Camden Streets - Railroad Avenue

Streets
of
Camden, NJ

Railroad
Avenue

RAILROAD AVENUE ran (no kidding) from Kaighn Avenue to Jefferson Street on the west side of the railroad tracks as late as 1969. In time Railroad Avenue between Kaighn and Jackson Street disappeared, the blocks between Atlantic Avenue and Jackson Street being absorbed by Camden Iron & Metal.

Early in the 20th century a rail station existed along the tracks at just to the south of Van Hook Street, ant the one block of houses that had Railroad Avenue as a an address lay between Van Hook and Ferry Avenues. Today if you are traveling east on Van Hook Street, look to the right just before the railroad tracks... you CAN turn right, but only travel about 100 feet down what was once Railroad Avenue before coming to an earthen barrier to prevent vehicle traffic along the tracks. A similar barrier exists on the Ferry Avenue side.

If you walk along the tracks in the 1700 block of Railroad Avenue, all you will see as of February 2004 are two street light poles with street light fixtures that no longer work, a chain link fence that once surrounded 1743 Railroad Avenue, a small section of brick wall that once belonged to that address, and an iron post in the middle of the block that also once was part of a chain link fence. Other than some depressions in the ground where houses once stood, and one or two mounds of what may have been demolition debris, there is no other physical evidence of the homes that once stood there.

Do you have an Railroad Avenue memory or picture. Let me know by e-mail so it can be included here.

Phil Cohen

My wife's family lived on Railroad Avenue many years ago and I have been trying to locate it, do you have any idea where it was?

Phil Barth

Intersection of Jackson Street & Railroad Avenue

1600 Block of Railroad Avenue
	1635 Railroad Avenue 1900 William Booth & Family Philadelphia Inquirer March 26, 1900
	1635 Railroad Avenue 1906 Vacant
	1641 Railroad Avenue 1906
	1643 Railroad Avenue 1913 Mrs. Maria Giordano Atica Giordano Camden Daily Courier May 23, 1913 Dominick DiCarmino Charles H. Fitzsimmons III Spruce Street
	1641 Railroad Avenue 1906
	1643 Railroad Avenue 1906

Intersection of Railroad Avenue & Van Hook Street


Intersection of Railroad Avenue and Van Hook Street, as seen from Route 676 - 2011 Railroad Avenue, barely detectable in 2011, runs parallel to the tracks on their east side. Photo by Gabriel Angemi

1700 Block of Railroad Avenue
	1705 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 George Crossley House painter 1947 Labinia Broadwater 1969 No Listing
	1707 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Joseph Prader 1940 Andrew Lightcap & Family Andrew & Mary Lightcap 1947 Alex Slowey Sr. & Family 1969 No Listing
	1709 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930-1940 Harry Roberts 1947 Steven Russian 1969 No Listing
	1711 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Mark Mills 1947 Vacant 1969 No Listing

Intersection of Railroad Avenue & Reeese Street

1700 Block of Railroad Avenue
	1723 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Benjamin Domansky 1930 Mark Domansky 1940 Mary Roach & Family 1947 No Return 1969 Dymitr Ochmaniuk & Family Mymitr & Maria Ochmaniuk Maria Ochamniuk and her husband Dymitr emigrated from Poland in 1956, arriving in the United States aboard the USS GENERAL HARRY TAYLOR on March 3, 1951 with their daughters Maria, 7; Annaliese, 5; and Zofia, 3. Dymitr Ochmaniuk passed away in Camden in 1976. Maria Ochmaniuk passed away in Camden in 1994. 1970 No Listing
	1725 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Walter Clark & Family Walter & Ruth Clark Mara Clark Jenny Clark Irving Clark Russell Clark Florence Clark 1940 Lewis Romer Sr. & Family Lewis & Helen Romer 1947 Basil K. Plummer Power Operator Pennsylvania Reading & Seashore Line Railroad
	1725 Railroad Avenue 1959 Joseph T. Michael Camden Courier-Post November 28, 1959 1969 No Listing
	1727 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930-1947 William T. Prader & Family city laborer William T. & Catherine "Katie" Prader Dorothy Prader - Margaret Prader William Prader - Edwin Prader Dolores Prader - Loretta Prader Joan Prader Left: William & Katie Prader 1969 No Listing
	1727 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930-1947 William T. Prader & Family city laborer William T. & Catherine Prader Dorothy Prader - Margaret Prader William Prader - Edwin Prader Dolores Prader - Loretta Prader Joan Prader Left: The Prader sons and a friend 1969 No Listing
	1727 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930-1947 William T. Prader & Family city laborer William T. & Catherine Prader Dorothy Prader - Margaret Prader William Prader - Edwin Prader Dolores Prader - Loretta Prader Joan Prader Left: Dolores, Joan, & Loretta Prader 1969 No Listing
	1727 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930-1947 William T. Prader & Family city laborer William T. & Catherine Prader Dorothy Prader - Margaret Prader William Prader - Edwin Prader Dolores Prader - Loretta Prader Joan Prader Left: William & Katie Prader 1966 Thomas Robinson October 5, 1966 Heavily damaged by Fire 1969 No Listing
	1729 Railroad Avenue 1906 Mrs. Mary Gibbs Camden Post-Telegram October 9, 1906 Click on Image to Read the Complete news Article
	1729 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930-1940 Julian A. Taylor worked at a paint plant Julian & Lucy Taylor 1947 Brantley Fisher October 5, 1966 Destroyed by Fire
	1737 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Carrie Burt 1930 James Tillman 1940-1947 Mrs. Minnie V. Ingram & Family widow of Eugene Sr. Eugene Ingram Jr. Janitor Joseph Ingram - John Ingram Martin Ingram - Adele Ingram Helen Ingram 1940 Norman Johnson & Family Norman & Flora Ingram Johnson adele Johnson - Claudette Johnson 1969 No Listing
	1739 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 1938 Willard Dickson 1940 Adeline Wallace 1947 Mrs. Bertha Rogers 1969 No Listing
	1741 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Catherine Richardson & Family Corrine Richardson Catherine Richardson William Cromartie (boarder) 1940 Martin Alexander & Family 1947 Thomas Blair & Family helper Thomas & Pauline Blair 1969 No Listing
	1743 Railroad Avenue 1906 1930 Howard Pollitt & Family Howard & Lucy Pollitt Beulah Pollitt - Joseph Pollitt Hilda Pollitt - Eva Pollitt India Pollitt - Richard Pollitt Edward Pollitt - Pauline Pollitt Estelle Pollitt - Marjorie Pollitt Elsie Pollitt 1947 Louis Wallace & Family helper Louis & Adeline Wallace 1969 No Listing

