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Haddon Township Historical Photographs Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike Company (Haddon Avneue) |
| During the colonial era a simple bridle-path existed where Haddon Avenue now is. A road was more formally laid out at "the great highway between Haddonfield and Cooper's Ferries" (Camden) in 1792. However such roads were not well maintained, often rutted and muddy and difficult at times of year to use. In 1820, a formal attempt to take subscriptions for better maintenance and oversight of the highway under the charge of area residents John Robert, John Gill and John Clement who succeeded in graveling the length of the highway which at that timed ended at the intersection with Kings Highway. The next step was to turn the highway into a privatized toll turnpike. The Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike Company was the first turnpike in what is now Camden County. It had its origins on March 9, 1839 by act of the New Jersey Legislature which provided for the project to incorporate and five hundred shares of stock. The company was further authorized to hold twenty thousand dollars as capital stock, with privileges to increase to fifty thousand dollars (at 25 dollar a share price). This 1839 Turnpike initiative was the undertaking of notable area residents Abraham Browning, Joseph W. Cooper, John Gill, Samuel Nicholson and Thomas Redman. The act specification was that the road be "four rods wide, and thirty two feet to be arched and drained, and to be fifteen inches higher in the centre than at the sides." An economic depression delayed the project. It was not until September 26, 1844, that a meeting was held at the Friends' School-house at Haddonfield to consider the subject of moving the project forward. Jacob L. Rowand was selected chairman and Thomas Redman, secretary. A committee was convened to determine the best place to obtain gravel and estimate cost of improvement. A later meeting on November 21, 1846, was held, "to consider the utility of macadamizing or turnpiking the road and incorporating the same." Despite prior authorization the road had neither been converted into a toll (turnpike) nor incorporated (formally) by this time. It was now a group that was comprised of Jacob L. Rowand, Charles L. Willets , Dr, Charles D. Hendry, Charles H. Shinn, Joseph L. Shivers and Joseph Clement, Jr. who were appointed to ascertain the amount that could be raised and the probable cost of construction of the turnpike. |
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| Another act was passed, on March 2, 1847 incorporating the company and appointing the names of commissioners to receive subscriptions (several were the same as the original act of 1839). The commissioners listed in 1847 were Joseph Porter, John Gill, Samuel Nicholson, Joseph W. Cooper (a large Cooper Creek landowner and director of the State Bank at Camden) and Joshua P. Browning, or any of the three. This time the capital stock was placed at $20,000, in 800 shares of $25 each. Books were opened for sale of shares at the Thomas Pearce's Hotel in Haddonfield and Thomas P. Clement of Camden and at Jacob Leach of Long-a-Coming (Berlin) with Commissioners Nicholson, Browning and Gill in attendance. With in a short time $1,100 was subscribed. Directors for the corporation were chosen: John Gill (President of the State Bank at Camden), Joseph Porter (postmaster of Haddonfield and storeowner), John Clement Jr. Richard Snowden (pottery maker), Edward Browning, Samuel Nicholson, Josiah B. Evans (mill owner), John E. Hopkins (county's leading dealer in marl) and Daniel Conard (terra cotta manufavturer); with Samuel Nicholson elected president and Jacob L. Rowand secretary and treasurer. The seal of the corporation carries the date 1847 and features a wagon, a man and the date. |
 Unissued stock certificate for the Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike Company  cancelled stock certificate (certificate #250) issued to Alfred W. Clement for six shares of the Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike Company with the signatures of then (1900) president, Nathan Lippincott and secretary J. Lewis Rowand |
| The road was constructed under contract with James Tuthill & Co. (or Tuthil).and finished in a relatively short time. The turnpike was maintained by local farmers employed by the company along the route. The Stoy family of what is now Westmont Avenue, at that that time had a clear view of the turnpike from their house. John Stoy and his son Walter would use a team of horses to haul gravel and spread the material on the roadbed. Newspapers would report on the condition of the turnpike and if attention was needed. Snow removal was also a requirement of the turnpike. Joseph Cuthburt who resided near the corner of present day Cuthbert Boulevard and Haddon Avenue noted in his records in 1862 that after a severe storm it took three days for the turnpike to be cleared. |
 The Tollgate Keepers House and Gate on the Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike was located on current Haddon Avenue on the right side before Crystal Lake Avenue Heading toward Haddonfield. The building was later moved and converted into a house on E. Crystal Lake Avenue. |
