The Alden Park housing development land was formerly the Tiver farm. Prior to that it was owned by the Charles B. Coles family for several generations. Before that, the Burrough family. It originally, I believe, was part of the "100 acres" owned by John Walker and sold to Samuel Burrough in 1712.
Why is Alden Park called that, and why is The Alden Cafe called that? The development's name is actually "Maple Shade Estates."
I asked a man who worked on the Alden Park development.
I worked in the Navy Seabees (Naval Construction Battalion) and built homes there, Main street to Colwick (first section in) when I was 18 years old. They didn't have the money to pay by the hour so workers got piece work pay. Tiver's farm owned the land before. Applegate & Lyon was the builder. They had a Jewish friend named Alden is why it's called that. I had the blue print plans to a model "C" house (cement pad Rose Ave. homes) and I used it to build my garage by. Chicken houses were there before I built the garage.
-Fred Beaver,
 According to this- In July of 1950 they were just starting Alden Park. |
 Old and new Street signs The Twp. and Lions Club did the old cement pole signs in 1951. |
 102 S. Coles being built in 1951 |
 Same house on S. Coles, 1951, Photos courtesy of Rob Hamilton. |
Alden Park, like Maple Shade's other housing developments had its own sports teams and Civic Association. The Alden Park Civic Association had meetings to discuss improvements, events, etc...
Maple Shade's ranchers are somewhat small compared to later housing trends but at the time were similar to the first Levittown's. Several sports figures lived in Alden Park and a night at the Alden Cafe bar might include alot of the Philadelphia Hockey team, etc... It was 1950s sububurbia, ranchers and split levels in several models built on winding streets.
 A Split Level house which has been modified. |
 Rancher with a second floor addition. |
We are going to go way back....
In 1794, our "Main Street" replaced another road called-
In old deeds we see these names- the great Road, the Road from Cooper's Ferry to Mount Holly, the great Road that leads from Cooper's Ferry to Moore's Town.
From "Chester Township" by Clayton Lippincott-
Near where the Fellowship Turnpike (now Rt. 73 there) crosses the line of the Old Salem Road (Kings Highway) formerly branched off a road running about a westerly course, crossed the south branch of Penisaukin Creek where formerly stood Burrough's grist-mill, and passing a little to the south of Merchantville, crossed Cooper's Creek near where the railroad bridge now stands, at a place called "Spicer's Ferry," and from thence to Cooper's Ferry. This was the general market road for farmers of a large part of Burlington County until the present road from Mount Holly to Camden was laid out in 1794. (Main Street)
From "Moorestown And Her Neighbors" by George DeCou-
An interesting old road known as the Ferry or Market road branched from the Kings Highway near the old Matlack homestead at the intersection of the Fellowship Road and School House Lane. It passed through the woods on the Chalkley Matlack farm (Maplewood Apartments) thence to the south of Merchantville and lead direct to Spicers Ferry which crossed Coopers Creek near the present railroad bridge and thence to Cooper's Ferry on the Delaware. Chalkley Matlack informed me that in his boyhood days the course of this road could be clearly traced through the woods on his farm. The road was used extensively by the farmers in the neighborhood in sending their produce to the Philadelphia market prior to the opening of the present road from Moorestown to Camden.
From "The History of Camden County, NJ" by George Reeser Prowell-
(deals with the Camden County segment)
On the 8th of March, 1762, the surveyors of highways laid out a road from the southeast branch of Pensauken Creek towards "the new bridge erected from Samuel Spicers Landing across Coopers Creek," to begin at a bridge erected by
Samuel Burroughs, across the southeast branch of Pensauken Creek, and at his gristmill. This road was laid out four rods wide and passed through the east end of Thomas Spicer's land, over the head of Henry Woods Creek, and to the "Burlington New Road."
Map detail from the 1907 G.M. Hopkins Camden and the Environs Atlas map of Maple Shade showing the Asa R. Lippincott and Frisby house, etc... lots coming together under one owner. This land belonged to Thomas Thorne in the 1700s. (See the Perry Frisby page) The road to the Charles B. Coles house was once the Old Ferry Road. (about where Rose Ave.is) Samuel Burrough's grist mill was on it on the Cherry Hill side of the Pennsauken Creek nearby it.
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Most of the above survey is in Cherry Hill. Where it says "West of Grist Mill. The grist mill was on the Cherry Hill side of the creek, so Samuel Burrough Jr.'s land (he went to Evesham to live) started there. The Alden Park area would be east of where the creek is (not shown) and the "great Road" was another name for the old Ferry Road (aprox. where Rose Ave. is) Roberts Stiles land is Nathan Perkins land. Click on this link to see Samuel Jr.'s land went out to Haddonfield Road. Compare 1774 and 1877 (I think a co-ordinance is messed up. (?) I rechecked the deed and everything I had was correct. So I re-mapped it out withought the lines that don't resolve correctly.) |
Map Detail from a G.M. Hopkins 1877 atlas map Where a small run flows into the south branch of the Pennsauken Creek can be seen at the railroad bridge. This was the dividing place between the Rudderow land, Stiles land, and Burrough family land. Well actually the Burrough land looks like it included it on its side as you can tell by the school house. |
The discovery of this deed (which survey was plotted from) is very significant in that in Samuel Burrough's will, he gave all his lands to the younger son Joseph, and he gave no lands to the older son Samuel (who later moved to Evesham). So this helps us to see, the reason being, was because Samuel bought this land before his father's death. But wait a discovery!-
I bet nobody ever figured this out except me right now. Well maybe ones did like 100 years ago or so...
