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History of Voorhees

Compiled by Geri Egizi Borbe
Voorhees Township Schools
Public Information Officer

Information for this historic review came from numerous resources. Their contributions were invaluable. To them we send our deepest appreciation:

Joseph Augustyn, 1998 Master Plan.
Peggy Barger, Voorhees Playground.
Dennis Burt, Eastern H.S. Social Studies teacher, Research on 1900 census and Alonzo Small.
John Geaney, Township History.
William Mariner, Kresson.
John Maurer, Voorhees Parks and Recreation.
Mae Onishchuk, Fifth Grade Gifted and Talented Program, teacher, Kresson III School (Route 73), A History of Voorhees, 1983.
Ed Simpson, Retired Voorhees Police Department, Voorhees Lake Resorts and Early Police Department.
Ruth Tavani and Mary Barczak, Voorhees Women’s Club, Voorhees History Research 1976.
Voorhees Women’s Club, 1976 Feats of Yore and Eats Galore (Township History).
Lieutenant Mark Wilson, Voorhees Police Department.
Countless residents who confirmed dates, offered background information, related stories and gave leads.

Introduction

Governor Foster McGowan Voorhees gave permission for Voorhees to become a township separate from Waterford Township on March 3, 1899. This does not give a textbook account of the past, with lists of dates and names. Numerous good and notable people contributed to making Voorhees one of the most sought after addresses in Southern New Jersey, but space prevents naming them all. Instead, this is the story of the past and present, with turning points, milestones, achievements, growing pains and trends.

While it will satisfy the curiosity of some readers, it might serve others as a launching pad for further reading and study. More detailed accounts of the history, including resident interviews can be found at the Eastern Regional High School District’s Social Studies Department, the Voorhees Public Schools Information Office and the Voorhees Township Historical Society.

The First Residents - The Lenni-Lenape

The Lenni-Lenape Nation of the Algonquian People migrated to New Jersey from the "North Country," crossing the Mississippi River. While the exact date of their arrival is unclear, it is known that humans inhabited New Jersey 10,000 years ago. The Lenni-Lenape Nation was known by the Algonquian tribes as the "Original People," "Grandfather," or "Men of Men."

While only about 2000 Lenni-Lenape lived in this area, many neighboring tribes came to New Jersey to hunt, fish and cultivate the rich soil. Although basically nomadic, they raised crops of corn, pumpkin and beans. In warmer weather they walked to the Atlantic Ocean. There they often lived for the summer months, enjoying cool sea breezes, collecting shells, smoking fish for the winter, and eating crabs, oysters and clams. One path they made to the seacoast was so worn that it eventually became a stage coach route, known as Long-A-Coming Road. Today it is known in Voorhees as Route 561, or Haddonfield-Berlin Road.

In the early 1600s the Nanticoke People from southeastern Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland migrated north and united with the Lenni-Lenape already living in New Jersey.

Between the areas of town still known as Ashland and Kirkwood, once lived a small Osage tribe. These people were actually part of the Sioux of the Midwest. An area of town and train station were named after them, as is the Osage School on Somerdale Road.

The Lenni-Lenape enjoyed living in what became known as Voorhees. They loved the forest for its plant foods and hunting grounds. They fished the many lakes in their bark canoes and log dugouts. Well into the 20th century residents in the Kresson area found arrowheads on their properties.

The 1600s

When Cornelius Mey explored the Delaware River and claimed it for Holland in 1623, New Jersey was a woodland wonderland. Early European settlers wrote about its amazing beauty and bounty. The soil was rich and the woodlands teemed with birds, some the Europeans had never seen. Rivers ran with perch, catfish, and carp. There were panthers, wolves, deer, beaver, and minks, as well as a "strange creature called the possum."

Berries grew wildly, as did fruit and nut trees, and roots and herbs used as medicine.

In the early 1600s Swedes settled in the Delaware Valley, and for many years they fought with the Dutch over control of New Jersey. The Dutch took control in 1655. By 1664 England conquered the territory, and New Jersey was established as a British colony.

Since early European settlers entered the area through the rivers, early settlements grew along the waterways during the 1600s. By 1695 what is now Voorhees was part of Waterford Woodlynne in the County of Gloucester.

Mills and Farms in the 1700s

As development of land along the Delaware River pushed clusters of homes and fingers of roads ever east into New Jersey, the forests, streams and lakes in Voorhees attracted both the wealthy and working class. Wealthy families bought thousands of acres of land in what became Voorhees. They built homes, sawmills and farms, attracting workers to the area.