 The other Tollgate Keepers House and Gate, located on the Camden end of the Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike. It was located below Euclid Street in Camden. The building suffered a fire (as seen in this photograph) shortly after it was abandoned in 1909. Both houses were similar. |
 Exact Location of Toll Booth next to 228 Haddon Avenue (modified 1887 map) |  Mile Marker by Jackson's Funeral Home "1 M to H 5 M to C" - part buried [1 Mile to Haddonfield 5 Miles to Camden] |
| Two tollgates were built along the route one near present day Euclid Avenue in Camden and the other on Haddon Avenue before Crystal Lake Avenue heading into Haddonfield. The turnpike first extended to Chews Landing Road, but subsequent supplements to the original act extended it in Camden to Federal Street and then finally Market Street (by way of Seventh Avenue) in 1864. Throughout the 19th century the road declared relatively consistent dividends. In 1849, tolls were set at one cent per mile for a carriage, sleigh or sled drawn by beast and one cent for every additional beast an additional cent. The toll for a lead horse (or mule) and rider was half a cent and for every dozen calves, sheep or hogs, also half a cent, but for every dozen horses, mules or cattle it was two cents. In 1868, tolls were set at one and one-half cents per mile for a vehicle and horse. The charter of the turnpike allowed for people engaged in routine farming, going to or from worship or a funeral or military service to be exempt from paying tolls. Stone mile markers were placed every mile along the highway; each carved with the distance to or from Camden or Haddonfield. One of the markers stands in front of Jackson's Funeral home just past the Haddon and Crystal Lake Avenue intersection heading toward Haddonfield. Another of the markers in the township (probably used a mile west) was found incorporated as a building stone in a basement of a house, probably not long after the turnpike's demise, and long before such a thing would be considered a historic artifact. The toll booths posted rules of use such as "keep to the right as the law directs," unauthorized use of turnpike for enjoyment was prohibited. Failure to pay a toll carried a $20.00 fine. Some people would try and circumvent the toll gates by entering private property near the gate and bypassing the gate and exiting back on to the turnpike further down. The penalty for this was three times more than the legal toll. The travelers had rights too, if a gate keeper was dishonest and over collected or delayed the traveler, the gate keeper could be fined $20.00. In 1860, Isaac Albertson was one of two tollgate keepers at the local tollgate; he lived in a house provide with his wife Martha. At least one known accident is reported as occurring at the gate that was located in Westmont (then called Rowandtown. In 1869, a pair of colts became frightened and unmanageable and rushed the gate at a "furious speed" throwing and injuring both riders. In 1870, the gate keeper there was Franklin Riley. By the end of the century the toll was up to three cents from Haddonfield to Collingwood and ten cents to Camden.[If you wished to continue to Philadelphia, you had to go by ferry at a cost of three cents per head and 25 cents for a horse and wagon]. In Dennis Raible's Haddon Towship' Hopkins Plantation, he collects the recollections of a local resident, Emma Martin Brown Chatelain who lived across the street from the tollgate during it's last years of operation. She remembered Mr. Cline was the tollgate keeper in the early 1900s and the road was very heavily usd for bringing produce to the Campbell Soup Company in Camden. Emma recalled the farmrs would argue with Mr. Cline over the toll (then up to a nickel) and that the farmers would also try to go down Crystal Lake Avenue to the Railroad and come up Glenwood to avoid to toll, only get hit with a nickel toll at the Camden tollgate. The demise like many of the toll roads came with increased mass transit and increased improved transportation methods which called on counties to take on ownership rolls of roads. It was a time when increased pressure was being put on the turnpike company for neglect of the road. In 1907 The Retrospect, was critical of the company and voiced support for couty ownership. In 1909, The Haddonfield and Camden Turnpike's parent company called Public Service sold the turnpike to the County of Camden for $12,840 and the tolls were no longer collected. The turnpike became simply as Haddon Avenue. In 1910 Haddon Avenue was paved from curb to trolley tracks for its entire length at a cost of $67,850. The county also was acquiring the last of the other old turnpikes at this time. Haddon Avenue was paved with asphalt in 1936 with assistance from the Works Procress Administration (WPA) in 1936. In 1943 Public service dug up the trolley tracks along Haddon Avenue for scrap metal to be used in the war effort. [Note: The trolley tracks that had run closer to the railroad on Atlantic Avenue were pulled up for the scrap during World War I.] |
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