CAMDEN NEW JERSEY

BROADWAY TRUST
also known as
BROADWAY MERCHANTS TRUST
938-944 Broadway

Left:

The
Broadway Trust Company
Building

1926

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The Broadway Trust Company building was built prior to World War I. The architect was Phillip Merz who was based in Rochester NY and the building was constructed by the J. Henry Miller Co. of Baltimore MD, who also built the building which would become the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's third home in Washington DC, and the Bank of America Building in Baltimore MD.  

The Broadway Trust Company was led by John J. Burleigh, one of the leading businessmen in South Jersey from the 1870s through World War I. William J. Cooper, who owned a business at 215-221 Kaighn Avenue selling doors windows and moldings, served as one vice president; the other was Anthony Kobus, who was in the shoe business at South 4th and Spruce StreetsAdam Schlorer, the owner of a large meat business at South 8th & Chestnut Streets, was also one of the original organizers.

According to the city directories John J. Burleigh was president of the bank through 1916. Anthony Kobus succeeded him until he passed away in 1920. Later principal officers included Judge John B. Kates and Cramer Hill bottler John Schimpf.  Also connected with the bank during the 1910s was T. Yorke Smith.

On October 5, 1920 Broadway Trust's bank messenger, David S. Paul, mysteriously disappeared while carrying tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and securities. His body was found on October 16 at Irick's Crossing, near Tabernacle in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. He had been kidnapped, murdered and robbed by two acquaintances, Frank J. James and Raymond Schuck, who were tried and convicted of his murder. They were executed in New Jersey's electric chair on August 30, 1921.

During the 1920s a series of mergers occurred among the smaller banks of Camden. The relatively small Broadway Trust attempted to keep pace with its larger competitors by absorbing the Merchants Trust, a small bank at Broadway and Carman Street that catered to Camden's business community. By 1927 a small satellite branch was open at Mount Ephraim Avenue at Jackson Street. However, after the stock market crash  of 1929 as the country slipped into the Depression many small banks failed across the country. The Broadway Merchants Trust survived 1930 as evidenced by the stock certificate shown below but closed shortly afterwards.  

The building hasn't functioned as a bank since it closed. In recent years it has been used as a church. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The
Broadway Trust Company

1915 Advertisement

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Patriotic Sons of America Banquet Program Ad - 19195

Bank Directory - March-December 1916

Broadway Trust Company
Broadway below Walnut St. Camden, N.
J. 

J
. J. BURLEIGH President
ANTHONY KOBUS Vice President - WM. J. COOPER Vice President
BURLEIGH H. DRAPER Secretary and Treasurer 

Directors:

John J. Burleigh        

William Mills 

Dr. S G. Bushey         

Anthony J. Oberst 

Ralph D. Childrey         

John Wesley Sell 

Robert H. Comey         

Dr. Marvin A. Street 

William J. Cooper      

Wilbert L. Sweeten

George A. Frey          

Edward B. Stone

Albert Fogg         

Adam Schlorer

Frederick Grant         

Bernhard F. Schroeder

John B. Kates         

Edward Schuster Jr. 

Dr. Grant E. Kirk     

John O. Wilson

Anthony Kobus

 

Condition of Bank - March 7, 1916

Broadway Trust
1919 Camden High School Purple & Gold Yearbook Ad

Philadelphia Inquirer - October 7, 1921

Judge Frank T. Lloyd
Alban Eavenson
Belford G. Royal
Francis Ford Patterson Jr.
Charles H. Ellis
David Baird Sr.
L.A. Hawkes
Frank S. Van Hart
John Prentice
Burleigh B. Draper
A.C. Dorrance
William S. Darnell
C.W. Tomlinson
James V. Moran
Rev. Thomas J. Whelen
L.D. Johnson
Rev. Charles B. Dubell
Elmer Ellsworth Long

Mrs. A. Haines Lippincott

Mrs. W. Penn Corson
Mrs. Harry Pelouze
William E. Bennett

Eavenson & Levering

Hunt Pen Company

Esterbrook Pen Company

Broadway Trust Company

R.M. Hollinshed Company

Hurley Store

Church of the Holy Name

St. John's Episcopal Church

Munger & Long

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1923 Camden High School
Purple & Gold Yearbook Ad

Broadway Trust - 1925

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Photo by George A. Wonfor

Left:

Broadway Merchants
 Trust
Company

This brass disc has a felt 
back. I believe it was a 
paperweight commemorating 
the 1926 Sesquicentennial.

1928 Camden High School
Purple & Gold Yearbook Ad

Stock certificate issued to J. Russell Jensen on December 16, 1930.

Camden Courier-Post - March 29, 1930

Camden Courier-Post * June 11, 1932
...continued...
Lewis Liberman - Edward Borden - Ralph W.E. Donges - Lewis Starr -Harry M. Schierer
Patrick H. Harding - Robert J. Kearns -
William Morgenweck - Isaac Van Sciver
H. Schoemer - Julius Burman - Solis D. Cohen -
William T. Boyle - Francis D. Weaver
Walter R. Carroll - Joseph H. Carr - E.E. Read Jr. -
Camden Lodge of Elks
Broadway Merchants Trust Company - Church of the Immaculate Conception

National Register of Historic Places

Broadway Trust Company
(added 1990 - Building - #90001284)
Also known as ONJH Inventory #0408190

938-944 Broadway, Camden

Historic Significance:

Event Architecture/Engineering

Architect / builder or engineer:

Phillip Merz / J. Henry Miller

Architectural Style:

Classical Revival

Area of Significance:

Economics Architecture

Period of Significance:

1900-1924 1925-1949

Owner:

Private

Historic Function:

Commerce/Trade

Historic Sub-function:

Financial Institution

Current Function:

Religion

Current Sub-function:

Religious Structure

Broadway Trust Building - June 15, 2003

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Thanks to John Ciafrani for his help in constructing this page.

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