Historical Society of Riverton

Town Historian Betty Hahle wrote dozens of installments of her “Then and Now” column for the Gaslight News over four decades. The trademark feature of her well-researched articles was to trace the history and development of an organization or business, or to examine the achievements of a key individual.

I am still awestruck when I imagine her combing through microfilm, books and special collections at libraries, and traveling to Mt. Holly, Burlington, and Trenton to research deeds and legal records. So much of what gets recorded here and in the pages of today’s issues of the Gaslight News is a direct result of the hard work of many pioneering members of the Historical Society such as Mrs. Hahle and others during its early years.

So it is with the greatest respect that we reprise this apt descriptor for this modest essay about a location in Riverton that will be familiar to many –10 Broad Street.

My mid-April eBay purchase of a 1966 postcard from Olds Community, Inc. prompted this recent delving into the businesses operating back then and now from that Broad Street site.

A page from the July 1, 1965 edition of the New Era shows a large ad that reminds readers of that 75th anniversary edition of Riverton’s hometown newspaper, “For fifty-one years the shop which now serves as our service center has been repairing automobiles for Tri-Boro residents.”

You needn’t do the math – the Oldsmobile retailer had been at the same spot since 1914 and, ironically, the ad copy expressed a wish “… to be around when the New Era celebrates its 100th.”

Obviously, neither Olds Community, Inc., Oldsmobile, or the New Era survived to the present day. Our aim is not to lament the past, but simply to understand it.

One man who has witnessed much of what has transpired in Riverton for 78 years is Mr. Stan Walters, of Stan’s Auto Service which has operated since 1992 out of that same Broad Street address used for so long by Olds Community and later by JAAMCO Transmissions. Lou, Stan’s wife, confirms that on May 15 the business will celebrate its 21st anniversary.

The walls of the shop stand witness to Stan’s lifelong fascination with trains and cars. He has lent me some of his Riverton and Palmyra railroad photos to scan for the website before, so I’ve come back with some prints of postcards and newspaper ads I have scanned in trade to add to his display.

Stan pointed out on his wall a photo of the old Riverton freight station that Joe Stack managed and he immediately flashed on how after school his friends and he would drive Joe crazy by racing up those steps and down the ramp on the other side.

That triggered another memory about the track siding that once ran along the Collins Building and the other end wound up between Lincoln and Elm. During the growing season trains ran boxcars filled with tomato plants down the siding and he and other kids would work all day loading up trucks for the local farmers. His pay—a bundle of about 25 Rutgers tomato plants.

Trains also delivered coal to bins at the Collins Building, and truck driver Joe Williams then transported the fuel to homes in the area.

Besides picking up some more local color I also borrowed a large postcard that served as an “urgent invitation” to come in for a test drive at Olds Community.

If you can add any information, images, or actual items relating to 10 Broad Street in Riverton, Olds Community, JAAMCO, Stan’s Auto Service, trains, Campbell’s Soup, or other related idea, please contact us so that others can see and read about it.

Besides, Stan still has some room left on his walls. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

A friend with a childhood connection to Camden similar to my own is kind enough to share with us these scans of postcards he recently acquired.

As any postcard collector knows, RPPCs, or real photo post cards, can be among the most elusive ones to obtain.

Several of the images posted here are of that type along with the more common mass-produced variety.

These images remind us of a time in Camden’s history when new neighborhoods and planned recreation areas seemed to point to a bright future for the developing urban and industrial center during the early 20^th century.

Early in 1905, the City of Camden, New Jersey dedicated and opened a lush 80-acre park called Forest Hill Park.

Located between Park and Baird Avenues and set along the Cooper River in what was the newly developing Parkside neighborhood-area, this park would become the predecessor to the Camden County park system.

 

 

The post card scenes shown here depict a scenic park setting with a lake, a bridge, roads and paths, a pavilion for gatherings, an athletic field and acres of greenery.

Penned inscription on the lower front of the card, above right reads, “Here’s a new park just finished this spring.” Notice the two men standing in front of the newly constructed outdoor pavilion.

Imagine all the people who frequented this park for pleasant outdoor picnics, athletics and recreation as well as relaxation.

Park Boulevard and the well-known Haddon Avenue converged at the intersection by the entrance to Forest Hill Park.

These postcards capture how the classic row homes appeared around 1909.

 

The caption on the card at right reads, “This is Cooper Creek – a very pretty spot of water.”  Not mailed or postmarked.

 

 

An avid postcard enthusiast will seldom pass up the chance to get yet another subtlety nuanced iteration of any image already in his possession. I mean –  if we already have a dozen views of the Yacht Club, would you pass up the chance to get one more?

Such is the case with my rabid ephemera-collecting friend who can represent many milestones of his life with postcards. And lucky for me that we share some of the places where those events happened.

In 1921, Camden officials renamed Forest Hill Park as Farnham Park.

For more information and images on Forest Hill Park, later named Farnham Park, and a great deal more on Camden, check out the huge virtual archive at http://www.dvrbs.com/ Also, see more Camden images on this website on our IMAGES PAGE.

We welcome comments and try to answer questions, and we always like to collect more real or virtual images on South Jersey. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

 

 

To get to the other side, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

This was the recent scene at 10th and Cedar Streets in Riverton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pics sent in by Mrs. Susan Dechnik.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess they were thirsty.

