Celebrating My Past « Trekker's Weblog

FREDERICK VON NIEDA was born in Bavaria in 1868. After graduating from a seminary in 1885, he intended to join the ministry. Illness changed his plans, and he emigrated to America in 1885. He worked at different jobs, including that as the first professor of German at Temple University in Philadelphia. He moved to the Cramer Hill section of Camden NJ in 1902. A civic minded individual, he began his involvement in politics shortly after moving to Camden.

One of his earliest civic involvements came through his love of boating, fishing, and hunting. He was a founding member of the Farragut Sportsmen’s Association in 1907, and was instrumental in the organization of the of the Delaware River Yachtsmen’s League. With Dr. C.F. Hadley and John Schimpf among others, he co-founded the East End Trust Company in 1905.

A lifetime Republican, Frederick von Nieda became Mayor of Camden in 1935, and served until 1936 when he lost a bitter political battle to Commissioner George H. Brunner. City finances at the time were troubled, and Camden in April of 1936 was paying its bills through the issuance of scrip.

The defeat of Mayor Von Nieda marked the end of Republican dominance in Camden politics. He remained involved in local politics and civic affairs for most of the rest of his life.

Frederick Von Nieda’s greatest accomplishment was the filling in of Baldwin’s Run, a creek that ran from the area near Beideman and Westfield Avenues down to the Delaware River. In the area around River Road, Baldwin’s Run became “a mosquito-filled swamp” and a “public health menace”. Frederick von Nieda campaigned ceaselessly for 40 years until the swamplands were filled in and the land turned into a park. This park was named Von Nieda Park shortly after his death on February 17, 1950. Since Frederick von Nieda’s passing, the Delaware River Yachtsmen’s League has held an annual picnic in his name, which is attended by hundreds of boaters up and down the Delaware River.

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