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Streets Bergen |
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Streets Bergen |
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BERGEN AVENUE is in Camden's Cramer Hill section. Bergen Avenue is east of North 32nd Street, and runs north from Cleveland Avenue, crossing Hayes Avenue and River Road, and across Harrison Avenue towards the Delaware River, ending at Farragut Avenue. Bergen Avenue is most likely named for one of the two Bergen brothers, Martin V. Bergen or Christopher A. Bergen, who were prominent in legal and civic circles in Camden in the late 1800s. The C.A. Bergen School in South Camden was named for Christopher Bergen. Many single family homes were built on Bergen Avenue prior to 1924. In the late 1940s or early 1950s a fairly large number of brick row houses were built in the 900, 1000, and 1100 blocks. Tragedy has struck the 900 block of Bergen Avenue on at least three occasions- in the 1950s when young Eddie Marren drown in a boating accident, in 1963 when his sister and three other young people were killed in a car accident, and in 2005 when three small children died after accidentally locked themselves in the trunk of a car parked in the yard of 957 Bergen Avenue. |
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Do you have an Bergen Avenue memory or picture. Let me know by e-mail so it can be included here. |
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800 Block of Bergen Avenue |
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820 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet 1967-1982 Camden Courier-Post
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833 Bergen Avenue 1924 No building
yet |
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843 Bergen Avenue 1924 No building yet |
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859 Bergen Avenue 1924-1939 Camden Courier-Post |
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859 Bergen Avenue |
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860 Bergen Avenue 1924 No building yet |
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863 Bergen Avenue 1947 No Building |
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900 Block of Bergen Avenue |
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908 Bergen Avenue
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916 to 948 September 27, 2009 Click on Image To Enlarge |
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916 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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918 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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922 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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924 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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926 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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928 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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930 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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934 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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936 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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938 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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940 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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942 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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944 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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948 Bergen Avenue 1943-1947 No Building |
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957 to 963 September 27, 2009 Click on Image To Enlarge |
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957 Bergen Avenue 1924 No building yet |
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957 Bergen Avenue 2005 The Cruz Family Anibal Cruz, 11, Daniel Agosto, 6, and Jesstin Pagan, 5, were found dead in the trunk of a red 1992 Toyota Camry parked in Cruz's backyard at 957 Bergen Ave. on June 24, 2005. Left unsupervised, they had locked themselves in the trunk 50 hours prior to being found. |
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959 Bergen Avenue 1926 No building yet 1930 |
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961 Bergen Avenue 1926 No building yet 1930 |
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| 963
Bergen Avenue
1926 No building yet 1929-1930 |
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963
Bergen Avenue
1930s-1980 I was born in 1939 and was taken home from Cooper Hospital to 963 Bergen Avenue. I resided there until 1957, when I enlisted in the U. S. Air Force. The Bergen Avenue page shows no building until 1943. Also, in the picture for 957 to 963, the first house next to the green monster (the old Louis Schwartz furniture store), one can see a wrought iron corner post holding up the porch roof. My dad, George Phillips, installed that when I was about 8 or 9. He had replaced the wooden porch with a concrete one he also built by himself. George was a plumber. That front porch had a new bathtub sitting on it for many years. He got it surplus from some job he did and always intended to replace our old cast iron one with it. Don Phillips |
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Intersection of Bergen Avenue & River Road |
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1000 Block of Bergen Avenue |
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1013 Bergen Avenue
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1017 Bergen Avenue 1924 Howard R.
Marshall |
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1018 Bergen Avenue 1924 Thomas Murray |
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1018 Bergen Avenue 1947-1980s |
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1020 Bergen Avenue 1924 Edward J. Nestor |
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1021 Bergen Avenue 1924 Charles Marshall |
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1021 Bergen Avenue 1953-1988 |
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| 1022
Bergen Avenue
1924-1950s John L. Straub |
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| 1027
Bergen Avenue
1924-1947 David W. Garraway 1950s-1960s 1980
Edward Clark |
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| 1028
Bergen Avenue
1924 Charles A. Moss |
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| 1033
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1034
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1035
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1036
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1036
Bergen Avenue
1960s-1970s |
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| 1037
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1038
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1039
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1040
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1041
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1043
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1045
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1047
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1048
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1050
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1052
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1053
Bergen Avenue
1924 No building yet |
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| 1054
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1056
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1058
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1059
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1060
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1061
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1062
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1064
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1065
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1066
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1068
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1069
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1071
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1072
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1073
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1074
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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| 1075
Bergen Avenue
1947 No Building |
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1100 Block of Bergen Avenue |
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1100 Bergen Avenue 1924-1932 Camden Courier-Post |
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1100 Bergen Avenue 1947 Gone |
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1115 Bergen Avenue 1924 Daniel S.
Vanteer |
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1119 Bergen Avenue 1924 Annie T.
Brogan |
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1125 Bergen Avenue 1924 Thomas A.
Bailey |
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1131 Bergen Avenue 1959-1969 O. Hammer |
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1133 Bergen Avenue 1956 Camden Courier-Post |
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1133 Bergen Avenue 1956 Left: Russell Young |
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1136 Bergen Avenue 1969 Christy
Gnazzo |
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1142 Bergen Avenue 1969 Mrs. Helene
L. Kauffeld |
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1145 Bergen Avenue 1969 Mrs. B.S.
