Haddonfield Borough Hall
Welcome to Haddonfield, NJ! I start us off at the center of town: Haddonfield's Borough Hall. Haddonfield sits in a desirable location being 9 miles from Philadelphia, an hour away from New York City, and an hour away from the infamous Jersey Shore. Haddonfield was founded by Quakers, and quickly became the center for a lot of historical successes. Haddonfield today is a successful residential walking community with historic homes, excellent public schools, lovely shops and restaurants, and historic sites like the Indian King Tavern. Haddonfield is 2.84 square miles big, and is home to 11,000 residents. Although it is an incredible desirable place to live, it is ridded with toxicity in the most manipulative ways. After living here for my entire life, it took until this class came along to realize how Haddonfield uses its places and spaces to discriminate and push an agenda. I thought it would be beneficial to critically observe a place I had known and lived in for so long. I also think it is important to teach my little sisters, and little cousins who live in town the importance of recognizing the way Haddonfield discriminates through their allocation of space and place.
Haddonfield Memorial High School
First we will start at Haddonfield Memorial High School, the one and only high school in Haddonfield. The school was opened in 1927, named after those who had served in World War I. It has always been a place ridded by excellence: in academics, athletics, and extra cirriculars. It is ranked #2 in the state for best public high schools. Of its 869 students, 90% are white. 1% of students are economically disadvantaged. Basically, 99% of Haddonfield Memorial High School students are priviledged. 99% of students have house parties in their elaborate Victorian homes, with the parents providing alcohol of course. The 8:1 student to faculty ratio creates the perfect environment for teachers and students to talk about other students, other teachers, and the parents of course! #2 in the state for education, but for sure #1 in the state for its toxic culture.
Haddonfield Historical Society
Next on our tour we travel to the Haddonfield Historical Society. The Haddonfield Historical Society serves as a place on interest where Haddonfield residents can learn about and celebrate their history. Although lots of the historical books have a variety of authors, they all share the same viewpoint: the perspective of the white, dominant man. Haddonfield did not take land from the Lenape Indian tribe that occupied it before them, they were graciously handed the land. Here Haddonfield celebrates all of its feats, big or small, and all skewed.
Indian King Tavern
Now we move to our first point of interest: The Haddonfield Indian King Tavern. Indian King Tavern is New Jersey's first state-owned hsitorical site that was aquired in 1903. It is wheer New Jersey completed its transition from colony to state. On the second-floor of the Indian King Tavern, laws were created that revised important election procedures, laws that created township governments, and laws that set up state courts were all passed. Measures that strengthened the militia, regulated a war economy, and provided emergency support to the Continental army were taken. Today, the Indian King Tavern offers free tours and history lessons to anyone interested to Haddonfield's past. What isn't frequently advertised about the Haddonfield Indian King Tavern is that along with the important second-floor law discussions, and the beer served on the first floor, the basement held slaves. To many of the black members of Haddonfield's community, the Indian King Tavern serves as salt to the wound about our ugliest history. It acts as a memorial for all of the hardship that their race has gone through, and it sits right in the center of Kings Highway; Haddonfield's main street. It serves as a dark place for our minorities, but a place of celebration for our white majority.
Haddonfield Patco Station
The next point of interest for our tour is the Haddonfield Patco Station. Haddonfield station is a rapid transit station on the PATCO Lindenwald line that connects Haddonfield to a variety of places from New Jersey to Philadelphia. The Haddonfield Patco Station was opened up in 1969. It had its first successful trip on February 15, 1969, with the first trip from Haddonfield, New Jersey, to Center City, Philadelphia. Back then, the 14.2 mile line carried 21, 200 people per day. The PATCO served as a boost in the economy, for it provided a variety of jobs. Homes, apartment buildings, and businesses were all developed along the PATCO speedline, creating tremendous population growth in both local New Jersey towns and in the city of Philadelphia. The Haddonfield PATCO station is quite literally a barrier. A barrier from Camden, New Jersey, the murder capital of the country. What appears to be a mode of transportation acts as a gate from Camden. When Camden was a desirable location, the most frequent stop from the PATCO station was from Haddonfield, NJ to Camden, NJ. A mere 8 miles away, Camden was a 2 minute ride on the PATCO station. Now, the PATCO station stops are as followed:1) 15th/16th & Locust St. (Philadelphia)2) 12th/13th & Locust St. (Philadelphia)3) 9th/10th & Locust St. (Philadelphia)4) 8th & Market St. (Philadelphia)5) City Hall (NJ)6) Broadway (NJ)7) Ferry Avenue (NJ)8) Westmont (NJ)9) Haddonfield (NJ)10) Woodcrest (NJ)11) Ashland (NJ)12) Lindenwold (NJ)What is missing? Camden, NJ. Although the Haddonfield PATCO station gives the illusion that it is connecting Haddonfield to other places, it is only connecting Haddonfield to equally as desirable places, places that could not tarnish Haddonfield's utopian feel. It would be a shame for Haddonfield to be so closely related to Camden: ridded with murder, drugs, and crime. Most residents in Camden can not afford to get to Haddonfield without public transportation. So removing any possible public transportation is the most acceptable way to put up a wall between beautiful Haddonfield, and dangerous Camden.
Christ the King Catholic Church
We move to our third point of interest: Christ the King Roman Catholic Church. Haddonfield was founded by Quakers, who encouraged the birth of a Methodist Church and a Presbyterian church in the early 1800's. Long before the formation of Christ the King, a handful of Catholics who lived in Haddonfield travelled 2-3 hours for Catholic mass each Sunday morning. Chris the King Church was finally created in Haddonfield in 1927. It was the last of the "grand Christian" churches to be built in Haddonfield. The church is also a pioneer in religious technology and has paved the way for remote broadcasting. In 1947, the first telecast of a Roman Catholic Mass was broadcasted from the Christ the King church. In 1952, additional classrooms, as well as a gymasium were built at Christ the King school. Christ the King serves as a staple for Haddonfield's very bland religious beliefs. There are exactly 20 religious spaces in Haddonfield's two square miles: every single one being of Christian denomination. There is not a synagogue, a mosque, etc. The closest religious spaces for people of other beliefs are 10 minutes away by car. This creates a lack of knowledge and education about other religions and other perspectives. If you didn't attend Sunday school as a child, you were bullied and excluded-you had missed an entire day of fun that everyone else had spent together! This class has taught me the importance and power that comes with the allocation of space-especially for minority groups. Haddonfield blatantly disregards those other religions and minorities by their lack of allocation of space.
Hopkins Pond
This is Hopkins Pond, a cornerstone of Haddonfield's nature. The pond has been in Haddonfield for more than 200 years, since 1789, when the earthen dam was built so that the water could power a grist mill. What is rarely advertised, and can not be found anywhere on the Internet, is that Hopkins Pond's nature trails are built on top of a landfill. It is a popular place for hikes, fishing, and for the cross country team to go on team runs. Although, it has been completely "beautified" to hide its toxic pollution and past.
