South Camden Historic District

About this property

The Port of Camden is on east bank of the Delaware River in Camden and Gloucester City in southern New Jersey. It is one of several ports in the Delaware Valley metro area port complex and is near the mouth of Newtown Creek opposite the Port of Philadelphia. The port is one of the nation's largest for wood products, steel, cocoa and perishable fruit. The port is approximately 102 miles (164 km) from the Atlantic Ocean at the entrance to the Delaware Bay. After 1942, the Delaware River Main Channel was maintained at a depth of 40 feet (12 m). In a project completed in 2017, the federal navigation shipping channel from Camden/Philadelphia was deepened to 45 feet (14 m). Local pilotage is generally required for larger commercial vessels. The air draft of the port is 150 feet, restricted by the Walt Whitman Bridge. Downstream of the bridge air draft is 188 feet, restricted by Delaware Memorial Bridge It is a port of entry in United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) District 21, which covers New Jersey. The Delaware River port complex refers to the ports and energy facilities along the river in the tri-state PA-NJ-DE Delaware Valley region. They include the Port of Salem, the Port of Wilmington, the Port of Chester, the Port of Paulsboro, the Port of Philadelphia and the Port of Camden. Combined they create one of the largest shipping areas of the United States. In 2016, 2,427 ships arrived at Delaware River port facilities: Fruit ships were counted at 577, petroleum at 474, and containerized cargo at 431. Both New York Shipbuilding and Dialogue & Company were in the port. Much of the current port operations are on what were once shipyards. Dialogue & Company was further upstream. John H. Mathis & Company was a shipbuilding company founded around 1900, based at Cooper Point. Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding Corp. was also at Cooper Point. The United States lightship Barnegat (LV-79), built in the city, is in Cooper Point, and is considered threatened. Ferry service between Camden and Philadelphia existed for 264 years. The first commercial crossing of the Delaware was first established in 1688; the last ferry to depart the city was in 1952. The seasonal RiverLink Ferry was established in 1999. The semi-public South Jersey Port Corporation (SJPC) oversees a number of facilities, for which the Delaware River Stevedores handle much of the traffic. Additionally there are other privately run facilities in the port, including those of Holt Logistics, Joseph Oat Corporation, Holtech International, Mafco, EMR subsidiary Camden Iron and Steel and Camden Yards Steel. The Camden County MUA maintains a large treatment plant on the waterfront.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Camden County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Camden County.

More historic places in New Jersey

Browse all historic places in New Jersey.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

New Jersey history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.