Stinger |
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1153 Bergen Avenue 1969 Lloyd W. Henshall Camden
Courier-Post Thomas S.
Watson |
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1154 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet |
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1156 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet 1950s-1960s Left: Paul Delfing Jr.
- 1959 |
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1156 Bergen Avenue
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1158 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet |
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1160 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet |
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Growing up in Camden was a wonderful experience for me. We had the Cramer Hill Boys' Club to provide us with organized sports. The city summer recreational activities at von Nieda Park helped keep us out of trouble too. We could walk anywhere in Camden and no one would bother us. My sister, brother and I all attended H.C. Sharp School as did the children of all of our neighbors (except Mrs. Coyle). My neighbors, as closely as I can remember them, were as follows: 1154: Bill and Addie Blessing; 1156: Mr. and Mrs. Paul Delfing and family; 1158: Mr. and Mrs. Edward Thompson and Family; 1160: Mrs. Coyle; 1164: Mr. and Mrs. Roy Devine and Family. The Murtaugh's lived across the street from us. Adam
Drapczuk Jr. |
1162 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet |
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1164 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet |
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1169 Bergen Avenue 1947 No building yet 1950s-1980s Left: Edward Murtaugh |
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1171 Bergen Avenue 1924-1947 No
Listing |
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1179 Bergen Avenue 1924-1947 William
Aitken |
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1180 Bergen Avenue 1924 Mrs. Florence
Munger |
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1183 Bergen Avenue 1924 No building yet |
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1200 Block of Bergen Avenue |
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1211 Bergen Avenue 1924 No building yet |
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1213 Bergen Avenue 194 Frank W. Dusine |
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1215 Bergen Avenue 1924 Thomas H. Cook |
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1218 Bergen Avenue 1924 George Hillary |
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1223 Bergen Avenue 1924 Harry D. Reinert |
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| 1228
Bergen Avenue
1924 Charles L. Sees |
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| 1240
Bergen Avenue
1924-1947 Howard A. Walker |
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| 1241
Bergen Avenue
1924 John H. Mailahn |
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1243
Bergen Avenue
1924 Benjamin F. Downey |
| 1243
Bergen Avenue
1947 |
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| 1244
Bergen Avenue
1924 |
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| 1245
Bergen Avenue
1924 No building yet |
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| 1249
Bergen Avenue
1924 No building yet |
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1200 Block of Bergen Avenue |
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We moved to Bergen "Avenue" in 1953. We lived at 1021 Bergen Avenue which is still there. There used to be a red house [1017 Bergen Avenue - PMC] next to the lot [1017 Bergen Avenue - PMC] which was Engle's Bar. The lot belonged to the bar. My mom and dad bought this, their first house after renting the home of my dad's brother and his wife on Fairview Street in Morgan Village. My dad's brother was career Navy and was a Master Chief who was sent to Viet Nam in 1953 as part of the advisors which were being sent by our government. This is the first place that my aunt couldn't go and she and her son lived in the house on Fairview Street, and my mom and dad and my sister and I moved to Bergen Avenue. We lived across the street from the Clark family. They were at 1020 Bergen. They were Mary and Ed and their kids were Mary, Terry, Sandy, Pam, and a few years later, Ed. Next to them was the William Deal family. Denny Deal was a Camden fireman. On the other side of the Clark family was the Straub family. Mr. and Mrs. Straub were older as I remember them. They had quite a few grown children, two of which worked as steel workers on the Walt Whitman Bridge. The younger son was killed from a fall off the bridge when they were building it. (I haven't thought about that in years.). On the corner of Bergen Avenue on the north east side was the little shoe store that was run by the woman who also lived upstairs. School shoes were always bought there. One pair for school and one pair for church. Opposite the shoe store was Louie's furniture store. It was a glass front store, and Louie was always standing out front. I always wondered how he managed to stay in business when there was never anyone in the store. But he always had a suit and tie on and was standing there watching the traffic on River Road. I remember as a child the suitcase factory that burned one summer night. It was opposite Engle's Bar and parking lot. It went up in a ball of flames. I think it is still an empty lot? I remember riding our bikes and jumping rope until the sun went down. So many kids to play with and no one ever argued and rarely did we get into trouble. I also remember the house next to my parents house had an apartment upstairs where a young family lived. There was a son and a daughter. The man and his father who owned that house lived downstairs. They kept to themselves and as kids we were afraid of them because they were really strange. It was also a tragedy that the son, Eddie Marren died by drowning when we were in elementary school and then his sister Ellen was one of the group of kids who died when we were in junior high from the accident when the car that all of the kids had piled into went off the road