Mural

Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial

The Battleship New Jersey is docked at the Camden waterfront and is a highly popular visitor attraction. The New Jersey is America’s most decorated battleship and surviving warship. Made at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and launched in 1942, the New Jersey saw action in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Lebanese Civil War (1983-84), and was briefly in service in the Persian Gulf (1989-1990). In 1999, the ship was transferred to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for restoration work before being donated to the Home Port Alliance of Camden for use as a floating museum.

Since its opening in 2000, visitors to the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial can fully explore the massive ship as they climb ladders, step through passageways, and move in tight spaces as sailors and officers once did. Overnight encampments at the museum are highly popular for groups. Participants sleep in original berths and eat in the mess decks while learning about a sailor’s life on board.

The Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial is open for visitors with a seasonal schedule. Check the website (link)for opening times, admission prices, and special programs before your visit.

Camden City Hall

Located at 520 Market Street, Camden City Hall is a civic landmark and government hub. The tallest building in the city, it is jointly owned by the City of Camden and Camden County. The structure is built in a restrained Art Deco style and made of light gray granite. It has a six-story high base and a 371-foot tall, 18-floor slender tower at its center. Construction of City Hall Camden began in 1929 and was completed in 1931. It was designed by Camden architects Alfred Green and Byron Edwards. Their firm, Green and Edwards, built other notable New Jersey and Camden buildings, including the Chalcar Apartments at 218-222 Cooper Street in the Cooper Street Historic District and the Cape May County Courthouse and Jail. Today over 300,000 people use this handsome building each year.

Camden and Amboy Railroad

The New Jersey Legislature chartered the Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company (C&A) in February 1830. C&A was the first railroad in New Jersey, and only the third in the United States. It provided passenger service between Philadelphia and New York City. The C&A was the first railroad to be conceived primarily as a passenger railroad, and the first to employ steam locomotives to replace horse powered vehicles on rails. In 1831, the C&A first purchased and operated what is now the oldest surviving operable steam locomotive in the world, the John Bull.

The 61-mile Camden and Amboy line was completed in late 1834. Camden was used as the railroad terminal in the winter, when ice on the Delaware River prevented steamboats from moving passengers from Philadelphia to Bordentown to catch the train north to South Amboy. Passengers then took another steamboat into lower Manhattan. Several sections of the original C&A track are still in use today as part of Amtrak’s North East Corridor.

Campbell's Soup Company

The Joseph Campbell Preserve Company was founded in 1868 when fruit merchant Joseph Campbell and icebox manufacturer Abraham Anderson formed a business canning tomato, jellies, condiments, mincemeat, and vegetables. In 1897, Dr. John T. Dorrance, a chemist, invented condensed soup, a process that removed water from canned soup while retaining its nutrients and flavor. The process lowered the cost for packaging, shipping, and storage, thus enabling the familiar red and white Campbell’s can to become commonplace in American kitchens.

In 1904, the Campbell Kids first appeared in a series of trolley car advertisements. Around the same time, the first print advertisement for Campbell’s appeared in a magazine. In the 1930s, Campbell’s began sponsoring radio ads with its now famous “M’m, M’m Good!” jingle. By 1962, the Campbell Soup can had become such an embodiment of American life, that artist Andy Warhol memorialized it in numerous pieces of his artwork. Today, the Campbell’s Soup Company is a multinational food company headquartered in Camden, NJ with sales over $8 billion annually.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

This handsome and well-maintained Gothic Revival building was built as the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It is the work of Jeremiah O’Rourke, a prominent New Jersey architect who built Roman Catholic churches and several federal post offices while he was U.S. Supervising Architect from 1893-94. Made of Trenton brownstone, the church sanctuary was completed in 1866. By 1869 the church had purchased the remainder of the property on the block bounded by Broadway, Federal, Seventh, and Market Streets. The church tower, sacristy, vestibules, and stained glass were all added by 1886. The Catholic parish grew rapidly, and a rectory, school and convent were completed on the grounds during the same era. In 1937, the church became the cathedral for the new Archdiocese of Camden. This property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Cooper University Hospital

Cooper Hospital was founded in 1877 to provide medical care for the low-income population of Camden and was a gift from the Cooper family. Doctors began treating patients the same year in the original stone hospital building. By 1890, a nursing school was added to the hospital. Other buildings were constructed to expand care in the 20th century. By 1961, Cooper was the largest hospital in the state.

As the hospital grew, it chose to stay in Camden. Its aging buildings were replaced, and the campus expanded. The old stone hospital was demolished, and the ten story Keleman Building was constructed in its place in 1979. In the 21st century, the hospital partnered with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX to create the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. The hospital also launched the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and graduated its first medical school class in 2016. Today, the Cooper University Health System is one of the largest employers in the city with more than 7,000 employees. Cooper operates more than 100 community-based outpatient offices and four urgent care centers to serve the health care needs of South Jersey.

