Announcement Date: November 22, 2015

Even though the local outlook on borough government seemed uncertain, the nationwide view of the future was rosy. In the early 1920s, a prevailing feeling of never ending prosperity existed. Optimistic persons invested their savings in land, building construction, stocks and other ventures that promised sure profits, in their estimation. That feeling had its impact on Barrington. With savings and borrowed money, real estate developers and others proposed half a dozen development projects. Not all the projects were carried through, but new homes were built in the center of town and along Clements Bridge Road on the Williams Farm, and east of the railroad.

Further expansion resulted when the adjoining settlement of Lawnside, still a part of Centre Township, sought Borough status. Representatives of Centre Township and of the Borough of Barrington met and it was proposed that Barrington cede to Lawnside the area bounded by Davis Road, White Horse Pike, a line near Mt. Peace Cemetery and the railroad. In exchange, Barrington would acquire from the township a much larger area than it would ceded to Lawnside. The acquired area would extend from the then eastern Borough boundary to Oak Avenue and Warwick Road, in what is now known as the “Tavistock” area. At the end of 1926, the Council approved the proposal in a joint agreement with the boroughs of Mt. Ephraim, Bellmawr, Runnemede, Lawnside, and Haddonfield concerning dissolution of Centre Township. Appropriate legislation was adopted and Barrington thus expanded its boundaries, gaining a substantial and potential residential area.

In response to the requests of the town residents, Council spent significant portions of its early budgets for improvement of streets and roads, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and streetlights. Continued urging led the State to pave the White Horse Pike in 1922 and the County to pave Clements Bridge Road. After several years of discussion within the Council and negotiations with Haddon Heights Borough officials, Third Avenue in Barrington was cut through the woods (1923-24) to connect with Ninth Avenue in Haddon Heights. Gloucester Pike was paved in 1927.

With the improvement of highways, the Police Department was called upon to deal with an increase in auto traffic. Two outfitted policemen took turns whistling down motorists driving through Barrington on the White Horse Pike for exceeding the speed limit of twelve miles per hour. The number of speeders led to the establishment of a more realistic speed limit of twenty miles per hour in 1925. The installation of a traffic light at the intersection of the Pike and Clements Bridge Road further eased the situation. Some free police assistance was available to the area with the organization of a State Police force in 1921. A substation was opened at 9 White Horse Pike in Haddon Heights. Later this substation was moved to Magnolia to continue to aid suburban areas. The State Police had an authority that knew no municipal boundaries, to which local police were restricted.

The Fire Hall became too small for all the activities of the growing town. One group that helped to outgrow the hall was “The Patriotic Community Club.” It was formed in 1922, and nearly all the men in town joined. They wanted a place in town to hold social events and where state and national issues could be conceived and discussed. Their aim was to inspire people to be better Americans, thus was the name “Patriotic” given to the club.

Another group outgrew the hall. In the summer of 1922, the First Methodist Church started to hold services in the Old Fire Hall and this was not without certain inconveniences. The original congregation consisted of one hundred and thirteen members and it was necessary to move out the fire equipment and prepare the hall for services. Following the services, the hall had to be returned to normalcy and the fire equipment moved back in. A building program resulted in the Methodists purchasing a plot of land on Second Avenue and in 1924, a frame building was erected at the corner of Second and Trenton Avenues. A stone plaque bearing the words “John S. Roberts Memorial Community House” was placed above the entrance to the building. Mr. Roberts had been a diligent worker for the church and had served as Mayor of Barrington. He died during tenure in 1923.

Community House “Hall” had an auditorium with seating for four hundred that was used for movies, minstrel shows, graduation ceremonies and basketball games. A bowling alley was in the basement. From 1925 to 1929, the town library was housed in a rear room. Mrs. Bertha Courts served as librarian and Mrs. Ada MacDaniel assistant librarian.

In 1929, sport activities were discontinued and the library moved to the Fire Hall. In 1966, the building was demolished to make room for the new brick Methodist Church building.

The Fire Department continued to expand and adjust to the increased demands of a growing community. Major priorities were the acquisition of an improved alarm system and a new truck. The Borough supplied a new siren. An abandoned windmill tower, located on the old Malony property at 608 Clements Bridge Road, was stripped of its mill and shafting, lowered and disassembled into two pieces. It was then hauled to the rear of the fire hall, reconstructed and the new siren placed on top. The fire gong was hung beneath as a standby in the event the siren failed. It was also used to dry the hoses. It served these purposes for thirty years.

The prospect of a new truck required a new building, which was completed in 1923 and faced Second Avenue. The Company’s first piece of modern fire equipment was a pumper with a capacity of 500 gallon per minute. Housing took place on Saturday, July 12, 1924, with a parade and official ceremonies.

The new pumper generated interest in the formation of squads within the company that competed with each other in efficiency. The Company entered a Camden County contest in Kirkwood. The rules of the contest required the pumper be placed beside a tank of water with the crews about 50 feet away. At a given signal the men ran off 200 feet of hose. Everything went well, with Barrington ahead, but no water appeared. Chief Ben Hudson became infuriated claiming someone had played a joke by putting a plug in the hose. Ben’s face turned as red as the shirt he often wore when it was discovered that the crew had failed to open the nozzle. The following year the Company won two first place prizes.

On another protective front, the Board of Health was concerned with guarding the health of the community. In 1918, as World War I was ending, the deadly Spanish influenza spread worldwide. A half million people died in the United States and some twenty million throughout the world. Many public buildings were closed. Churches had no services. People moved about with creosol soaked masks over their faces. By October 1918, over 1,000 people had died in Camden County. Barrington’s Board of Health joined with other officials and medical organizations to check the spread of the disease. It took appropriate steps in 1920 to eliminate the sanitation and health dangers arising from small pig farms in the outer parts of the town. In the following year, when school children were endangered by a diphtheria epidemic, the Board of Health closed the school and Council arranged to have the school disinfected. Other Health and sanitation measures were taken in 1924, when the Highway Committee announced the availability of a new dump at Weaver’s lane (the lane to the old Clark farmhouse) for the disposal of borough trash. In 1925, Council contracted out garbage collection.

An eagerly awaited town water system was long and hard in coming. The company with which the Borough had contracted used manual labor to dig ditches for the water pipes, and during the war years such labor was hard to recruit. In the 1920s the company fell into financial difficulty and was not able to fully carry out the terms of the contract, much to the indignation of Barrington’s citizens. The work dragged on into the early 1930s when at last the residents of the town enjoyed a borough-wide facility.

With the prospects of running water in their homes, Barrington residents were looking forward to a “city” sewage system. By 1930, land was acquired near the Runnemede line and construction of the treatment plant and pumping station began, along with the laying of sewer lines throughout the Borough.

Social and religious activities continued to flourish during the period of the 1920s. In 1921, the Barrington Band joined with the Barrington Athletic Association and held a street carnival to celebrate the opening of the newly paved Clements Bridge Road. The following year the band accompanied the MacAndrew and Forbes Company’s annual excursion to Wildwood by train. This established a tradition that continued for the next twenty-two years. Several hundred residents of the town usually went along, since the train had to stop at the train station to take on the band. The band played at the Barrington School Commencement exercises in June of 1924. A highlight for the band during this time period was the acquisition of new modern uniforms consisting of maroon capes, leather puttees, plumed hats and leather pouches for carrying the music.

The Fire Company also was represented in the Camden County Fireman’s Baseball League in 1928, winning the championship. All members of the team were inducted into the Company as associate members.

In the midst of this flurry of civic, social and religious activity, little did the Barrington residents realize what lay ahead with the stock market crash in 1929.