The family of Timothy Matlack, Jr., penman of the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War hero, purchased 1000 acres in 1701 in the Glendale section of Voorhees. He built a house and a sawmill on Coopers Creek, between Kirkwood and Gibbsboro.

Wood from the surrounding forest became lumber to build homes in neighboring towns. Borton Sawmill stood on Route 73.

As farms replaced forests, an agrarian culture took root. Sawmills became flour (grist) mills.

The 1800s - A Giant Step

In 1844 the County of Camden was created. This included Waterford Township, of which Voorhees was a part. Prior to that year the area that became Camden County was part of Gloucester County.

Many Quakers from Burlington County settled in Voorhees. They were known for being industrious and well educated. As abolitionists they led the fight against slavery.

Small Communities Form

From the beginning, transportation patterns drove development. The Voorhees area of the early 1800s was a sparsely populated farming community. With roads little more than sand paths, small neighborhood communities grew first along major roads traveled by horse and carriage - Milford Road (Route 73) and Long-A-Coming Road (Route 561).

Stagecoaches carried passengers along these roads between Philadelphia and the seashore. Farmers transported their produce and livestock to market along them, as well.

With the arrival of the railroad, more communities grew around the three stations of Ashland, Osage and Kirkwood. A general store which also served as post office and gathering spot could be found near each train stop.

Over the years six "neighborhood" communities took root; Ashland, Glendale, Kirkwood, Kresson, Osage and Gibbsboro. Residents held strong loyalties to these sections of town, rather than to the town itself. One result of this divisive attitude was Gibbsboro’s secession from Voorhees in 1924.

Glendale

Located on Long-A-Coming Road (later known as Berlin Road and Route 561), Glendale was one of the first sections to be settled. Stagecoaches and farmers going to market passed through. Travelers frequented a general store on the northwest corner of Long-A-Coming and White Horse roads. The Cross-Keys Tavern, another popular gathering spot, was on Long-A-Coming Road, between Glendale and Gibbsboro.

Today the Stafford Farm on the corner of White Horse Road and Evesham Avenue in the Glendale section is a cherished landmark. Its pastoral landscape of grazing horses and cattle offers a welcome respite to harried drivers in traffic passing by. Still farmed in 1999, as it has been for over 150 years, the 100 acre Stafford farm was originally settled by the son of John Stafford, who first settled on neighboring Short Hills Farm in Cherry Hill in 1773. John Stafford served in the Revolutionary War as George Washington’s personal guard. The Stafford Farm has been worked and owned by its original family longer than any other property in Voorhees.

Founded in 1855, Glendale Methodist Church was first known as Glendale Methodist Episcopal Church. The Quaker Alexander Cooper donated the land and stone for the church. One story passed down suggests that Cooper, who was opposed to alcohol, gave the land in direct response to the building of a tavern just south of the site of the proposed church. Over the years Glendale Church has served as a school and community center, as well as a house of worship. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior.

Between 1873 and 1888 it is said that the poet, Walt Whitman often visited Glendale from his home in Camden.

Kresson (formerly Milford)

The name "Kresson" was given to the area along Milford Road (later named Route 73) around 1907. It was named for George Kress who ran the local general store. Before the 1900s it was known as Pendleton, Milford and Dutchtown. Settled in 1867 by Bavarians, it was a German community, which accounts for the name of "Old Dutchtown Road." The general store served as a center for neighbors to buy necessities such as food and clothing, a place to bring and pick up mail, and a social opportunity to chat with friends. In 1990 a Commerce Bank branch was built on the site of the original store at Route 73 and Kresson Road.

Around 1823 a saw mill operated in the vicinity of the current Kresson Golf Course. The sawmill became a flour mill, used as recently as 1916.

In 1846 Kresson’s natural sandy soil attracted glassmakers who purchased land and formed the Milford Glassworks. Bound by Route 73, Braddocks Mill Road and Dutchtown Road, it consisted of a glassworks factory, five workers’ houses and a general store. Items produced included druggists bottles, goblets and green beer bottles. The glassworks closed around 1863 due to financial problems.

Kresson had an African-American population dating back to 1800. Artifacts found in the Kresson area indicate the presence of Native Americans prior to the first African-American settlement. The Barney home at the corner of Cooper and Kresson-Gibbsboro roads dates back over 100 years. Clarence Jackson, father of baseball great Reggie Jackson, was raised in Kresson.

