CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY

CAMDEN COURIER-POST
May 23, 1962
Fire Rakes 3 Vacant City Houses

Three attached vacant dwellings, 424, 426, and 428 North 5th Street, already slated for demolition were badly damaged by fire. Low water pressure, a seemingly never-ending problem in Camden in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s made fighting the fire in a proper manner impossible. 

The buildings, which had been acquired by the Delaware River Port Authority and were to be razed in order to make way for an expanded headquarters, are best remembered for the giant billboard thermometer that sat atop them. which could be seen by all traveling east into Camden from Philadelphia.

Camden Courier-Post May 23, 1962 Edward R. MacDowell Alfred R. Pierce Alfred C. Thawley North 5th Street C.H. McWilliams Pyne Poynt Junior High School A GIANT THERMOMETER atop threat burning buildings at 5th and Pearl streets threatened to collapse Tuesday afternoon. The houses were slated for demolition to nuke room for expansion of the nearby Delaware River Port Authority’s headquarters. Origin of the fire was undetermined.  ...continued... ...continued...

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