In the above deed (survey drawn only here), on April 1, 1774, Samuel Burrough Jr. bought 398 acres and 2 roods of land from his father Samuel Burrough Sr.(All of the land is not shown above. There was other tracts) for the sum of 5 shillings. In the will abstract below, you figure out what Samuel Burrough Sr. is doing!!!
1774, April 28, Burrough, Samuel, of Waterford Township, Gloucester Co., yeoman; will of. Wife, Ann, use of my present dwelling house, that is 1/2 thereof, at the mill; also L20 yearly, to be paid by my sons, Joseph and Samuel. Daughter, Ann Tomlinson, during her widowhood, the use of the one room with her mother. Son, Joseph, all my lands. Son, Samuel, 5 shillings. Rest of personal estate to my wife and 5 daughters, Sarah, Ann, Abigail, Bathsheba, and Rachel.
Son Samuel Jr. (Who BTW bought the Collins Lane house earlier from Joseph Rudderow) moved to Evesham sometime after his father's death. Son Joseph inherited the "Woodland Farm," a brick house which was in Colwick until lost in a fire in the 60s. He had three sons- William, Joseph, and Reuben. Joseph died January 22, 1810. His son Joseph inherited the Woodland Farm, Reuben inherited the house by the mill, the grist mill and the land on the Burlington County side of the creek. (later Alden Park) During this time after their father's death in 1810, son Joseph deeded the Chesterford School and lot to some neighborhood families.
Given the facts that Samuel Cole bought in the late 1600s over 1000 acres of land, the south branch of the Pennsauken Creek was once called the Coles branch, and that the Coles family, west of Coles Avenue owned the Alden Park area for generations prior to it being the Tiver farm, one would easily assume it was originally land owned by Samuel Cole. But in fact, it was probably originally first settled by John Walker and sold to Samuel Burrough in 1712. How did Charles B. Coles come to own the land? Well he is a Burrough descendant.
From "The History of Camden County, NJ" by George Reeser Prowell-
Joseph Coles, the grandfather of Charles B. Coles, was married to Sarah Heulings. Their son Charles was born July 7, 1807, and died February 25, 1837; married Rachel Burrough, daughter of Joseph and Martha (Davis) Burrough, and had two children, Joseph, who died in childhood, and Charles B. Coles, who was born on August 7, 1836, at the homestead now owned by himself, and known as the Coles Mill Farm, in Chester township, Burlington County, near the Camden line, to which place his father moved upon his marriage with Rachel Burrough, whose ancestors for six generations had owned the same property. His mother died in the Eleventh Month 29,1869, aged sixty-five years.
Charles B. Coles' father died when he was less than a year and a half old. When eight years of age he went to reside with an uncle on a farm, and in early life followed the occupation of farming. In 1864 he engaged in the active business of life and has since followed it with unabated prosperity.
C.B. Coles' Planing Mill, corner of Front and Liberty Streets, is owned by Charles B. Coles, who, in 1864, in connection with William S. Doughten, started the business on Front Street and Chestnut, the firm-name being Doughten & Coles. They continued in partnership until 1870, when they dissolved, and Charles B. Coles built his own mill at the present location.
Charles B. Coles obituary from the New Jersey Mirror newspaper-
Headline: Death of C. B. Coles
Date: October 13, 1915
Page: 1
Column: 3
Summary: Charles B. Coles, President of C. B. Coles & Sons Co., of Camden, died at his residence, 331 Chester Avenue, Moorestown, Saturday, October 9, 1915, aged 79 years. He was a life long member of the Society of Friends. Charles B. coles, son of Charles and Rachel Burroughs Coles, was born on the Coles Mill Farm, near Colestown, Burlington County, August 7, 1836. His father Charles Coles, died from lockjaw when he was about 2 and 1/2 years old. As a boy and young man much of his time was spent on the farms of his uncles in Camden and Burlington Counties. In 1855 he moved to Camden and from 1864 to 1870 was a partner of the firm of Doughten & Coles, lumber dealers and manufacturers of packing boxes near Kaighn's avenue ferry. In 1870 he started in business for himself, Front Street below Kaighn's Avenue, this location being a portion of the property now occupied by C. B. Coles & Sons Company. Reared an abolitionist, Mr. Coles, at the birth of the Republican Party became one of its warmest supporters and he was elected to the Camden City Council, the youngest member of his party.He also served as a member of the Board of Freeholders of Camden County and in 1886 Supreme Court Justice, Joel Parker, appointed him a commissioner to adjust the back taxes of the city of Camden. Mr. Coles was also one of the incorporators of the Camden National Bank. A pioneer in the temperance cause, he has always been a faithful worker for the abolition of the liquor traffic. He was married June 8, 1865, to Mary M. Colson, daughter of Jonathan and Hannah P. Colson of Mullica Hill, Gloucester County. The early part of their married life was spent in Camden, and in 1886 they moved to Moorestown where they have since made their home. They have two children, William C. Coles and Henry B. coles, both of Moorestown. They have been associated with him in the C. B. Coles & Sons Company since its incorporation in 1894.
