Introduction
Salem Street runs for just one block, from Ferry Avenue south to Viola Street. Homes first appear in the 1800 block of Salem Street in the 1890–1891 Camden City Directory, and only the homes from 1831 through 1841. There were also homes at 1836, 1838, and 1840 Salem in these years. The residents of Salem Street were almost exclusively of lineage from the British Isles, and worked for the most part in the factories or the nearby waterfront. This would change, as Camden and other American cities became the home of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.
During the 1930s and 1940s the street, like many others in Camden’s Eighth Ward, was the home of many immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and what was then Yugoslavia. All three of these groups in time had social or religious organizations in the neighborhood, such as the Yugoslav Club in the 600 block of Ferry Avenue and St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church across the tracks on Seventh Street. Many also belonged to Church of the Sacred Heart at Broadway and Ferry Avenue.
By 1930 there were only twelve homes on the street, from 1815 to 1837 Salem. Ten of these homes are still standing in 2004. On the opposite side of the street stands a garage, which may at one time have been a stable.
Salem Street — February 20, 2004
Salem Street — February 20, 2004.
1800 Block of Salem Street — 1930
1800 Block of Salem Street — Occupants, 1930
1930 U.S. Census records.
1815 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | Vincent & Justina Suletta (Shipyard Laborer, Croatia) |
| 1930 | Benjamin Sulatta (Operator, dress factory) |
1817 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | Gregory & Mary Torgun (Laborer, paper mill, Russia-Grodno) |
| 1930 | Nicholas & George Torgun |
1819 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | John Duranowitz (Ukrainian) |
1821 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | John & Mary Zamitis (Laborer, paper mill and cigar factory, Lithuania) |
1823 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Mary Powelski |
| 1930 | Ruth Zamitis (Cigar factory) |
1825 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1923 | Isadore Poplowski |
| 1930 | John Keyko (Shipyard machinist, Russian-Poland) |
1827 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | Frank Easley (Hod Carrier, Massachusetts) |
| 1930 | Charles Jackson (Railroad laborer, Georgia) |
1829 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1910 | Mrs. Rose Diboski |
| 1930 | Ignatz Krauch Filinuk (Laborer, paper mill, Russia-Grodno) |
1831 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | Stephen T. & Rose Gritzuk (Laborer, paper mill, Russia-Grodno) |
| 1930 | Edna Gritzuk (Teacher) |
1833 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | Joseph & Mary Chepelevitch (Helper, licorice works, Ukraine) |
| 1930 | Stanley & Anna Chepelevitch (Stage Builder) |
1835 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | John & Mary Thompson (Mirror maker, Lithuania) |
| 1930 | Andrew & Anna Pilkonis (Plumber, Pennsylvania, Lithuanian parents) |
1837 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1930 | Andrew & Mary Melnychuk (Laborer, Ukraine) |
| 1945 | Mrs. Helen Benevento, widow of PFC Daniel Benevento |
On March 9, 1932 Spiro Cecich, 37, of 1815 Salem Street, was fatally injured in an explosion at the Public Service Gas Company. Burned over his entire body, he died on March 11th.
Related: Games Wanted — 1815 Salem Street (George Suleta), 1932.
Related: Injured Man May Be Hold-Up Victim — 1823 Salem Street (Mary Powelski), 1913.
Related: Four-Year-Old Girl Sees Mother Slain — 1824 Salem Street (Melina De Grassi), 1919.
Related: Isadore Poplowski — 1825 Salem Street, 1923.
Related: 2 Seized in Thefts From Freight Cars — 1828 Salem Street (Daniel Paulk), 1936.
Related: Mrs. Rose Diboski — 1829 Salem Street, 1910.
Related: Daniel Benevento — 1837 Salem Street, 1945.
1800 Block of Salem Street — 1947
1800 Block of Salem Street — Occupants, 1947
City directory records, 1947.
