Cooper Street Historic District
Cooper Street originated in 1765 as Middle Ferry Road, leading to one of the Camden, New Jersey, ferries that connected South Jersey to Philadelphia. In 1773, it was named Cooper Street for the family that operated the ferry and owned much of the nearby land – the Coopers. As a connecting road to Philadelphia, Cooper Street served an important transportation artery because no bridge connected South Jersey with Philadelphia until 1926. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Cooper Street developed into one of the most fashionable and prosperous neighborhoods of Camden.
Cooper Street (from Second to Seventh Streets) was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 on the basis of its distinctive architecture and because it represents a broad pattern of American history: a transition in use from residential and professional to commercial. Today many of the properties are owned by Rutgers-Camden and used for education and administration purposes.