Campbell's Soup Company HQ - formerly Camden Iron Works

Campbell’s Soup Company- Campbell’s Soup acquired property for its test kitchens, research lab, and what remains its world headquarters today.

John and Jesse Starr purchased land from the Richard M. Cooper estate in 1847 to construct the Camden Iron Works at the location south of the Admiral Wilson Boulevard (Route 30) bridge shown in the foreground of the photo above where the Cooper River makes a 90 degree turn. The Starrs made cast iron pipe stowed on the dock next to the two masted tall sailing vessel and other river barges shown in the photo below. They operated until 1883 when the R.D. Wood Company gained control. The Wood facility went bankrupt in 1917. The City of Camden purchased the site by 1920 for a Civic Center it never built but did convert one of the large iron works casting sheds into a convention hall that was used until a 1953 fire.

The Campbell Soup Company acquired much of the land to build its test kitchens, research laboratories in the 1950s and then later built the company’s world headquarters on the site. The peaked roof building below the docked vessel shown above remains on the site today.