History of Camden, New Jersey, USA

Camden, a city, port of delivery, and seat of justice of Camden county, New Jersey, is situated on a plain on the left bank of the Delaware river, immediately opposite to Philadelphia, with which it is connected by means of 5 steam ferries. By railroad it is 32 miles S. S. W. from Trenton ; 87 miles S. W. from New York, and 9 miles N. from Woodbury. The Absecom railroad, extending from this place to Absecom Beach, is now (1853) nearly completed. The city is regularly laid out with streets intersecting each other at right angles, and contains many fine dwellings, especially in the north ward. The public buildings are a court house, recently erected, a bank, 2 extensive railroad depots, and 10 churches, viz. 2 Episcopal, 2 Presbyterian, 2 Baptist, 2 Methodist, and 2 Friends. The court house, in which are apartments occupied as a jail, is a roughcast edifice with iron columns. In Camden there are 2 literary associations and a mutual insurance company ; also 3 saw mills, 2 iron foundries. ...

One of the most terrible tornadoes that have visited this part of the country for years, occurred yesterday afternoon, about quarter-past three o'clock, near Camden, New Jersey, completely destroying the large chemical works of Messrs. Potts and Klett, killing three men and injuring several others.

The building is situated on Cooper's creek, on the Haddonfield road, about one mile north of Camden, had just been completed, and was pronounced by experienced architects to be perfectly safe. It was two hundred feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and two stories high. It was built of brick, the walls being twenty two inches thick, had pilasters both outside and inside to add additional strength and was covered with slate, and had a little gallery running around its roof - in fact, everything had been done to render it one of the most durable, as well as one of the most complete establishments in the country.
At the time the tornado occurred, Messrs. Potts and Klett, and the book keeper,...

...The shock in Camden, N. J., lasted about ten seconds and created considerable alarm. Every large building in the city was rocked, and bells were rung in every section. At Berkley and Third streets the residents of the houses thought they were falling, and rushed into the streets screaming for their lives...

Camden, a city and port of entry, capital of Camden co., N.J., on the Delaware River, opposite Philadelphia, to which it is connected by five lines of steam ferry-boats. It stands upon nearly level ground, its river-front extending from Cooper's Creek on the north to Newton Creek on the south, the latter separating it from Gloucester City. Cooper's Creek is £ beyond the city limits. Cam; den is a terminus of the Camden & Amboy, Camden & Burlington County, Camden & Atlantic, Philadelphia & Atlantic City, West Jersey, and Camden, Gloucester & Mt. Ephraim Railroads. It has 31 churches, a city hall, county buildings, a hospital, a children's home, a colored orphanage, a dispensary, 2 national banks, a trust and savings fund, and 4 daily and 3 weekly newspapers. Its streets are laid out at right angles, and there are lines of street railway. Camden is the seat of varied manufacture', having seven iron-foundries (among them some of the largest class), 22 boot- and shoe-factories, 6...

Camden, N.J., May 24. - Three persons were killed and 10 others were injured, two of them probably fatally, by an explosion in the factory of the Independent Fireworks Company, on the outskirts of this city.

The dead are:
SIMON PERADAZZO, aged 18 years.
JOSEPH LOGOLLA, aged 16 years.
ANDRAE ORVILLA, aged 17 years.

Those believed to be fatally injured are MICHAEL SCALONA, aged 52 years, and LENARDO PINTO, aged 45 years, both of this city.

Robert T. Weser, of Philadelphia, president of the company, and Joseph Scalona, vice-president, were arrested and held in $1500 bail to await the action of the coroner. Warrants have been issued for certain other officers of the concern.

The plant consists of a two-story brick store house and four frame sheds, one of which is used for mixing the explosive composition placed in the fireworks. The explosion occurred in this department. The cause of the accident is yet to be positively determined. The theory of the workmen is that Michael...

(By Associated Press.)
Camden, N. J., Dec. 27. - Three persons were killed and seventeen injured in a collision on the elevated tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad just outside the station here today, with a Pemberton accommodation train ran into the rear of an Atlantic City express. A heavy fog was the principal cause of the accident.

The dead are:
C. H. BROWN, Moorestown.
J. L. GARBARINI, Mt. Holly.
T. K. WEBSTER, Merchantville.

The injured are:
ROBERT CLARKE, Merchantville, contused chest and legs and ears cut.
CARL PIGGETT, Merchantville, slightly hurt.
HOWARD STREET, Merchantville, bruised.
J. K. MENDENHALL, Hines Port, N. J., badly hurt.
W. H. ABBEY, Mount Holly, slightly injured.
WM. MASON, Mount Holly, badly hurt.
SAMUEL DOBBINS, Mount Holly, slightly injured.
A. H. MULFORD, Merchantville, badly injured.
BERNARD STEWARD, Merchantville, badly injured.
HARRY D. SNYDER, Merchantville, chest hurt.
WM. DIX, Merchantville, hand cut.
H. J. COOPER, Mount Holly,...

Philadelphia, April 2. - Two women were fatally injured, scores of houses were unroofed and more than twenty-five were completely demolished by a wind storm of cyclonic velocity which passed over that portion of Camden known as Cooper's Point, and swept down the Delaware river to the center of the city, doing thousands of dollars worth of property damage.

Tonight Camden is in utter darkness, all the electric lights having been turned off, and the streets in the northern section of that city are piled high with debris and telegraph poles.

Mrs. Annie Cleary of Camden and Miss Annie Behrend of Philadelphia, who were riding in a street car in Camden, were caught beneath a building which was demolished by the storm and both were so badly crushed that the physicians at the hospital say that neither can recover.

In the section of Camden where the storm was most severe, entire blocks of dwellings were unroofed and the occupants crowded in abject terror, not knowing which way to turn...