Groundbreaking ceremony heralds major restoration project for Camden's historic Johnson Park
Archived article from Oct 24, 2005
By Michael Sepanic
Historic Eldridge R. Johnson Park in the heart of the Camden waterfront district is about to undergo a $2 million restoration. A groundbreaking ceremony last month marked the start of a facelift that will restore a regional landmark to its Victorian-era beauty.
The Johnson Park Rehabilitation project, funded by the Camden Economic Recovery Board and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program, is slated for completion in summer 2006. Improvements include restoration of the park’s reflecting pools; reconstruction of the decorative bronze fence that once surrounded the Peter Pan statue; replacement of the missing balustrade wall in the rear of the park; creation of two small pavilions mimicking the changing pagodas once located in the park; and a basement level terrace at the rear of the Walt Whitman Center.
Johnson Park is owned by Rutgers and located on the Camden campus. The Cooper’s Ferry Development Association and Rutgers will implement this project that, upon completion, will provide Camden residents, Rutgers students and visitors to the Camden waterfront with open space for recreation and relaxation.
Local inventor and philanthropist Eldridge Johnson, whose modern phonograph helped launch RCA, donated the neo-classical Cooper Library and surrounding Johnson Park to the city of Camden. The complex, built between 1914 and 1930, occupies an entire block near the waterfront on the Camden campus. When it opened in 1918, the site became southern New Jersey’s foremost cultural center. Today, the library houses the Walt Whitman Cultural Arts Center.
Originally, the park was graced with bronze sculptures created by some of the most important sculptors of the early 20th century. Designed for children, the park featured a rare representation of Peter Pan by Sir George Frampton. Philadelphia sculptor Albert Laessle contributed fanciful works including goats, frogs, a turtle, a duck and the Greek god Pan.
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