http://www.haddontwphistoricalsociety.org/

Haddon Township Historical Society, 143 E. Ormond Avenue (Display and Programs only--not a research facility), Haddon, NJ (2026)

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143 E. Ormond Avenue (Display And Programs Only--not A Research Facility)

10/11/2026

Today marks the solemn anniversary that Firefighter Daniel DiPaolo, of Westmont Fire Company No. 1 , made the ultimate sacrifice on this day, October 11, 1967.

While operating at a working fire at the Van Sciver Mansion, which is now the Westmont Plaza Shopping Center, Firefighter DiPaolo was buried by the sudden collapse of a brick wall. He was immediately dug out by fellow firefighters but despite their heroic efforts, Daniel passed away shortly after his arrival at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.

Sadly, Firefighter Daniel DiPaolo became the second member of Westmont Fire Company to make the ultimate sacrifice and give his life in the line of duty.

10/10/2026

W. N. Russell Cast Stone Company
34-60 Albertson Avenue, Haddon Township
The W. N. Russell Cast Stone Company was located at 34-60 Albertson Avenue in Haddon Township. The family-owned company was founded in 1921 by William N. Russell Sr. and further expanded to a nationally recognized manufacturer of cast stone by William N. Russell, Jr. Their man-made cast stone sills, lintels, trim and entrance-way accents captured the look of various types of architecture, and simulated granite, bluestone, limestone and other quarried stones. Their projects included the Visitor’s Entrance to the White House, which was designed to match the facade of the Treasury Building across the street. The company moved operations to West Berlin, NJ and merged with Reading Rock, Inc. Fire destroyed the vacant Haddon Township building in February 2001. The property is now the location of Albertson Village Apartments.

10/03/2026

Westville Cutoff (“The Gully”) Historic Marker
S.Haviland & E. Merchant Street, Audubon, NJ

The Audubon Historical Society and Camden County History Alliance installed a historic marker at the corner of S. Haviland & E. Merchant Street in Audubon highlighting the history of a local railroad history landmark: The Westville Cutoff (aka THE GULLY. )
We can venture a guess that just about everyone who grew up in Haddon Township knows "the gully" that runs next to Paul VI High School, Saddler's Woods, and Valley Drive in Haddon Township. And, let’s not forget the childhood memories our West Collingswood Heights residents have of playing and riding their bikes on “The Hinks” or “Hinky Dinks,” which were mounds of dirt piles that once supported railroad tracks. (Most have been cleared but a little remains off Pennsylvania Ave. in West Collingswood Heights.) There are myths and legends about the gully, and we have written about its history before on this page to present the facts. However, for those who are new to this page, and to acknowledge the new historic marker, here is a recap of the facts:
“The gully" was dug during the creation of a railroad line known as the Westville Cutoff. The Westville Cutoff was a planned 4.71 mile double track freight bypass of Camden from Westville to West Haddonfield, to be used for freight and perishables. Also, a new freight yard was to be located on the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge line near the Delair Bridge in Pennsauken. It was conceived as part of a Pennsylvania Railroad improvement program in 1905, and approved by the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad on January 26, 1906. Work began in the spring of 1906. The line would be grade crossing free with a fill to north of Nicholson Road in Audubon and then descend into a deep cut (the "gully") from Audubon to near Crystal Lake Avenue in Haddon Township, where it was supposed to ascend toward Westmont Ave. just south of the West Jersey & Seashore Line, and then descend again and join the Delair line near the Haddon Avenue bridge (between today's Central Taco and P.J. Whelihan's). By 1908 the right of way was complete, with bridges to Crystal Lake Avenue, with a short single track in place as far as Market Street in Gloucester City. The Panic of 1907 brought work to a temporary halt, with over $500,000 spent by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Work came to a complete halt in December 1908 with work along the line 70% completed, and was never resumed. The Pennsylvania Railroad used the right of way for a power line to tie into their West Jersey & Seashore Railroad third rail electric line to a cheaper Philadelphia Electric Company power source. This lasted from 1922 to 1949, and was used until the electric line shut down. The bridges and short track in Gloucester City (used to store cars for Campbell Soup Company), were removed in a 1942 World War II scrap drive. The right of way was sold to Public Service Electric and Gas as an emergency connection to Philadelphia Electric, and the fill was removed from Gloucester City to north of Nicholson Road in 1955. Public Service Electric and Gas removed all lines and poles between White Horse Pike in Audubon and West Haddonfield in 1980. There is still a PSEG Westmont Substation on Westmont Avenue and some remnants of the electric line supports near there.
Most of the gully is now natural space occupied by wild turkeys, foxes and deer. We are told that some of the Westville Cutoff route can still be traced on foot if you are up for a hike and can avoid the poison ivy.
Special thanks to the volunteers in the Audubon Historical Society and staff at Camden County Historical Society for doing the work required to have the Westville Cutoff historic marker researched and installed.