Intersection of Viola Street & Railroad Avenue

Intersection of Jefferson Street & Railroad Avenue
	South East Corner 1906 J.C. Dunn & Company oil cloths Philadelphia Inquirer August 17, 1906 Story Furniture Company - Kaighn Avenue Railroad Avenue - Jefferson Street Miller Street - Broadway Chestnut Street - Sycamore Street John Schmidt - Harry Haines Samuel Elfreth

Intersection of Chelton Avenue & Railroad Avenue


Southeast Corner 1890s-1959 - Sitley & Son - Grain, Feed, Hardware, Building Supplies

1906
West Side of Railroad Avenue from Jefferson Street to Chelton Avenue
Click on Image to Enlarge

1906
West Side of Railroad Avenue from Chelton Avenue to Bulson Street
Click on Image to Enlarge

Intersection of Bulson Street & Railroad Avenue

Camden Courier-Post - June 10, 1933

ATTACKED WITH RAKE, MAN SENT TO HOSPITAL

Cut in a surprise attack by a man with a garden rake, Clarence Zenzater, 32, colored, of 637-1/2 Van Hook Street, was taken to West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital yesterday.

He has four puncture wounds of the head and neck, doctors said.

Zenzater, questioned by Second District police, said a man attacked him while he was passing along Railroad avenue, near Van Hook Street.

The man, whose name is known to the police who seek him, struck him with a rake, Zenzater said. Police said the assailant has a criminal record and served five years in state prison after a conviction on charges of shooting two colored men.

HOSPITAL CASES
COOPER

Lewis Raupp, 53, 833 North 6th Street, dog bite of right index finger
Anna Veroline, 34, 318 Walnut Street, sprained ankle
Albert Passarella, 15, 433 Spruce Street, sprained ankle
Thomas J. Owens, 35, 420 Taylor Ave., bruised wrist and knee
Joseph Manfredi, 14, 335 Chestnut Street, infected palm.
Margaret Cramer, 9, 323 Erie Street, infected finger
Laurence Wiggle, 5, 505 South 6th Street, cut hand
Joseph Carbone, 18, 336 Walnut Street, cut chin
Thomas DiRenzo, 13, 522 Clinton St., splinter in left foot.
Cecelia Homan, 32, 511 Ray Avenue, foreign body in eye
Mary DiVincenzo, 10, 311 Beckett St., foreign body in eye

WEST JERSEY

Theresa Marolda, 59, 1713 South 4th Street, cut finger
Benjamin Druasowictz, 34, 1282 Van Hook St., cut finger
Charles Mangold, 52, 3 North 4th Street, cut finger
Stanley Kaminski, 25, 1119 Liberty Street, cut hand
Marie Birsch, 15, 697 Van Hook St., foreign particle in eye
Willard Dickson, 3, 1739 Railroad Ave., puncture wound of thigh

1739
Railroad Avenue

1938 Willard Dickson

Camden Courier-Post
February 14, 1938

*Camden Courier-Post October 5, 1966**


	Photo by Bob Bartosz KNEELING to hold hose in place, firemen backed off, a moment later as rear of vacant building at 1729 Railroad Avenue caved in during three alarm blaze yesterday. Two persons were hurt. Probe of faulty fire hydrants has been asked. From Left: Captain Joseph Wolfinger, Albert Jones, William O'Dennis Railroad Avenue Angelo Errichetti Edward V. Michalak Philip A. Stinger Theodore Primas Albert Jones Kenwood Avenue Ladder Company 2 Thomas Robinson Engine Company 8