COURIER POST
1683: John Hugg, an Irish Quaker immigrant, purchases 100 acres at the junction of Little Timber and Big Timber creeks. The area is known as Huggville for generations to come.
1840: Hedding United Methodist Church is founded and the region is popularly referred to as \”Heddings.\”
1868: Hedding Church is rebuilt after a fire destroys the original structure.
1896: Hedding Church is rebuilt after a fire destroyed the second structure. This building, too, is damaged by fire.
1900: A village store is built at Browning Lane and Black Horse Pike to serve the growing population.
1926: The borough of Bellmawr officially is incorporated the same year as the United States celebrates its 150th anniversary. The borough\’s principal landowners are the Bell family, after whom the town is named, along with the Marples, Brownings, Glovers, Budds, Zanes, Crispins, Starrs, Haines and Rowlands.
1930s: Borough faces significant financial hardship during the Great Depression. Borough hall is built under the federal Works Progress Administration program.
1941: Bellmawr Park built as part of a federal housing project.
1976: Bellmawr celebrates 50 years as U.S. celebrates bicentennial.
2001: Bellmawr mail facility closes briefly due to concerns over anthrax following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Sources: \”Courier-Post\’ archive
LANDMARKS IN BELLMAWR
1. Club Diner, 20 N. Black Horse Pike. It is celebrating its 60th year.
2. Hedding United Methodist Church, 53 N. Black Horse Pike. While not the original structure, the church still provided the name for the area for decades after it was built in 1840.
3. Bellmawr Lake Park off Creek Road, opened in 1957 and included 10 acres of land, a 200-foot by 300-foot lake, dance pavilion, refreshment stand and picnic tables. It now offers miniature golf, a water slide and picnic groves.
QUOTABLE
\”That\’s the way we are in South Jersey. We help each other out.\”
Joe Paul, Bellmawr resident and winner of the Wing Bowl in 2000, on his interaction with fellow South Jerseyan and Wing Bowl legend Bill Simmons
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