Sources: “The Westville Cutoff” by Richard Gladulich in the book West Jersey Rails, A Series of Stories about Southern New Jersey Railroad History, published by the West Jersey Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, William J. Coxey, Editor, 1983. Hand drawn map by David C. Halbert, April 6, 2003, SJRail. com.

09/26/2026

Mr. Harry B. Levis & Mrs. Elizabeth Willard-Levis
(The Stoy House Owners After the Stoys)
330 Westmont Avenue, Haddon Township

Harry B. Levis was born in 1871 and grew up in Chester County, PA. His parents were Samuel F. Levis and Rebecca Pennell-Levis. Harry attended Westtown Boarding School and Brown University. By 1910 Harry and his parents moved to 31 Estaugh Avenue in Haddonfield. In 1908, Harry founded Harry B. Levis, Inc., a stationery business selling office furnishings and supplies in Philadelphia. He expanded the business to include a Camden branch office in 1931.
In 1919 Harry B. Levis married Elizabeth May Willard, the daughter of Isabel Webb-Willard and Rowland Willard, owner of Willard’s Drug Store* in Haddonfield. Elizabeth May Willard attended high school in Haddonfield, graduating in 1897. She went on to attend the NJ State Normal School in Trenton, graduating in the class of 1901. After initially teaching in Bergen County schools, Elizabeth returned to Haddonfield and taught in Haddonfield beginning in 1904. In May 1915 Elizabeth May Willard passed the State Board of Pharmacy examination to be certified as a registered pharmacist’s assistant, and in August 1916 Elizabeth passed the State Board of Pharmacy examination to become a registered pharmacist. The 1915 NJ State Census census recorded her occupation as pharmacist, perhaps working with her father at Willard’s Drug Store. After Elizabeth M. Willard and Harry B. Levis married in 1919, the couple bought their new home and its surrounding land from Charles K. Cook, president of Crystal Lake Realty. They paid $6,000 for their new home, plus approximately 2.77 acres of land, and moved into 330 Westmont Avenue in Haddon Township - known locally as the Stoy House - after some renovations to modernize the house.
Elizabeth Willard-Levis was very active in Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) meetings and events, as were her grandmother and mother. She held leadership positions in the Camden County and Haddonfield WCTU, serving as president of the Haddonfield Chapter in 1934, and hosting WCTU meetings and lawn parties at her Haddon Township home. She was also active in the Haddonfield Natural Science Club, hosting group discussions and lectures in her home on topics such as “Medical Extracts From Plants” and “Iris, Lily and Amaryllis.” Both Harry and Elizabeth were also very involved in Haddonfield Baptist Church functions and social causes.
Along with his successful stationery and office supplies business, Harry B. Levis entered the real estate market by contracting to have 5 houses built and sold in 1923-25 at Carlton and Westmont Avenue, near his own home.
Harry B. Levis died in 1955. (His company, Harry B. Levis, Inc., continued operating in Philadelphia into the 1970s.) Elizabeth Willard-Levis lived in her 330 Westmont Avenue home until just before her death in 1969. The couple had no children.
We may have forgotten this now, but to those who lived in the Haddon Township/Haddonfield area in the 1920s through the 1960s, the “Stoy House” was known as the “Levis House.”

* Willard’s Drug Store was also called “Willard’s Telephone Drugstore” having obtained the first telephone exchange in Haddonfield in 1884. Some local residents may remember the building when it later became the site of Farrow’s Gift Shop. Ironically, for a site so closely associated with a family of WCTU members, the building is now home to the Kings Road Brewing Company!

