Kaighn's Point and Philadelphia Ferry Company

The Kaighn's Point and Philadelphia Ferry Company was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey on March 15, 1859, and it purchased the assets of the former South Camden Ferry Company on June 21, 1861. The ferry from Kaighn's Point in Camden to Washington Street in Philadelphia had been established in 1816 by the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Steam-Boat Company. The Philadelphia terminal was moved to South Street in 1828. The company was reorganized as the South Camden Ferry Company on March 14, 1851, but service was discontinued because of financial losses in 1856.

In 1873, the company came under the control of Gen. John S. Schultze as agent for the New York partners of the banking house of Brown Bros. & Co. They were in the process of constructing a railroad from Keyport, N.J., to Camden and needed the ferry for connection to Philadelphia. The railroad project was abandoned after the Panic of 1873, but Brown Brothers continued to operate the ferry company. However, a short local railroad, the Camden, Gloucester & Mount Ephraim, reached the ferry terminal in 1873 and supplied it with some business.

In 1885 the Philadelphia & Atlantic City Railroad (a part of the Reading System) routed its trains into the Kaighn's Point terminal, replacing its own ferry at the foot of Bulson Street, Camden. A second line of boats was started from Kaighn's Point to the Reading station at the foot of Walnut Street. This new railroad connection brought much more business to the ferry company, and on March 12, 1888, Brown Brothers sold control of the company to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. It was reorganized as the Delaware River Ferry Company of New Jersey. The ferry was finally abandoned on April 30, 1938.

From the description of Records, 1855-1888. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122385162