Cedar Lake and Sunshine Lake in Kresson were once productive cranberry bogs. Lions Lake began as a pond but was enlarged in 1949. All of these lakes have been used as summer swimming and picnic resorts.

The German community that settled in the Kresson section attended a German Lutheran Church on Dutchtown Road. As with other churches in the area, prior to the public schools, the church was used for community gatherings and as a one room school. It was later destroyed by fire.

Ashland

The section of Voorhees known as "Ashland" took its name from Henry Clay’s Kentucky estate. Ashland first bustled as a stage coach stop. In the 1880s it became a station on the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. The train stop at Burnt Mill and Evesham roads, along with a general store/post office was the center of life for the farm community surrounding it.

Later the train with its route from Camden to the shore encouraged laborers in those areas to settle in Ashland. Many natives rode the train from Ashland to Camden to work at the Victor Talking Machine Company or the Campbell Soup Company.

Ashland Presbyterian Church was dedicated on the corner of Alpha Avenue and Evesham Road on April 16, 1908. The present church on the corner of Evesham Avenue and Greenridge Road was dedicated in 1957.

Osage

The Osage area stands between Ashland and Kirkwood, along Somerdale Road. Osage was named after a small group of Indians of the Sioux tribe from the Midwestern U.S. that settled in the area.

Kirkwood

The Kirkwood area was first known as White Horse, then Marl City and finally Kirkwood. On an 1850 map, the White Horse Tavern, located on what is now White Horse Pike in Lindenwold, was a post office for the local residents. In 1854 the railroad was laid and the "station" or stop was called White Horse. This later became the final stop on the PATCO High Speed Line to Philadelphia.

In 1879 the Kirkwood Marl and Fertilizing Company worked marl beds near Kirkwood. The name of the railroad station was changed to Marl City, probably due to the influence of John Lucas, president of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad as well as the Marl Co. It eventually changed to Kirkwood to honor Joel Kirkbride, who donated land on which to build a passenger and freight station at the original stop site.

The Kirkwood Icehouse played a prominent role in the area’s economy well into the twentieth century. In wintertime residents watched as large ice cubes cut from Kirkwood Lake were hoisted into the icehouse for storage until train delivery to Philadelphia and Atlantic City. A side-rail from the Kirkwood station brought trains to the Icehouse along Kirkwood Lake.

Gibbsboro- Part of Voorhees Until 1924

Gibbsboro was originally part of Voorhees. In the early 1800s, stage coaches moving south from Haddonfield traveled through Glendale and Gibbsboro as they headed for the Long-A-Coming Tavern in Berlin. By 1852 the Lucas Paint Company opened in the Ford gristmill beside Long-A-Coming Road (Route 561). In 1924 paint factory owners led and won a move for the Gibbsboro section of Voorhees to become a separate town.

The Railroad Arrives in 1854

The arrival of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad in 1854 in the west side of Voorhees made a lasting impact on Voorhees history. Linking Philadelphia to the seashore, it carried visitors and workers to and from Voorhees. The train brought to market produce and cattle from Voorhees farms. It carried visitors and newspapers with world and national news to our once remote farm community.

Philadelphia became a frequent and popular destination for visiting and selling, since the train stopped at the ferry from Camden to Philadelphia. Steam-powered ferry boats were important to the people of Voorhees who often moved their farm products west across the Delaware River to Philadelphia.

But the railroad shaped the town in a more directly when it bought 60 acres of land along Kirkwood Lake, adjacent to its Kirkwood Station. By building picnic areas and summer cottages along the lake, the railroad created a recreation destination, boosting travelers on its lines.

Formed as a result of a 1933 rail merger, the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line stopped at three stations in Voorhees; Ashland, Osage and Kirkwood. These stood on the right-of-way that is now the PATCO high speed line. Towards the end of the rail lines’ life some of the stations were no more than large three-sided wooden shelters, open to the tracks as the train pulled in.

Ashland Station

The Ashland station stood on the spot of today’s PATCO Ashland station. Clustered around the station were the original Ashland Fire House, the Ashland Thriftway Market, the Post Office, barbershop, the Ashland Delicatessen, the Ashland Presbyterian Church, the Ashland Lumber & Millworks and the Chas. A. Ober Coal & Fuel Oil Co., as well as dozens of homes. In order to build the speed line station and its parking lots, vast parcels of property were purchased and all of these buildings razed. To secure the electrified PATCO rails, a six-foot barbed wire fence enclosed the tracks and bisected the tight knit Ashland community.

Osage Station

The Osage station stood on Somerdale Road, east of the Ashland and west of the Kirkwood stations.

