08/15/2026
Walter Campbell remembers West Cape May and Cape May City in the 1930s and 1940s
Part 3
Occupations and Businesses
WATCHMAN ON PARK BOULEVARD -
“In the early thirties the WPA put sewer pipes on Railroad Avenue, now Park Blvd. The WPA was the Works Progress Administration passed by Congress in 1935 which ran until 1943 and the program finally stopped the war years of World War I. My Grand-pop supervised the work and
my Father also worked on the project. There was a little shack for the night watchman, Mr. Jessie Moore, at the end of Emerald Avenue. My brother helped him putting out the little black pots at night which were filled with kerosene and
were lit so cars or people wouldn't go into the ditches or dirt piles. My brother and I would spend many evenings talking to him in his little watchman's shack, huddled around the kerosene stove. He lived on Fourth Avenue and once during a fire in his home, the firemen while fighting the fire put a cover over his piano so it wasn’t ruined.”
RICHARDSON'S CANDY STORE - BROADWAY AND PEARL St.
“Money was tight when I was a child because of
the depression. When we were fortunate enough to have a penny, or if we were real lucky, a nickel, we school kids would go to Mr. Richardson's candy store at the corner of Pearl and Broadway, and buy five Tootsie Rolls for a penny, or red
licorice strips that seemed to last forever. If you were real brave, you got a jawbreaker that hardly fitted into your mouth. We didn't have enough money to get ice cream cones at Aunt "Meddie" (Mary) Springer's on 6th and Broadway, but we did buy her penny candy.”
AMERICAN STORE AND SWAINS' BUTCHER SHOP ON BROADWAY
“Sometimes after school, I would go to the American Store, now called the Acme, with my Mother. It was located in the small building next to Flanagan's arts and framing store on Broadway. When you entered the grocery
store during the 30's, they had 3 or 4 large barrels in the middle of the store. We always got a cracker out of a barrel, or if we were lucky, some loose animal crackers out of the other barrel. (Photo 1) Across the street was Archie Swain's butcher shop with saw dust on the floor. While in the store, you could look through a window and see the meat hanging on the hooks.”
FISH CLEANING BUSINESS ON PEARL AVENUE
“On the next street at the corner of Pearl Avenue and Railroad Avenue, was Mr. Sam Cliver who had a fish cleaning business in his back barn. Most of his customers were the bars and
restaurants on Beach Drive in Cape May. We enjoyed watching him filet the fish and sometimes, one of the many cats that hung around, would be brave enough to hop up on the cutting bench and get away with a fish. Apparently his truck, in the early 20's was pulled by a horse while he made deliveries. When we stopped by, Mrs. Cliver always gave us kids a piece of candy or a cracker. This was a regular stop for most of the kids in the neighborhood.”
UNION NEWS STAND AT CAPE MAY
TRAIN STATION ON WASHINGTON ST.
“Mr. Les Bishop lived on Eldredge
Avenue and ran the Union News stand at the Cape May train station on Washington Street where today would be across from Victorian Towers at Ocean Street. He sold daily and Sunday newspapers which were delivered on the seven o'clock train. Among the papers were the
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and the Baltimore Sun that are no longer in existence. Also delivered was the Police Gazette with its pink cover which was a man's paper similar to
today's Enquirer scandal paper sold in the super markets. {Union News published postcards that were sold in Railroad stations (2) } Mr. Bishop also worked in the railroad round-house located in the vicinity of the Cape May water works along side the railroad tracks. The trains would lay over at this location until their next trip and he would be responsible for pulling the necessary switches to clear the tracks for the passing trains. My brother worked for him and brought up his lunch and helped pull the switches.”
A PIG FARM ON PARK BOULEVARD?
“There was a pig farm pass the dump on Park Blvd., in which you crossed over Elmira Street on the creek side. It was owned by Copper Evans
and we enjoyed going over there to see the piglets and hogs. We were always real careful while standing on the fence to see them because there quite a few large hogs and they smelled especially in the warm weather, but we enjoyed watching them. Mr. Evans who was always mean to them was gored by one of the large boars and later died from lockjaw due to his injuries. We didn't miss
him but eventually the pig farm closed much to our sorrow.”
