neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
. According to the 2000 United States census, Fairview Village has a population of 5,947. Much of the neighborhood is part of a
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
listed on the
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
planned community
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
of approximately 1000 homes located near
New York Shipbuilding
The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, and was intended to provide housing for the shipyard's workers and their families. New York Shipbuilding had more than tripled in size due to war contracts, and the influx of shipyard workers was overwhelming the Camden housing market. The
United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was a corporation established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting ...
through its
Emergency Fleet Corporation
The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...
used funds from a $50,000,000 appropriation for housing to alleviate a housing shortage threatening its shipbuilding program. Actual construction was managed by the Department of Housing and Transit, United States Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation which selected
Electus Darwin Litchfield
Electus Darwin Litchfield, FAIA (1872–1952) was an American architect and town planner, practicing in New York City.Haddon Township, had formerly been the Old Cooper Farmstead. The village's design was influenced by the
garden city movement
The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...
developing in England at the time.
Litchfield envisioned Yorkship Village as "a place of light rooms and clean yards, with adequate playgrounds and amusement fields; a place of beauty and appropriateness and cleanliness so great that a man returning from his daily toil would receive new strength and recreation; a place where the man who could save a fraction of his income would be able to obtain with it, for himself and for his children, a share of play and education, literature and music, and other uplifting things."
Litchfield's plan for Yorkship Village included narrow, winding residential streets (soon to be tree-lined), a central village square, broad green boulevards, and brick duplexes and row homes with both front and back yards. Architecturally, the village is now considered an example of American
Federal style
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classical architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was influenced heavily by the works of And ...
. The "village" character would be further emphasized by physical isolation, since it was bordered on three sides by Newton Creek.
Construction began with ground-breaking on May 1, 1918. The United States Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation bore the estimated $11 million cost of construction, but required the local community to provide utilities, fire hydrants, and fire and police protection. The cost of those services was beyond the means of Haddon Township, which ceded Yorkship Village to the City of Camden on July 8, 1918.
At the end of the war the Emergency Fleet Corporation began selling properties with 1,579 houses, 59 apartments, 13 stores, a hotel, a gymnasium and miscellaneous buildings unsold at the start of 1921. By the end of Fiscal Year 1924 all but twelve houses, the sewage system and plant, water system, bridge, public squares and parks had been sold.
It became Camden's 14th Ward. Though Yorkship Village was renamed Fairview in 1922, the original elementary school located near the square is still operating as Yorkship School, and all of the original streets are still named for famous naval vessels.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Camden County, New Jersey
This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Camden County, New Jersey. Latitude and longitude coordinates of the sites listed on this page may be displayed in an onli ...