1815 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Michael & Elizabeth E. Filinuk (Saw operator) |
| 1930–1932 | Vincent Suletta & Family |
1817 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Joseph & Evelyn Murray (Mechanic) |
| 1947 | Joseph A. Murray |
1819 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Alex R. & Mary Patrych (Helper) |
| 1947 | Eleanor Patrych (Office Secretary, Hatch Junior High School) |
1821 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | John & Mary Zamitis (Helper) |
1823 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Paul & Helen Andrews |
1825 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Dominic & Elizabeth DiPetro |
1827 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Mrs. Bessie Angelo |
1828 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1936 | Daniel Paulk |
1829 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Harry H. & Eva Filinuk (Helper) |
1831 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Stephen T. & Rose Gritzuk (Foreman) |
| 1947 | Edna Gritzuk (Teacher) |
1833 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Joseph & Mary Chepelevitch (Helper) |
| 1947 | Stanley & Anna Chepelevitch (Stage Builder) |
| early 1970s | Chepelevitch family (last listing) |
1835 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Charles Kowstyski |
1837 Salem Street
| Year ↕ | Name ↕ |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Andrew & Mary Melnychuk |
Injured Man May Be Hold-Up Victim
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Suffering from contusions of the side, Walclow Chinelewski, 22 years old of 1037 Liberty street, was sent to the Cooper Hospital late last night and the police are investigating his story of an alleged holdup at Vanhook street and the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad tracks. Chinelewski declared to the gateman at the railroad crossing that two men held him up and robbed him of $146. He did not give up the money without resistance and he alleges the footpads beat him. It had been learned by the police that Chinelewski is betrothed to Mary Powelski, 19 years old, of 1823 Salem street.
Four-Year-Old Girl Sees Mother Slain
Camden Post-Telegram & Philadelphia Inquirer – March 1–12, 1919
Italian Woman Murdered by Boarder in Quarrel Over Evening Meal.
Slayer Tries to Commit Suicide
While her four-year-old daughter Mary looked on in horror, Mrs. Melina De Grassi, aged 32 years, was stabbed to death last night in the kitchen of her home at 1824 Salem street, by Gaetono Li Paolo, 28 years old.
Four-Year-Old Sees Her Mother Murdered
Then Witnesses Murderer Attempt to Take Own Life
Little 4-year-old Mary Graffi, who lived with her mother at 1824 Salem street, Camden, stood in the doorway of the room last night and saw Gaetano Lipaolo, her mother’s paramour, stab the woman to death with a butcher’s knife and then cut his own throat and stab himself twice.
Melina Graffi, aged 32, the murdered woman, is said to have deserted her husband in Philadelphia and to have been living with Lipaolo in Camden. She had two children by Graffi.
Last evening she came over to Philadelphia and had a talk with her husband. Returning to Camden, she aroused Lipaolo’s jealousy and the butcher’s knife came into play with the results above described.
Lipaolo was found lying across the body of the woman, who was quite dead when the neighbors, attracted by the child’s cries, entered. The man was taken to Cooper Hospital, where it is stated his injuries are so bad he can hardly recover.
Bury Slain Woman In Potter’s Field
Slain two weeks ago in her own home by Gaetono Li Paolo, a boarder, Mrs. Melina De Grassi, 32 years old, of 1832 Salem street, was buried this morning in Potter’s Field by Morgue Keeper Melvin Cain.
There were no mourners present. The two little children of the dead woman were not at the grave, only Undertaker Cain and his assistant being present. The woman was attired in the clothes she wore when murdered.
Nobody claimed the body and it had to be buried at the county’s expense. Undertaker Cain exerted every effort to locate the dead woman’s relatives but none were found. The children are said to be in care of their father in Philadelphia.
Li Paolo, the murderer, is in Cooper Hospital. He is recovering from self-inflicted stab wounds made in an attempt at suicide after he stabbed the woman to death in full view of her four-year-old child. The woman, it is said, eloped with a friend of her husband’s and they were located in this city. Several weeks later the woman had a quarrel with her husband’s “friend” and they separated. She then took Li Paolo as a boarder. She formed the acquaintance of Li Paolo while he was working as a section hand along the tracks of the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad near the Salem street address.
Say Man Confesses Killing Woman
Philadelphia Inquirer —
In a statement made yesterday to Prosecutor Wolverton at Cooper Hospital, Gaetono Li Paolo declared that he murdered Mrs. Melina De Grassi in fear that the woman would harm him with a knife which he asserts she had picked from a table. Horrified when he realized that his stiletto had killed the woman, the Italian stabbed himself in the breast and slashed his throat. Although his lung is punctured and his windpipe nicked, Li Paolo was in fairly good condition yesterday and there is a chance for his recovery. The double tragedy was enacted at the woman’s home, at 1824 Salem street, where Li Paolo boarded, and followed a quarrel over the woman’s failure to have the boarder’s supper ready when he returned from work.