At a Maple Shade Historical Society meeting, There were several members of the Sherf family as well as Steve Tiver. Charlie Sherf, as a boy, worked on the Tiver farm. The talk at the meeting was about Charlie and his brother Tommy Sherf's memories of the Tiver Farm, their boyhood adventures, and riding rodeo at places like Totem Ranch and Cowtown. Charles Thomas Sherf and his daughter Barbara Lee Sherf co-wrote a book "Cowboy Mission: The Best Sermons are Lived... Not Preached" The following information about the Tiver farm is from that book.
According to the book, the farm was jointly owned by Mrs. Pfluger, John, and Ed Tiver. (I would add that they might have been renting it in the beginning. Charles B. Coles was very wealthy and moved to a mansion on Chester Ave. in Moorestown.) So the family was Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pfluger and their son Charlie, John Tiver and his younger brother Ed Tiver, both single. The Gibson family, who were black, were the farmhands and lived in a separate house. Bill Gibson was the father and Elwood "Tiddly" Gibson was his son.
The farm had six mules, two workhorses, a half dozen cows and heifers, and two bulls. The Sherfs learned to first ride rodeo on these animals at the Tiver Farm.
The book "Cowboy Mission" is very colorfully written and gets into the hearts and minds of the people and the mules. I will only quote this paragraph here-
Charlie Pfluger and I were quite friendly from our first day in school and one day he invited me to his farm; 125 acres filled with mules, work horses, calves, cows and chickens. Who wanted to play tennis or go to the swimming hole on that farm with all those animals nearby? Not I !
According to Frank Brooks, John and Ed Tiver farmed the land with a colored family that also lived on the farm. They were the Gibsons, one of the only two black families in town at the time. The other one worked on the Gardner farm and lived on Fellowship Road. He said "Old man Gibson" or the Tivers could be seen plowing the fields by hand.
The Sherf's book isn't exactly for children in a few spots and it isn't religious as the title might suggest, but gives insight to the Tiver Farm which is now Alden Park. (A lot is about rodeo riding adventures.) I like how it gets into the heads of the people and even the animals. You would team a male and a female mule to a plow for the day. Makes them happier. Stuff like that. The book doesn't include every story told at the Historical Society meeting but you would get the gist. You can get a copy for yourself here- Cowboy Mission book at Blurb Books
The Tiver family from Ellisburg, New Jersey was quite large. Annie and John Tiver had 10 children. As the children grew older, John and Edward became farmers and eventually leased a large area along Coles Avenue in what is now known as Maple Shade, New Jersey. Their sister Mary joined them on the farm and provided the help in preparing the meals and maintaining the homestead. The house had a very large kitchen with a big coal fired cook stove. She became known as Aunt Mary with a wonderful hearty laugh. She loved to celebrate birthdays with cakes and goodies from the Maple Shade Bakery. Mary married Charles W. Pfluger Sr. also from Ellisburg, N.J. Mary and Charles Sr. had two children, a daughter Marie A. and a son Charles W. Jr. When Charles Jr. became old enough he joined John and Ed in working the farm. Marie A. married Edward Quinlan and moved to Pennsauken.
The farm had a nice stream along the back end of the property with a good grazing area for a few horses and cows. The main farm crop was tomatoes along with smaller quantities of corn, broccoli and potatoes. The tomatoes were harvested and the baskets of tomatoes were loaded on a flat bed truck. In the very early morning hours the truck was driven to Campbell Soup Company in Camden, N. J. Campbell Soup would select a a couple of baskets of tomatoes for grading. Payment for the load would depend on the quality of the tomatoes. This was a very productive farm until the passing of John and Edward. After the farm was sold Charles W. Jr. leased ground in Colestown, N. J. and continued farming.
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Annie Tiver - 1860- John Tiver - 1843- Children: Sallie - 1884 Lizzie - 1886 Maggie - 1887 Mary - 1888 - 1946 William - 1890 John - 1892 Katie - 1893 Nellie - 1895 Jacob - 1896 Edward - 1898 - 1943 |
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Mary (Tiver) Pfluger - 1888 - 1946 Charles W. Pfluger Sr. 1895 - 1983 Children: Marie A. - 1925 - 1959 Charles W. Jr.- 1929 - 2002 |