Some Other Memories
SHORT CUT TO CAPE MAY- CROSSED OVER CREEK BY USING PLANKS
“We used a short across the creek by going over the paths in the meadows or following the abandoned railroad bed and crossed over Cape Island Creek (not the name we called it) by walking over several planks, and many times, only one. You had to be extra careful so you didn't fall in and especially at night as there was only a street light at the end of Bank Street. When you came out of Bank Street you walked by the Ogden Lumber Yard that stretched all the
way to Broad Street, (3) now occupied by National Associates and Wa-Wa. Next to the creek was the dump which was on West Cape May's side of the creek and ran alongside Elmira Street to Park Blvd. Even though the dump was in West Cape May, most of the trash there was from Cape May because of the summer visitors. Most of the men in West Cape May had their own push carts in taking their own trash to the dump. In Cape May many locals used horse and wagon to pick up the trash for the visitors in the summer, who were called "Cottagers". Later trash collectors had their own truck like Jim Wakefield in which he used the same truck for so many years that it looked like it was riding on its springs.”
FISHING FOR MINNOWS IN THE "CREEK" “We used to spend a lot of time along the creek (Cape Island Creek) next to the dump and many times would "fish" for minnows by using bread for bait and an old bent safety pin as a hook. Sometimes people would catch crabs in the creek but I always afraid to eat them for obvious reasons. Sometimes we go up and down the creek in an old row boat which was always ready to sink and we usually didn't have oars but used poles and floated with the tide. We used to make rude docks along the creek and every time it got cold and froze up, our so called pilings would push up
out of the banks.”
RAILROAD TRACKS BETWEEN SWAINS AND FEED STORE
‘There were railroad tracks that went across Elmira Street, right before the creek, that went into the lumber yard. In the same area, part of the tracks branched out and went between
Swains and the local feed store, Eldredge and Phillips, which is now Buck’s miniature golf course. The feed store was always busy because of all the farms in the area. Sometimes, we would try to cross over the creek by crawling along
the water pipe going into West Cape May next to the Atlantic City Electric Company on Bank Street. Mr. Tees who lived in the large brick two-story building, owned by the electric company, acted as a watchman and would usually come out and chase us if we tried to get on the water pipe.”
UNION CHAPEL - BROADWAY AND FIFTH AVENUE (4)
“We went to Sunday school at the Chapel on Broadway and 5th Ave., and sometimes the singing would get loud, especially the solos. Our Sunday school teacher was Bernice Ewing, who was very patient and kind to us children and we had our own separate seating area. We were suppose to be quiet and behave which was
quite a challenge. We would always make sure that our nickel got into the collection basket. Outside in the back of the chapel were outhouses side by side, one for the boys and one for the girls. Next to the chapel was an alley which we
sometimes used a short-cut to school, but one of the men who lived past Columbia Avenue said there were "rattlers" in a ditch along the alley which looked swampy and always full of water. After that we didn't walk down the alley past Columbia to find out what he said was really true but we believe him.”
LEGENDARY CHALFONTE COOK
“The legendary cook at the Chalfonte Hotel was Helen Helen Dickerson who came there as a child in 1915. "Miss Helen" worked for the Chalfonte for seventy years before she died in 1990. She wrote a cookbook titled "I JUST QUIT STIRRING WHEN THE TASTIN'S GOOD" and was also on the Phil Donahue Show. Dot Burton and Lucille Thompson inherited their mother’s cooking genes and have worked there over forty-five years they have kept their favorite pots and seasoned pans and with them made corn pudding, fried
chicken, spoon bread, fresh fish, buttermilk biscuits, hot rolls, stewed tomatoes and their famous crab cakes which Dot's son has inherited her genes in the making of them. Dot has worked hard with the Christmas Parade Lady, Charlotte
Daily, for forty years of the parade and has been a true friend to her.”(5)
Walter H. Campbell died December 28, 2010, at age 79. (6) The information that he wrote in 2007 is now part of the preserved history of West Cape May which present and future West Cape May residents and researchers will be able to study.
Information sources:
Walter Horman Campbell - 17 pages of memories type written in May 2007.
Amazon - Animal Crackers photo.
eBay- Postcard. (2) Cookbook (5)
Facebook - Union Chapel photo.
1927, Jul. 28, Cape May Star & Wave - Ogden Lumber ad.
2010, Dec. 30, Press of Atlantic City - Walter H. Campbell, obit.
