side of him. He was carrying a tin box, in which were his change carrier and other articles, but no money. He had placed the receipts in his pockets. The men grabbed the tin box and jumped back into the car, which sped away.

At about the same time two masked men, one with a gun, entered a taproom at 673 Ferry Avenue. Philip Knast, the proprietor, was behind the counter and there were four customers in the place. The masked men moved quickly toward Knast and told him “This is a stick-up.”

He dodged behind the bar and escaped into a room in the rear. One of the bandits then went behind the bar and rifled the cash register, getting between $5 and $6, Knast told police. They fled, apparently on foot.

My daddy, Alexander Wildes of Patti and the Emblems, purchased our home at 375 Rand Street around 1977 or 1978. We lived there until 1995. My most memorable moment, and probably the saddest occasion, was when two little boys who lived across the street (about 480’s) were playing with matches in an abandoned van that was parked in the lot adjacent to 372. The Martin family lived there at the time. The van caught on fire and the oldest brother was able to get out, however the youngest brother — he had to be less than 5 years old — was trapped under a seat and EVERYONE watched and listened in absolute horror as he succumbed to the fire. His brother did everything he could to try to get him out, but it didn’t work. This had to take place in the very early 80’s and made the news on Channel 6.

Monica M. Wildes, MHS — June 2011

Victim Continues Fight Despite Blow on Head From Pistol

Two armed bandits and an accomplice took on a tough job last night when they attempted to hold up Walter J. Brown, 38, of 430 Rand Street.

Brown, a sturdy clerk employed by the T&B Tobacco Company, of Kaighn Avenue near Broadway, slugged one of the holdup men, suffered a gash when slugged by a second, and caused the three thugs to retreat.

In a report to detectives, Brown said he drove his automobile into the garage at the rear of his home and was about to close the doors when he was confronted by a masked man who ordered him to “stick ‘em up.”

Instead, Brown let both fists fly. Thereupon, a second thug appeared and struck Brown with a pistol.

He battled with the pair with his fists and observed a third man appear from behind the garage. So furious was Brown’s attack that the three bandits took to their heels running in the direction of Baird Boulevard.

After summoning Detectives John Trout and John Kaighn, Brown received treatment from a nearby physician.

He described the masked man as five feet six inches in height, weighing about 150 pounds. He wore a tan overcoat, Brown said. The second bandit who wielded the pistol was described as five feet eight inches tall, weighing 140 pounds and wearing a gray overcoat. Brown was unable to give a description of the third man.

My family moved to 237 Morse Street from Philadelphia in the year 1936. My older sister Shirley and I went through the Camden school system. Dudley School, Cramer Elementary and Junior High and then to high school, Shirley going to Woodrow Wilson and I going to Camden High. I graduated in 1952. My father Louis worked for his brother Charlie at Camden Storage Battery Company on Haddon Avenue. Moved from Morse Street to 445 Rand Street in 1944 and then to Boyd Street in 1949. Camden was a wonderful city to grow up in.

Jay Goldberg, April 2011