J. Eavenson & Sons

Founded in 1856 by Jones Eavenson, the J. Eavenson & Sons Company manufactured soap products for both consumer and industrial uses. J. Eavenson & Sons purchased the newly constructed but never used sugar refinery at Delaware Avenue and Penn Street in 1906. They adapted the refinery to produce soap products. At its peak, J. Eavenson & Sons employed about 250 people. 

Also in 1906 the Eavenson Naptha Borax Soap Company of Camden, New Jersey paid $10,000 for the rights to salvage the cargo of the wrecked ship Sindia, which had gone down just off Ocean City NJ in 1901. 

An Eavenson offspring, Alban Eavenson, partnered with J. Walter Levering to found Eavenson and Levering, a manufacturer of wool scouring soaps, with a large factory at 301 Jackson Street in South Camden. This factory became a major employer in the area in the years prior to World War II. 

The J. Eavenson & Sons Company went out of business in 1956. The building was sold and was being dismantled when struck by fire in December of 1957. It subsequently razed.

The Jackson Street facility was used as a warehouse for many years, before finally being razed around 1990. The J. Eavenson & Sons site is now a part of the Campbell Field minor league baseball stadium.

Note the sign on top of factory-
"EAVENSON SOAPS"
visible from Philadelphia

1890's Trade Card

Click on Image to Enlarge

1890's Trade Card

Click on Image to Enlarge

Philadelphia Inquirer
October 21, 1922

Peter B. Carter
Thomas J. Nicholas
John Yantry
J. Eavenson & Son
Penn Street

Click on Image for Complete Article

Camden Courier-Post * December 2, 1957