Hammonton's Commercial District

When Hammonton received its own station in 1858 on the Camden & Atlantic railroad line, Bellevue Avenue was opened and became the main street in town.

In 1866, Hammonton, New Jersey was incorporated and has grown and prospered over the last 150 years, retaining many of the fine qualities of a small New Jersey inland town. The downtown still centers around the crossing of the Philadelphia-seashore railroad line and Bellevue Avenue, where shops, restaurants, banks, and churches line the streets. About a half-mile from the railroad, many of the original, gracious, late 19th and early 20th century private residences still line the tree shaded streets, with only minor infilling of newer homes.

By 1872 Hammonton’s business district lined both sides of the southernmost-end of Bellevue, near the Camden & Atlantic Railroad tracks, but was only one block long—from the railroad tracks to Second Street. Lots along both sides of the railroad tracks near Bellevue and 12th Street became home to several factories. A shoe factory on the south side of the tracks was established around 1878. It and another former shoe factory on Front Street significantly illustrate an industry that flourished from the 1870s to the 1920s in town.

By 1896, commercial development had expanded to the 200 block of Bellevue on the west side. A devastating fire of several commercial buildings along the east side of Bellevue just north of the railroad tracks saw the destruction of one brick building and several wood frame ones in this important section of the business district. Although they were eventually rebuilt, that all but one were of masonry rather than wood construction importantly signaled the beginning of the downtown’s gradual conversion from an area of gable-fronted, wood frame store/residences modestly spaced apart, to one of abutting, brick or concrete block buildings. A few of the early, frame buildings remain, but the majority built after 1900 are of masonry. 

By 1908 the greatest concentration of commercial buildings was along the two blocks of Bellevue Avenue north of the railroad tracks. Many of the town’s commercial buildings started using pressed metal as an inexpensive way to embellish their buildings, mostly through molded cornices along the roofline. The building at the northwest corner of Bellevue and Egg Harbor Road, built 1903-1904, is the most elaborate and ornate example of pressed metal in the county. It demonstrates the potential for turning a functional commercial structure into a remarkable, important downtown building as well.

The downtown commercial district saw a significant number of its storefronts renovated, rehabilitated, and modernized, a process that continues to this day. Changes to second and third stories have been less dramatic, if at all.