Delaware River Bridge/Benjamin Franklin Bridge

A suspension bridge between Camden and Philadelphia had been a long-sought dream for area civic boosters. World War I’s massive number of commuters to war industry jobs in Camden made the antiquated ferry system a constant struggle for employers and employees alike. As the popularity of private automobiles grew, car ferries between Camden and Philadelphia could not keep up with demand, and lines of cars would back up the streets on both sides of the river waiting to board the ferries.

After World War I ended in 1919, both New Jersey and Pennsylvania formed a joint commission to plan and build the Delaware River Bridge. This handsome bridge was constructed by Ralph Modjeski and designed by Paul Philippe Cret and Leon Moissieff. When the $45 million bridge opened in 1926 after four years of construction, it was the longest single span suspension bridge in the world. The name was changed to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in 1956.

Kaighn's Point Ferry Terminal

This handsome steamboat ferry house was built in 1880, at the foot of Ferry Street which is now Kaighn Avenue at the Delaware River. The ferry went from Kaighn’s Point in Camden to South Philadelphia, with a Philadelphia terminal first on Washington Avenue and then located on South Street. During the 19th Century, this ferry terminal in Camden was part of a complex of buildings with varied uses including a hotel, tavern/saloons and beer garden, other industries and a thriving residential neighborhood along Kaighn Avenue.

On May 29, 1889, the Atlantic City Railway Company, a subsidiary of the Reading Railroad, was authorized to lay tracks to connect with the ferry at Kaighn’s Point to their large railroad network. The ferry terminal here saw much use. After fire completely destroyed the original ferry house in 1914, it was replaced with a temporary structure. In 1924, a new ferry and railroad terminal were completed, just two years before the opening of the new Delaware River Bridge between Camden and Philadelphia. While the ferries were still used for a few years after the bridge opened, they eventually became obsolete and closed.

Longhouses or Wigwams

The Lenni Lenape lived in wigwams, or round-ended long houses, that were divided into units for several families. These houses were covered in bark, which was woven through upright poles and layered like shingles to create walls. Roofs were covered with leaves and grasses resting on bent poles, creating an arched shape. Animal hides were used as doors on either end to hold in the warmth from fireplaces located in the center of the dwelling. A hole in the roof over the fireplace allowed smoke to escape.

New York Shipbuilding Company of South Camden

Camden’s largest shipbuilding assembly plant was located at the intersection of Newton Creek and Delaware River in South Camden. Sprawling over more than 100 acres, the New York Shipbuilding Company built a series of long brick sheds to house the revolutionary “mold loft template system for fabrication of steel hulls” invented by the yard’s founder, Henry G. Morse. According to sources, “powerful overhead cranes rushed the prefabricated structures to the shipways for final assembly.”

The company signed its first shipbuilding contract in June 1900 at this location. Morse secured 19 other contracts before his death in 1903. The Emergency Fleet Corporation directed an accelerated ship building program during WWI. For the S.S. Tuckahoe, a collier ship designed to haul bulk shipments of coal, the company set a world record for complete fabrication of an ocean-going ship in 28 days. Men worked around the clock to fill orders for warships, merchantmen, tankers, and patrol boats. During WWII, the shipyard employed more than 33,000 men and women. The shipyard, lacking new naval orders, filed for bankruptcy in 1968. The site is part of the Port of Camden today.

RCA Victor Talking Machine Company

In 1901, Eldridge Johnson incorporated the Victor Talking Machine Company. He purchased Emile Berliner’s Talking Machine Company in 1906 and continued to develop new sound reproduction and assembly line methods. Performers such as Enrico Caruso, the famous opera star, came to the Victor Talking Machine Company recording studios in Camden to cut records. The enterprise grew quickly, and by WWI had over 7,000 employees working in Camden across dozens of buildings. After Johnson sold his company in 1926 and became a philanthropist, the company had 30 buildings in Camden and employed 13,000 workers. New executives from the Radio Corporation of America introduced additional product lines, and the creation of the combined RCA-Victor Company in 1930 gave Camden the designation “Radio Capital of the World.”

Rutgers Camden

The roots of Rutgers Camden begin in 1926 with the opening of the South Jersey Law School and the College of South Jersey. In 1950, these two schools merged with Rutgers University and became its Camden campus. The university originally offered classes for a comprehensive liberal arts education at the bachelor’s level and added master’s level classes in 1981. A nationally accredited business school and nursing school were also added. Today, 7,200 undergraduate students are enrolled at Rutgers Camden, and 1,355 employees work throughout the sprawling campus.

