Dennis McDonald

Settled by Quakers in the late 1600s, Medford was dominated by sawmills and gristmills in the mid-1700s. During the 1800s, small Quaker and public schools were scattered throughout the township, three of which still survive today. When Medford became a town in 1847, after breaking away from Evesham, it had already begun to develop as a community. William Cooper, a photographer during the turn of the 20th century, captured many of the images featured in Medford. Cooper photographed workers at Kirby's Mill loading wagons, baseball players at the Medford Field Club, schoolchildren at Cross Keys School, employees at Braddock's Tavern, staff at the Indian Chief Hotel, glass blowers turning out bottles at Star Glass Company, and travelers at the Philadelphia, Marlton, and Medford train station on Main Street. He also snapped pictures of parades, kids playing in the streets, and men playing craps.

Medford has a rich history, beginning with the original Quaker settlers in the late 1600s. In 1847, state legislators divided Evesham Township, creating Medford. At the time of its incorporation, Medford Township included the communities of Fostertown, Crossroads, Medford Village, Cross Keys, Chairville, Flyat, and Taunton. These small farming communities nucleated around gristmills, sawmills, cranberry bogs, churches, taverns, and isolated country schools. Such settlements laid the foundation for the Medford of the 21st century. William B. Cooper, a photographer during the early 20th century, captured many of the images featured in Medford through the Lens. Using photographs from Cooper and others, we glimpse Medford Township’s visual past within the context of county, state, and national issues, offering new insight into how the municipality developed and how its history can better inform the present.

Dennis McDonald is a Medford Township resident and is the author/coauthor of three previous books for Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series: Medford, Smithville, and Whitesbog. Zachary Baer is a history teacher at Shawnee High School in Medford. He is the author of numerous articles related to South Jersey history and is a member of the West Jersey History Roundtable.

In 1865, industrialist/inventor Hezekiah Bradley Smith purchased Shreveville, later renamed Smithville, an abandoned textile mill and town located along the Rancocas Creek in Burlington County, for $20,000.

He moved many workers from his Lowell, Massachusetts, plant to the new location, rebuilt the factory, and prepared it for the manufacture of his patented iron woodworking machinery. Smith began to improve the aging housing in the surrounding village. He opened a school and, later, constructed a new school building. Smith erected a boardinghouse for factory workers that contained shops and a concert hall. Through farming on land adjacent to his mansion, he made fresh produce and milk available to his workers. Smith's company also expanded into new industries by working with outside inventors, like George Washington Pressey, who needed a manufacturer for his American Star Bicycle. Later, Arthur Hotchkiss contacted the company to build the world's first bicycle railroad to transport workers from Mount Holly to the Smithville factory. This book captures life in the village and factory, memorializing the intertwining lives of the Smithville workers and H.B. Smith through photographs.