1. Optimism in Fairview Village
By Joe Emerson
On a warm Saturday afternoon in autumn the village known today as Fairview in
Camden, NJ, was bustling with movement. The main artery of Collings Rd buzzed
continuously with motorists exiting and entering Rt.676; some of them were coming
home, some were visiting friends and family, others were leaving for a daily outing, and
some were simply passing through. Community members were out and about in full
force, partaking in the idealized activities of any American suburb on a sunny, blue-skied
day: cars were being washed, dogs were being walked, and lawns were being raked free
of fallen auburn leaves. The presupposition of the outsider is that these things don’t
happen in Camden, but they certainly do.

2. (The entrance into Fairview from Rt. 676)
Fairview was originally established as Yorkship Village in 1918, by the U.S.
Government as the first fully self-sustaining contained community in order to supply
housing for some 10,000 workers at the nearby New York Ship Building Corporation.
Modeled in the Colonial Revival Style, Yorkship would offer winding roads named after
great naval ships and commanders, lined with romantic brick and mortar homes,
surrounded by expansive lawns and plumage abound; Yorkship wasn’t going to be like
similar workman-towns across the country, thrown up with haste only to wither away,
Yorkship was built to stay.

3. (Collings Ave as it was in the early 1920’s; courtesy of www.fairview.ws)
(As it is today, courtesy of www.yorkshipvillage.com)
The war effort was in full effect and the axiom of the time was that nothing was
too good for the men in service, as it was printed in the New York Times on July 14, 1918.

4. From that point forward Yorkship Village would go through many changes, one of them
occurring only 4 short years into its life when the township of Haddon yielded it to the
city of Camden making it the 14th
ward and its name subsequently changed to Fairview in
1922 (today it goes by a combination of titles).
As time went on after the war years, Fairview along with most of Camden felt the
loss of the great industriousness it had known. Soon, there were fewer jobs, more crime
and less neighbors, “It was rough I’ll tell you that,” said Eddie Roblas, a 34 year old,
father of two and NJ Transit Bus Driver, of 1012 Collings Rd. “Growing up, no one had a
silver spoon in their mouth, we had plastic spoons and most of the time we’d use the
same one”. Roblas had just washed his pearl white 2013 Chevy Impala and was primed
to air dry it on the open road of 676. Roblas was adamant that his success in life was a
direct result of the hardships he endured growing up in Camden’s 14th
ward, “We’re all
just products of our environment and that pushes you, you know, to do something with
yourself,” he said, “I had a lot of good times, but you can’t get caught up in all that, you
got to keep moving forward”.
That forward momentum was echoed in the sentiments of a spry gentleman only a
few houses down at 1044 Collings Rd, diligently tending to his front lawn and sidewalk,
“You got to have a purpose, a direction or you’ll just keep going in circles.” said 77 year
old William Brown, “You got to do it yourself. You have a choice to make when you go
through hardship, you can either look at the other side of the fence and keep doing
nothing, or you can make something on your own.” Brown grew up in South Camden and
joined the Navy in 1956, and after 6 years of service returned home, joined a construction

5. company as a bulldozer operator and moved to Fairview where he has spent the last 53
years. While he doesn’t drive a bulldozer anymore he is never idol and attributes his good
health to tending the yards of his neighbors, “I like doing it, keeps me tickin’. We try to
help each other out as much as possible, some people can’t do the things that other’s can
so we work together” he said.
(77 year old William Brown tidying his walkway)
A definite optimism for the future of the community and its citizens seemed to
linger in the air between the rays of sunlight and gentle breezes, but it wasn’t without its
admitted trials of adversity, “It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t easy; I had to grow up fast,” said
Kaiyiid Green, 20, of 1036 Collings Rd, while holding several plastic bags filled with
groceries. The son of a single mother working nights as a Certified Nurses Assistant,
Green spent the latter end of his teens alone, cooking dinner for himself almost every

6. night of the week. With aspirations to become a chef he rides his bike to the NJ Patco and
utilizes its various stops to apply to as many restaurants as possible. His daily commute
down Collings leaves him subject to praise as well as temptation, “People will yell out to
me, people I used to go to school with, wanting to hang out,” he said, “but you got to
watch out for trouble like that and just keep it moving.”
To “keep it moving” is a task both physical and mental, “A lot of people who get
out just keep living the same old way somewhere new; they just think that’s the way to
live.” said Roblas, “but things are changing; you got these charter schools now which are
pushing these kids so much harder. It’s giving them a great education and the opportunity
to figure out what they want in life.”
In a community that has seen its shares of highs and lows over the last 98 years;
whether its ethnic make up was nearly all White as in 1918 or represented as equal thirds,
Black, White, and Hispanic today, whether the jobs were there or not, whether or not
neighbors left and homes were boarded up, what has remained ever present in the
contained community of “Fairview Village” is the attitude of optimism, “This place will
teach you a lot,” said Brown “ but what you do with it is up to you.”

7. night of the week. With aspirations to become a chef he rides his bike to the NJ Patco and
utilizes its various stops to apply to as many restaurants as possible. His daily commute
down Collings leaves him subject to praise as well as temptation, “People will yell out to
me, people I used to go to school with, wanting to hang out,” he said, “but you got to
watch out for trouble like that and just keep it moving.”
To “keep it moving” is a task both physical and mental, “A lot of people who get
out just keep living the same old way somewhere new; they just think that’s the way to
live.” said Roblas, “but things are changing; you got these charter schools now which are
pushing these kids so much harder. It’s giving them a great education and the opportunity
to figure out what they want in life.”
In a community that has seen its shares of highs and lows over the last 98 years;
whether its ethnic make up was nearly all White as in 1918 or represented as equal thirds,
Black, White, and Hispanic today, whether the jobs were there or not, whether or not
neighbors left and homes were boarded up, what has remained ever present in the
contained community of “Fairview Village” is the attitude of optimism, “This place will
teach you a lot,” said Brown “ but what you do with it is up to you.”