09/19/2026

Esso Service Station & Dewees Office Equipment
341 Haddon Avenue, Westmont

100 years ago in September 1926, on a fragment of old farmland adjacent to the P.R.R. railroad tracks (once part of the larger Isaac & (son)Samuel Wood’s farm), and situated at the eastern border of Haddon Township, a new Esso service station opened its doors for business at 341 Haddon Avenue. To entice new customers, they offered a coupon for 4 quarts of oil FREE with the purchase of 5 or more gallons of gas. Early advertisements simply listed the street address as “Haddon Ave. & P.R.R. Bridge.”
The Esso service station was operated by a succession of owners. We don’t have all their names, but we did find a few advertisements for this Esso station listing the following owners: H. Allan Huth (1937, 1938 & 1939), Kraus Esso (1940), Buchanan’s Esso (1941), Atkinson’s Esso (1947 -1952), William G. Schmidt Esso (1956-1961), Robert C. Martin Esso Station (1964). After 1964 we could find only brief “Help Wanted” ads for Westmont Esso at 341 Haddon Avenue until 1973. In 1973 Standard Oil of New Jersey renamed itself the Exxon Corporation, and adopted the Exxon name throughout the country. The service station at 341 Haddon Avenue then became Westmont Exxon and could be found listed in telephone directories until 1978.
We then found advertisements picking up again in 1982 when Dewees Office Equipment announced the grand opening of their new location at 341 Haddon Avenue in Westmont. After closing the long-running Camden (founded in the early 1920s by Horace S. Dewees) and Haddonfield (40 Tanner Street) locations, Robert H. Dewees, owner and president, invested in his newly constructed brick building in Westmont for the brand new headquarters of Dewees Office Equipment. Dewees remained in this location until 1990.
Today, the 341 Haddon Avenue property is the home of Elena Stavisky Dental Office. Can you help us fill in the gaps - after Dewees closed in 1990, what other businesses occupied this site? And, what was at 341 Haddon Avenue between 1978 and 1982?

09/13/2026

October is Camden County History Month.

09/12/2026

A Final Look at 1800s Education in Haddon Township:
Saddlertown’s Church/School

In the 1890s Haddonfield Quakers Charles Rhoads and his wife Beulah Morris-Rhoads wanted to build a church and school in the Saddlertown community of Haddon Township. We can read the following in An Extract From The Diary of Charles Rhoads, Haddonfield, NJ:
“I have noticed that in a colored settlement at Saddlertown in Haddon Township, and west of it, their children were obliged to walk a long distance to the colored school house on Grove St., Haddonfield, and these families have no place of worship within reach of their homes. These considerations have induced me to build a two-storied house, 25 feet by 40 feet, at Saddlertown; of which the upper room has been fitted up as a meeting-house, and a First Day Bible School room; and the lower room, for a day school for the colored people of that vicinity. The house was opened for that first named object, in the second story, 2nd month [February] 26th, 1893. I have put these concerns in the management of the Colored Methodist Congregation who meet at Mt. Zion, near Snow Hill [today's Lawnside, NJ]. There was a large number met, probably 125, and I explained to them my object in building the house; and devoting it to their use.”
On August 22, 1892 Jefferson Fisher, Jr. (grandson of Joshua Saddler) sold part of his Saddlertown property to Charles Rhoads for $309. (Camden County Deed Book 178, p. 606). The combination church and school was completed in 1893. The church was later named Rhoads Temple United Methodist Church and is still an active church in the Saddlertown community. The schoolroom was located on the ground floor of the church building and contained 56 desks.
By 1911, the one-room school facility in the church building was deemed by Saddlertown residents and the Haddon Township Board of Education as being inadequate, and a new schoolhouse in Saddlertown was proposed. Land for the new school was purchased for $500. from the Aaron Stoy estate, measuring 75 ft. fronting Beechwood Ave., and the north boundary line ran at angles to Beechwood Ave. The building was of brick construction, with a slate, gabled roof, and contained one classroom, a basement, and a front porch. The new Saddlertown school was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1912. (The location of the schoolhouse was approximately where the water tower off MacArthur Blvd. sits today.) A Haddon Township BOE report indicated that there were 39 students enrolled in the new Saddlertown school and Mrs. Emma Brown of Philadelphia, PA was the teacher. Her salary was $550. per annum. Miss Evelina Jefferson was the first graduate of the new Saddlertown school in June 1913.
Elementary school-age children of Saddlertown began attending the nearby Stoy Elementary School sometime shortly after it was constructed in 1928.