Kirkwood Station

The Kirkwood station was next to White Horse Road just east of the present day bridge. In its heyday it was one of the largest and busiest stations in the area. There were several side railways that switched from the main line to area businesses including the Kirkwood Icehouse. Vacationers passed through the station headed for the cottages surrounding Kirkwood Lake.

A Mill Town

The importance of mills to the area’s economy grew during the 1800s. Early settlers lived near streams, lakes and creeks before roads were built. Sawmills and gristmills were constructed on the banks of these waterways. Most land was forest with a scattering of houses. Lumber dominated the area’s economy in the early 1800s. The mill was the center of commerce, and a place for lumber men and farmers to gather socially and exchange news.

But these mills supplied other products besides local lumber. They made charcoal for the Philadelphia market, cedar rails for all parts of the country, and poles for the sugar and molasses trade in the West Indies.

As farming became more important and farms more numerous, lumber mills were converted into gristmills (flour mills).

• Matlacks or Hillards Sawmill on Coopers Creek between Kirkwood and Gibbsboro was one of the earliest, dating back to the early 1700s.
• Built before 1753 Borton Mill stood on the intersection of Route 73 and Haddonfield-Kresson Road.
• In operation throughout the 1800s, Stokes Sawmill near Kresson was also known as Milford Sawmill.
• Hopkin’s Gristmill-White Horse Gristmill-Kirkbride’s Gristmill were names given the mill along Kirkwood Lake on White Horse Road. Originally a sawmill in the early 1800s, it later became one of the largest grist (flour) mills in the county. In 1876 the sixty acres of land on which this mill was located, were bought by the railroad and converted into picnic grounds known as Lakeside Park.
• General Jackson Mill dated back to 1823. It sat on 350 acres in the Kresson section of Voorhees.
• Marple Sawmill, located near the Jackson Glassworks, was also owned by the Richards from 1823 to 1828. This was originally called Marple’s Mill in 1812.
• The Iron Mill belonged to the Richards family, who owned an iron business in Batsto.
• Burnt Mill, so called because it replaced an older mill along Burnt Mill Road (Peterson’s Mill) that burned down.

With the invention of the steam engine in the mid-1800s, these mills, dependent on water flow, became obsolete.

The Civil War

During the Civil War Voorhees men served in the Union Army. Major Edward Winslow Coffin who established the first field bakery, was from Voorhees. He developed an oven on wheels that provided soldiers with fresh bread.

The Coffin family operated a farm for many years at the intersection of Evesham Road and Route 561, known as Coffin Corner. The Coffin house dates circa 1850 with one section built even earlier. Over the years the Coffin house has served as a residence, school, store, post office, stage coach stop and commercial office.

At least 20 veterans of the first African-American regiment to fight in the Civil War are buried in the churchyard of the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church on Route 73 in the Kresson section. Alonzo Small was one of these soldiers.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1839, Alonzo Small, a mason by trade, came to the Philadelphia area where he enlisted in the Union Army on March 16, 1864. He served in Company B of the 43rd Regiment of the U.S. Infantry Colored Volunteers, which distinguished itself at the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia in July 1864. After the war Alonzo settled in Voorhees with his wife.

Mt. Zion AME Church

The original Mt. Zion Church was a log cabin, built around 1800 at the far end of the cemetery. It stood along Egg Harbor Road, a sand path used by Indians and early settlers.

The early interracial congregation first named the church, The People’s Church of Milford. Over the years, the congregation became mostly African-American.

According to stories passed down through families in the congregation, the original church was a stop on the "Underground Railroad." They tell of how the original log cabin had an unusual back door which allowed fleeing slaves to escape unnoticed when a lookout at the front door spotted a bounty hunter.

In the 1920s a new church was built along what was to become Route 73, where the present church stands, in front of the cemetery. Dedicated in 1924, this structure was extensively damaged by an arson fire in 1986. But the congregation immediately began rebuilding, and in 1998 the white wood frame church is the third to house the congregation.

The First Public School

In 1884 the first public school, a one-room school house, was opened on Route 73 near the northern intersection of Dutchtown Road in the Kresson section. This is near the site of the planned Historic Society Museum in the two-room school house built in 1927.

Voorhees is Born
A Separate Township 1899

Three residents of Waterford Township in 1899 petitioned the State Legislature to make the current boundaries of Voorhees a separate township. They were Ephraim Tomlinson of Glendale, Albert Sayers of Gibbsboro (at that time Gibbsboro was part of Voorhees) a