St. Bartholomew's Roman Catholic Church

St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church began as a mission of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for the Black community on March 25, 1940 when it created a chapel in the former Masonic Lodge building on Kaighn Avenue. When the parish was founded, there were 17,000 Blacks living in Camden, but only 100 were Roman Catholic. The founding priest, Father Hanley, established a parish school three years later in the upper floors of the Masonic Lodge and enlisted sisters from Blessed Sacrament to teach first through third grade. The parish continued to grow, and by 1947 a new yellow brick chapel was constructed at 751 Kaighn Avenue.

St. Bartholomew’s parish joined with St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Joan of Arc as parish consolidation occurred throughout the 21st century. It is now part of Sacred Heart parish. The Kaighn Avenue church is still used for worship. The parish says about itself that “we are a community of communities celebrating our Catholic identity from the Hispanic, African American, and ’woke’ White American cultural contexts.” St. Bartholomew Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in August 2020.

St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church, School and Rectory

St Joseph’s Church, School and Rectory have anchored the Polish community in the Whitman Park neighborhood since Polish Catholics were first granted permission to set up a parish manned by Polish priests and following Polish customs in the 1870s. It took several decades to accomplish this goal.

The school was built first in 1895 at 10th and Liberty Streets, which housed a church on the second floor and classrooms on the first floor. The school was designed by noted Philadelphia architect Edward Forrest Durang. The parishioners themselves excavated the foundation in order to reduce the cost to $15,000. This building is now used as a Parish Hall.

Further growth in the parish led to the construction of a handsome new church with an especially fine interior, designed by Philadelphia architect George I. Lovatt, Sr. in 1914. Lovatt also designed alterations to the adjacent school to increase the number of classrooms.

A $750,000 fundraising campaign began in 2003 to restore the exterior and interior of the church. The church is open for tours on the second Saturday of each month November through May. Be sure to visit the “Szopka,” the automated Nativity Scene, permanently installed in the School building.

The Center for Aquatic Sciences at the Adventure Aquarium

The mission of the Center for Aquatic Sciences is “education and youth development through promoting the understanding, appreciation, and protection of aquatic life and habitats.” The Center’s educational programming aims to foster a personal connection to aquatic life and water resources, highlighting the importance of conservation. The Center serves families in Camden through informal science education programs like community kayak trips on the Delaware and Cooper Rivers, the Virtually Camden web portal, and the CAUSE (Community and Urban Science Education) youth development program. The Center also provides students in the tri-state area with both in-person and virtual outreach programming on topics ranging from animal habitats to marine science careers. This programming includes year-round teen science experiences, summer camps, and afterschool clubs. The Center, in partnership with Adventure Aquarium, provides on-site classes, tours, and a robust volunteer program to serve the 900,000 annual Adventure Aquarium visitors.

To explore more about educational programs at the Center or to learn more about the Adventure Aquarium, open hours for visitors, admissions, reservations, and special exhibits, visit the website.

Windmill and Smith Islands

Windmill and Smith Islands were once one long, thin island located in the middle of the Delaware River. As soon as ferry service began in the 17th century, the island proved to be a barrier to the movement of people and commerce between Philadelphia and Camden. During the early 19th century, the island was built up as a recreational site with manicured gardens and swimming beaches. In 1836, J. W. Mickle bought a portion of the island in order to cut a canal through it to make ferry passage easier. By then, the top section of the island was called Windmill Island, and the lower part was named Smith Island. Because ferry size increased significantly by the later 19th century, the canal was only usable during high tide. The Army Corps of Engineers dredged the river in 1898 and deposited what remained of Windmill and Smith Islands at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, then in the midst of expansion. Today no remnants remain of these islands in the Delaware River.

Yorkship Village/Fairview Historic District

During WWI, The Emergency Fleet Corporation collaborated with the New York Shipbuilding Company and Pusey and Jones Shipbuilding Company to build housing for the thousands of shipyard workers in South Camden and Gloucester City, NJ. The government and New York Shipbuilding purchased 140 acres and hired noted New York architect Electus D. Litchfield to design Yorkship Village, a planned community in South Camden. Employing the British “garden city” concept intended to relieve overcrowded industrial cities, Litchfield laid out a village organized around a central square. Commercial shops and over 1,000 brick and stucco homes, including row, detached, duplex and apartment units, were organized in concentric circles around the central square. In 1918, the tract was annexed to the City of Camden. “We did not expect to create a New Utopia,” Litchfield explained, “but we did have to produce a community for the development of a true American citizenship.”