 

Today was a great day for the groundbreaking of the new Riverton Memorial Park Grandstand. It was also the opening day of the season for the Palmyra-Riverton Athletic Association.

Scores of parents and kids started to gather here around 8:30 a.m. for the annual parade that starts at Riverton Park and ends with a celebration at Legion Field in Palmyra. It’s a day of fun, food, raffles, games and of course baseball and softball.

At right, engineer Harry Fox gets the grandstand project started by putting to work Mayor Bill Brown, Freeholder Joseph Donnelly, and Borough Council member Joseph Creighton.

A reporter and several parents took advantage of the photo op and snapped the scene with cell phones and digital cameras.

Within hours, or maybe minutes for some, they will get Facebooked and Flickered, Snapfished and Instagrammed; they’ll get downloaded, uploaded, and attached to emails addressed to far-flung friends and family.

The men pitched in and turned over the symbolic first shovelfuls of soil.

Then they promptly delegated authority to some able-bodied athletes who happened to be on hand.

The youngsters may well remember years from now that they were here for the groundbreaking of the new Riverton Memorial Park Grandstand, and they witnessed Riverton history being made.

If you think of it, hook us up with some of those Pal-RivAA parade and game pics. They will be historic, too–someday. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

 

As anyone who has driven along Cedar Avenue can attest, the grandstand that since 1930 had witnessed so many rites of passage for generations of Riverton residents, it was simply there one day and gone the next.

For anyone not aware of the years of work and planning by those who wanted to have the former grandstand either renovated or replaced, please read the account of Burlington County Times reporter, Kristen Coppock. She gives some particulars on this new project and explains why, for some, the old grandstand may continue to hold a nostalgic tug. Read her article here.

For Carl McDermott, it wasn’t just the grandstand structure made of cinderblock and steel; the grandstand became a symbol, an icon, for the many memories that he associates with that grandstand and Memorial Park and home. Carl writes:

Riverton Grandstand
 Many memories watching ball games. Had a candy store under grandstand – ate most of the profit. During the summer we would camp out over night and sleep on grandstand benches. Saw grandstand built… Saw it torn down. In the thirtys many activities were done in the grandstand by children under the supervision of a paid teacher in the summer months. One lady and one man teacher, during the months July and August – they were very talented and nice. We made bows and arrows and many other projects. The grandstand was in full use from 1929 to 1941, then came Pearl Harbor. My brothers Bill and Paul and myself Carl and many if not all are friends were drafted in1942  into the service. Army, Navy, marines and coast guard. Eighteen of us were drafted Oct 3rd 1942 from Riverton and Palmyra. We were sent to Fort Dix and all eighteen were shipped to Miami Beach to the Army Air Corp for basic training… All eighteen came home.
Carl T. McDermott
 Note.  My daughter’s family and Laverty family and myself painted the entire Grandstand around 1979 green for the Irish.

So understand when you hear that someone misses that familiar sight even though, at the end, the seats were unusable and parts of the concrete blocks looked like Swiss cheese.

The groundbreaking for the new grandstand is  8:45 a.m. Saturday, April 13, 2013. The proposed plans may well satisfy those looking for a familiar silhouette as they pass Memorial Park and be able to again provide safe, clean, and accessible bleacher seating, restrooms, and storage. You might have to admit that the new architectural drawing sure looks like the old grandstand.

Give it time and that will become a part of Riverton history and people’s memories, perhaps just as indelible as my friend, Carl’s.

How sharp is your memory? Please leave a comment or send us a photo of you “back in the day” at Riverton Memorial Park, whether that day was last year, last decade, or 1930.

If you would like to refresh your memory about the history of Riverton Memorial Park, we cannot improve upon the marvelous article that Town Historian Betty B. Hahle wrote for the 1996 July Fourth Program. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

P.S. If anyone got a photo of the demolition of the old grandstand, please send us a scan.

 

 

 

 

 

We were saddened to hear that after a long illness Anne Knight Ruff (known by all as “Bay”) passed away on March 19 at the age of 92.

Her cousin, Elsie Showell Waters, extends an invitation to attend a Memorial Service on Saturday, April 6, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. at Westfield Friends Meeting, 2201 Riverton Road at Route 130, in Cinnaminson, NJ 08077.

Westfield Friends School Headmaster, Mr. William Probsting reports that friends and family who have been the recipients of many of Ms. Ruff’s works of art may bring them to display during the service.

Regular visitors here have already seen one example; our masthead banner is a photo of one of Bay’s marvelous folk art style paintings on wood; this one, I believe she salvaged from a door.

This links to our page in which we acknowledge Ms. Ruff’s generosity for allowing us the use of her art to welcome readers to our website.

William Probsting wrote the marvelous profile of Anne Knight Ruff that appeared in the 2002 Riverton July Fourth Program when the town honored her as the Parade Marshal.

At age 81, she authored a book of stories about growing up in Riverton that grew out of the weekly gatherings of the Friday Ladies, a group she was invited to join.

Read more details about Anne Knight Ruff’s life and how the book came to be in this 2002 New York Times interview by Jill P. Capuzzo: “IN PERSON; A Born Storyteller, She Took Her Time”

We invite comments and the submission of photographs of anything pertinent to Bay’s life, writing, and art, and many other interests. Contact us if you need assistance. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor