The 100 year anniversary of the dedication of the Tea Burning monument at
Greenwich
will be held September 27 & 28, 2008 at the site of the monument in Greenwich,
NJ
and will include a reenactment of the tea burning, tall ships, and more.
You can find
more information here on the
Cumberland County Historical
Society web site.
I created this site to document the history of the O. J.
Hammell Company, Incorporated1,
a monument business originally known as the Absecon Marble Company of Absecon, NJ
in 1867 for the manufacturer and sale of memorials and monuments to the public.
The business continued to grow to include sales offices in 58
cities east of the Mississippi River.
"The Master Craftsmen of the East"
was the companies' slogan,
and the quality of their work,
reputation within the industry, and the satisfaction of their customers backed up the claim.
This postcard shows how the Offices and Factory appeared in the 1960s not long
before the
companies 100th anniversary. The water tower in this photo was built around
1940 and provided
potable water as well as water for irrigation and cutting and finishing operations
in the factory.
The previous water tower built in 1902 can be seen in photos
of the shops and factory.
The text below is copied from one of the Hammell
Company brochures published in the 1930s.
|
Realizing their debt to posterity, "Hammell
master craftsmen" for three generations have handed down an art in
Memorials, that is both inspiring and everlasting. Our long and
successful record as an institution in this field proves the soundness
of our policies of integrity, careful thought and sincere service.
The modest, inexpensive headstone, the family
monument or the most elaborate memorial, either public or private,
demands and obtains our careful and thoughtful attention, and we
respectfully state that we would enjoy your patronage, whatsoever might
be your needs. |
 |
The first shop
was located in a small building on Cherry Ct. behind what is now the main office
of the First National Bank of Absecon. As business grew operations
were moved a few years later into a former bank building located on the corner
of Shore Road and West Jersey Ave. near the
Pleasantville Rail Station. By 1902 business had grown considerably
and a new showroom,
offices, and factory space were built about 1.5 miles away in the (then) new
Atlantic City Cemetery in Pleasantville, NJ. The Hammell Company
property was located in the center of the Atlantic City
Cemetery, an area
bounded by the Black Horse
Pike (Rt. 40), Washington Avenue, New Road, and Doughty Road. O. J. Hammell was
one of the principals in formation of the Atlantic City Cemetery
Association and he secured a piece of property in the center of the
cemetery tract which was an ideal location for his monument business. |
| The Hammell company built many of the great war memorials that
stand up and down the east coast of the United States. Monuments such as the New
Jersey memorials at Gettysburg and Valley Forge, the Chestnut Neck Battle
monument in NJ, the Greenwich Tea Burning Party monument in Greenwich, Cumberland County, NJ and countless municipal war memorials in cities and towns
everywhere across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and neighboring states.
In addition to building these monuments to commemorate historical
events, the Hammell Company also manufactured markers, monuments, and mausoleums
for purchase by the public to memorialize the passing of beloved family members
and friends. |
|
|
Although
the Hammell factory [was]1 well known
throughout the country as extensive builders of large public memorials
and costly mausoleums, they never the less devote a large part of their
factory space to the production of inexpensive memorials for the family
of moderate means.
Manufacturing
several thousand monuments per year, that cost from $200 to $900 each,
set complete on a cemetery property by our own factory trained experts,
has created a volume of business that enables us to offer the lowest
possible prices consistent with the use of the most durable materials. |
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