Isadore Poplowski
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Isadore Poplowski (Suicide Identified)
Buried on Thursday in New Camden cemetery, the body of Isadore Poplowski, a suicide, was exhumed yesterday and identified by Clayton Stormfeltz, of 1243 Van Hook street, as the man who stabbed him in the abdomen last Friday night. Polpawski was 35 years old, and lived at 1825 Salem street. His body was found hanging to the limb of a tree at Oaklyn on Tuesday night, and it is the belief of Detective Charles Whaland that he ended his life on the night of the stabbing in fear that he had killed his victim. When the body was found it was in a badly decomposed state, and had been hanging to the tree for several days.
Stormfeltz was stabbed while conversing with friends in a store at 623 Ferry avenue. Not until after the body of Poplawski was buried were the police advised that the suicide was the man for whom they were looking.
Stormfeltz is a foreman at a factory where Poplawski was formerly employed. Police say there was no provocation for the stabbing. Poplowski drawing the knife and lunging at Stormfeltz as he passed from the store. The injury inflicted was slight.
Mrs. Rose Diboski
Philadelphia Inquirer —
A commotion was created in Squire Thompson’s court yesterday when Mrs. Rose Diboski, of 1829 Salem street, had an attack of heart disease after a complaint charging her with disorderly conduct had been read. She was taken to her home.
Daniel Benevento
Headstone Inscription and Interment Record – 1945
Private First Class Daniel Benevento, PFC 253rd Infantry, 63rd Division, New Jersey. Killed April 7, 1945. Buried at St. Avold American Cemetery, Lorraine, France. Next of kin: Helen O. Benevento (wife), 1837 Salem Street, Camden, N.J.
2 Seized in Thefts From Freight Cars
Camden Courier-Post —
Companion Held for Failure to Obey Criminal Registration Act
Two men, arrested for breaking into and robbing boxcars in Camden, will be arraigned today before Police Judge Lewis Liberman, as will a third man arrested at the same time charged with failing to comply with a city ordinance requiring criminals to register with police.
Clyde Thomas, 23, of 117 New street, Philadelphia, and Daniel Paulk, 21, 1828 Salem street, both Negroes, were picked up in the city freight yards by Sergt. Joseph Tully and George Smith, railroad detectives, and turned over to Detective Gus Fortune at headquarters.
Fortune said both admitted breaking the seal on a car on the Van Hook street cutoff on September 15 and stealing two mattresses valued at $60 and selling them to a second-hand store for $6 and taking a 700-bale of rags from a car yesterday worth $21.
Arrested with them was Lucius Robinson, 21, 983 Ferry avenue, who has failed to register with police, Fortune declared.
Railroad Car Looters Get Stiff Jail Terms
Camden Courier-Post —
Police Judge Lewis Liberman yesterday handed out two of the stiffest terms since he went on the bench when he sentenced two thieves to a total of one year each in jail.
The prisoners are Daniel Paulk, 21, of 1828 Salem street, and Clyde Thomas, 23, of 117 New street, Philadelphia. After their arrest by railroad detectives for loitering, they admitted stealing and selling two bundles of mattresses and several bales of rags from a railroad freight car on Van Hook street near Seventh, Sept. 17.
Judge Liberman sentenced them to six months on each count, the sentences to run consecutively.
Lucius Robinson, 21, of 903 Ferry avenue, arrested with Paulk and Thomas, was exonerated of the thefts, but despite a record of 18 arrests he had not listed himself with the bureau of criminal registration and was sentenced to six months for that.
Detective Gus Fortune, who obtained the confessions from Paulk and Thomas, said he will arrest the person who purchased the stolen goods from them.
Blast at Purifying Plant Killing 14 P.S. Workers Is Held Unpreventable
Camden Courier-Post —
Prosecutor, Coroner and Officials of Company Say Spontaneous Combustion Probably Caused Tragedy—All But One of 4 Injured Are Out of Danger
Although they had not reached an official decision, investigators today were unanimous in their belief that spontaneous combustion probably caused the explosion in the purifying plant of Public Service Electric and Gas Company, Locust and Cherry streets, which cremated 14 workmen and burned four others yesterday.
Prosecutor Clifford A. Baldwin said today that Lawrence T. Doran, chief of county detectives, still was questioning witnesses, but so far as can be determined, spontaneous combustion was responsible for the tragedy.