09/11/2026

We remember Danielle Kousoulis
Danielle Kousoulis
Date of Birth: September 26, 1971
Position: Vice President, Bond Broker, Cantor Fitzgerald, NYC

Danielle grew up in Haddon Township, the third of four children. She attended Haddon Township High School where she graduated as salutatorian in 1989. As a student in Haddon Township High School, Danielle competed on the gymnastics and softball teams. She went on to attend college at Villanova University, where she received a bachelor of science in Economics, graduating cm laude in 1993. Danielle was a member of the crew team all four years at Villanova, serving as co-captain her senior year. It was during her early morning crew runs that Danielle honed her running skills and developed a passion for running. Danielle went on to run in numerous races, including completing the New York Marathon in 1999.
After graduating from Villanova in 1993, Danielle went on to work as a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York City. At Cantor, Danielle participated in Cantor’s mentoring program, providing guidance to new recruits admitted into Cantor’s training program. Danielle also served as a board member for the Investment Association of New York, and in 1999 she was chosen as Cantor’s Career Businesswoman of the Year representative for the YWCA/NYC Salute to Woman Achievers. While working at Cantor, Danielle also received her MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business in May of 2000.
When not working, Danielle loved spending time with her family and friends. In addition to running, Danielle also enjoyed playing golf and skiing. Danielle took advantage of every opportunity that came her way, never backing down from a challenge, and always living life to the fullest. (written by Eleni Kousoulis)
The Westmont Fire Company will hold their September 11th 25th Anniversary Service today, Friday, September 11th, starting at 9:30AM. It will be held in front of the firehouse, next to the 9/11 Memorial. All are welcome to attend. Parking on side streets may be required as Haddon Avenue will be closed by 9:15AM during the service for safety. Haddon Avenue will be closed between Chestnut Ave. and Cooper St. for the event, but will promptly reopen at the conclusion of the service.

09/05/2026

1800s Views of Champion School (aka Newton Union School House or Union School House, built 1821)
As we begin another school year in Haddon Township, here’s a look back into the 1800s. The Champion Schoolhouse, built in 1821, still stands today at 2910 Lynne Avenue in the West Collingswood Extension community of Haddon Township. Students attending the Champion School lived on farms in the areas that are now within the bounds of Collingswood, Woodlynne, Haddon Township, Gloucester Heights, Camden, and Oaklyn. In 1868, school enrollment included 65 children from Haddon Township and 77 pupils from Newton Township. The school had one of the lowest attendance rates among all schools in the county. During 1874, just 31 percent of enrolled students in the Champion District attended school throughout the year. School attendance was not mandatory anywhere, so most students did not go to school for the entire academic year, likely due to farm labor and domestic responsibilities, as well as illness. In 1873, 37 percent of enrolled students in all of old Haddon Township’s four school districts - Haddon, Rowandtown, Oak Grove, and Champion - attended school for less than four months. (Source: “Down A Country Lane” by Dennis G. Raible, Camden County Historical Society Publication, 1998. Attendance statistics quoted are from the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Schools of the State of New Jersey, 1864-1875.)
In 1988 the Champion Schoolhouse was added to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. In 1989, the movement to restore the school (The Newton Union Society) began. In 1990 the school was awarded $26,875 by the New Jersey Historic Trust as part of the New Jersey Historic Preservation Bond Program; and the following year it received $74,111 as part of the same program. The grants funded stabilization of the school's roof, structural improvements, and the removal of stucco to expose the original red brick walls.

08/29/2026

An 1800s Look at Westmont Schoolchildren & Their Schoolhouse
As Haddon Township children get ready to return to school, here’s a look at local children in an 1894 class photo, their school (built in 1872, with annex at the back built in 1901), and a sample of their curriculum (dated 1899). In 1872 the village was known as Rowandtown; the name Westmont came along in 1886.
In 1872 school officials raised funds via bonds and hired William Hoopes of Haddonfield to build a new 28’ x 36’, two-story frame building for $2,900 on the corner of Haddon and Reeve Ave., replacing a deteriorating, one-room schoolhouse built about 1825. Along with the new building, $400 was spent on the purchase of new desks, coal stoves, and maps, while $50 went toward new books in the school library. The structure measured 28’ x 36’. It had eleven foot high ceilings, slate blackboards and raised platforms in the classrooms for the teachers. There was also a privy built outside with two sides, one for boys and one for girls. The school could accommodate 100 students. (The small annex building seen in the schoolhouse photo to the rear of the building was constructed by Esterbrook Reeve in 1901.) The Westmont school served the township until 1907 when a modern brick schoolhouse was built on the same site. The 1872 schoolhouse was moved to Center Street, and was used for a while as the First Methodist Mission church, and was later converted to private residences. It still stands at 22-24 Center Street. The small annex built by Esterbrook Reeve now serves as township municipal offices located on Reeve Ave.
These facts and more information on the 19th century history of Haddon Township are available in the book “Down A Country Lane” by Dennis G. Raible, Camden County Historical Society Publication, 1999.

Haddon Township Historical Society

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