and over an overpass onto high tension wires in Atco. I think only two kids lived out of about 8-9. Bergen Avenue was really a quiet street. The Murtaughs lived in the 1100 and the Namms lived in the 1200 block. I can remember Louie Namm walking by our house in the evening coming from the Jewish classes that he took in the evenings, and later Carol and her younger sister. I remember Sandy Lyndsey and her family, and Terry Bruccollere who lived in the row houses up the street. We all walked to school together to Sharp School and later to Vets and Wilson. Those were the good old days when you could actually walk the streets of Cramer Hill without fear. I can remember going to Frank & Toms which was the grocery store on the corner of River Rd, and 32nd street. It changed names so many time while I was growing up. The drug store at 32nd and River Road where Unruh did his infamous tragic act of killing everyone. My mother-in-law had just walked past that corner with my husband in a stroller shortly before the killing spree took place. There was a Cleaner and Al's Barber Shop with the infamous pony that all the kids used to sit on while getting their haircuts. Next to the barber shop was the sub shop that I used to walk by on my way home from school at lunch time. My favorite smell in the whole world. I have never tasted a sub quite like that place. Then of course there was Pelligrino's beauty parlor next to the cleaner. Thinking back on this, it was so convenient to have everything so close. We would catch a bus right at the corner of 33rd and River (the 1280) or the #9 to Philly. We would also meet at the corner of Bergen and River on Friday nights to go skating in Fairview. The bus would come by and pick us up and bring us back at 10. God I miss those days. Dolores
Arensberg Campbell |
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I just reviewed the Bergen Avenue site again. Ok, so my parents bought 1021 Bergen from the Kennedy family in 1953. My parents lived in the white house, one house from Engles Lot. There was a red house that is gone between my parents house and that lot. My dad passed away in 1982 and my mom eventually sold the property in 1988. My mom and dad were Tom and Helen Campbell. The William Deals lived in Camden across from my parents until the late 1980s as well. I also remember there being a suitcase factory on the corner of Bergen Avenue and River road next to Swartz's Furniture Store (across Bergen) It burned down in the early 1950's. There was also Al's Barber Shop a few doors up from the furniture store on River Road, and there was Harry's sub shop next to the barber shop. Howard Unruh actually shot a child sitting on the horse in the barber Shop. Then there was the drug store on the corner of 32nd Street and River Road. The pharmacist was such a grouch!! There was a small grocery store across 32nd Street that was owned by a Jewish family. It later became a laundromat. Frank and Tom's was the larger grocery store across River Road. They had the best lunch meat!!! The small sub shop in between Frank and Tom's and the Bar.......and there was Lucy's Hair Salon and next to that the dry cleaner all on the side of River Road as Al's Barber Shop. We had so much in such a small area! As kids we used to wait on the corner on Friday night to catch the bus to the skating rink in Fairview! That was the highlight of our lives back then! And of course when we were older we could walk to the Arlo in East Camden! No wonder we all were so skinny! We walked everywhere! We actually walked to Wilson from Cramer Hill over the railroad tracks behind Campbell Soup! Sometimes, under the trains......it's a wonder we are still alive! Then there was Carmellos' on the corner of Beideman and River Road. This woman hated kids! She had the best choice of soda and ice cream, but the kids tormented her! There was also Dead Man's hill on 33rd Street. Do you know why it was called that? I've never found the answer to that one........? Oh, the Bar on River Road across from Lucy's and Swartz's was Engles. Frankie Engle used to throw pears at everyone and no one would do anything about him because his dad owned the bar and everyone was afraid of him......funny now that I think about it. Joe Arensberg lived on the 1000 block of 32nd Street. He is much older than my husband. He raised his family there until moving to Maple Shade. John Long and family lived directly behind my parents. There address would have been 1024 32nd Street. The Marini's lived directly behind the grocery store on River Road and 32nd Street in the 1000 block. The Huhn's lived on the 1000 block of 33rd Street [1032 North 33rd Street - PMC] directly across from my parents home. My parents lived in the white house, 1021 Bergen, one house from Engles Lot. There was a red house that is gone between my parents house and that lot. Going up Bergen toward the river, the next house on the same side [1017 Bergen Avenue - PMC] was were Ellen Marren lived, then there was a driveway that circles around behind the row houses on the same side of the street. Paul Delfing later lived in that apartment [at 1017 Bergen Avenue - PMC]. He was also a fireman. Then the row houses started and William Hummel lived in the second house of the red brick row houses. You're really jogging this old memory. I just gave my husband a big lecture on writing to you with all of the info that he has stored. He could really fill in some of the blanks as he was very involved with the Boy's Club and knew most of the kids on the hill. I wasn't that aware of most of what went on since my parents were strict and my sister and I were never allowed out of the house! Other friends- Rennes Allenbach (former Camden Chief of Police Bob Allebach's younger sister. We are still best friends); Ginger (Virginia) Dowhy, cousin to the Dowhy firemen clan, Ray Chintal who lived on River Road near 22nd Street, next to Ginger; Becky Sooy Murtaugh who is married to John, Ed Murtaugh's brother; Tara Angelastro Sooy, the sister of Becky Murtaugh; and Marianne Shinn Charlton, who lived on the 800 block of 32nd Street. Her mom was the crossing guard for the Harry C. Sharp School. Also Bruce Bauer, who had an Aunt, Mrs. Lewes, who taught 5th grade at Sharp School. Dolores
Arensberg Campbell |