Baldwin said that it also was possible sawdust used in the purifying process had somehow been ignited. “While the sawdust was smouldering,” he said, “one of the 19 men may have removed one of the plates at the bottom of the tank. It was windy yesterday and an inrush of air might have fanned the fire into a real blaze.”
Saw ‘Little Fire’
This would bear out a statement by Rudolph Walker, 37, colored, of 718 South Second street, the only one of the workmen to escape unscathed. He said he saw a “little fire” burning in one corner of the tank and climbed out a moment before the explosion.
Coroner Benjamin R. Denny likewise thought spontaneous combustion was the cause. “We will hold an inquest unless the prosecutor and I can determine definitely that this tragedy was not accidental,” he said. “As far as we have learned, it was just an unfortunate accident, probably due to spontaneous combustion.”
The same theory was advanced by Public service officials. The following statement was issued by Walter F. Allen, director of publicity, at his office in Newark.
“The cause of the explosion has not been learned definitely, but it is believed to have been due to spontaneous combustion.”
Meanwhile, physicians at Cooper Hospital reported that all but one of the injured are out of danger. The man whose condition still is critical is Spiro Cecich, 37, of 1815 Salem street, who suffered burns over his entire body.
Five hours were required to remove the horribly distorted bodies from the tank. At first firemen were unable to descend into the tank because of gas fumes and most of the bodies were taken out by use of a block and tackle.
15th Victim Dies in Gas Plant Blast
Camden Courier-Post —
Funerals Held Today for Four of Men Killed in Explosion
With the death toll in Wednesday’s gas blast disaster increased to 15, bereaved families of the victims began today to bury their dead.
Spiro Cecich, 37, of 1815 Salem street, who was burned all over his body when he was trapped in the purifying tank of the Public Service Electric & Gas Co. at Locust and Cherry streets, died last night in Cooper Hospital. He never regained consciousness.
The first of the victims to be buried was Nunzio Ferraro, 51, of 1131 South Fourth street. Services were held this afternoon in a funeral parlor at Fourth and Division streets. Interment was in New Camden Cemetery. Benediction was said in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church.
Following the funeral of Ferraro, services were conducted in the same place for Lorenzo Carcione, who lived at the southwest corner of Third and Spruce streets. After benediction at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Curcione was buried in Calvary Cemetery.
Later, services were held in a funeral establishment at 1135 Kaighn avenue for Farrell Coleman, 44, colored, of Second and Pine streets, and George Williams, 33, colored, 277 Sycamore street. Both were buried in Mt. Peace Cemetery, Lawnside.
Games Wanted
Camden Courier-Post —
Chelton A. C. is anxious to arrange home games for Tuesdays and Thursdays and away games for Saturdays and Sundays with teams such as Almonesson, Glendora, Barrington and other clubs of similar calibre. Roland Bradford, 1818 South Sixth street.
Danica A. C. wishes to schedule games with second class teams in South Jersey. George Suleta, 1815 Salem street, Camden.
Tenth Ward Republican Club, a first class team, playing home on Wednesdays and away over the weekend, is anxious to arrange games with clubs in South Jersey. The club is fully uniformed. Ray Dolan, Tenth Ward Republican Club, Fifth and Pearl streets.
Mohawk is anxious to book tilts either at home or away with second class uniformed teams in Camden and South Jersey. Perry Stubbs, 416 Hunter street, Gloucester.
Sterling A. C. desires to arrange home and away games with 14-16-year-old clubs in this locality. Albert Flacco, 332 Viola street.
Walt Whitman, of the Camden Minor League, wishes to arrange away games for Saturday and Sunday with first class taems [sic] in South Jersey. Ed Scheflen, Camden 8557.
Haddonfield of the Lower Camden County League desires to arrange an away game Sunday with any first-class club in South Jersey offering a fair guarantee. Hubert Connell, 628 Elm street, Camden. Call C2431-R. after 9 p. m.
‘POYNTERS’ SEEK TILTS
The Pyne Poynt A. A., of the Reesman Twilight League, is anxious to obtain games for Saturdays and Sundays either at home or away. For games call Ed Myers, 1881-W.
SHAMROCKS SIGN ONE
The Shamrock club of the Camden Amateur League added Joseph McDermott to its roster last night, while at the same time turned in the release for George Perks.
Danica A. C. Wants Games
Camden Courier-Post —
Danica A. C. would like to schedule games with second class uniformed teams in South Jersey. Danica plays at home twilight and Saturday and travels on Sunday. George DuPeta, 1815 Salem street, Camden.