Krispy Kreme opens in Collingswood Aug 23

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by soug

That's absurd haha. How do schooling and police work? Does everyone within the town go to Haddon Twp. High School?

Also, looking at the Wikipedia map, it looks like there are two exclaves called West Collingswood, how do those fit into this mess?

Well, it's not too crazy when you live there. Collingswood and Haddon Twp. are two unique towns and both have their own complete school systems, police, fire, etc. I do know that the police and fire have mutual aid agreements, so if you call 911 and the nearest cop is Haddon Twp., but you are in Collingswood, they will come.

Everyone who lives in Haddon Twp. goes to Haddon Twp. schools. They do a lot of busing as all of the schools are located in Haddon Twp. "proper" which is the area east of Cuthbert between Collingswood and Haddonfield. If you live in Collingswood, you go to Collingswood schools.

The exclaves are odd little setups:

West Collingswood is divided into two areas, one is in Collingswood (called West Collingswood) and one is in Haddon Twp. (called West Collingswood Heights). The Collingswood section runs from Route 30 west to Champion Ave. This area is bracketed in the north by Route 130 and the south by Newton Creek. If you live in this area, you go to Collingswood schools.

As soon as you cross Champion and the railroad tracks there, you are now in West Collingswood Heights and this section is part of Haddon Twp. That section runs from Lynne Ave. in the east to Mt. Ephraim Ave. (Route 168) in the west and is bisected by Route 130. It extends to Grant Ave. in the north and Newton Creek in the south. If you live in this area you go to Haddon Twp. schools and are essentially bused straight through Collingswood to get there.

Going south down 168, you run into the area of Haddon Twp. known as the West Collingswood Extension. This section lies in the triangle formed by Route 168 on the east, Route 130 on the west, A tributary of Newton Creek in the south and the Walt Whitman Bridge ramp in the north. If you live here, you go to school in Haddon Twp. and are bused up Nicholson Rd. through Audubon to get to school.

Now, why does it look like that. Well here is the official Haddon Twp. history website:

History | Haddontwp

According to that as the land was settled the area was known as Newton Twp. This was essentially almost the entire area of western Camden County along the Newton Creek and Cooper Rivers. Sometime in the 1840's after Camden had been established, Newton Twp. was split between Newton and Haddon. The Township of Haddon at the time included all the area currently in; Oaklyn, Audubon, Audubon Park, Collingswood, Gloucester City, sections of Camden, Haddon Heights and Haddonfield.

As boroughs and towns were created and split off from Haddon Twp. as the area grew, the actual township ended up being forced into its odd shape and having the exclaves.

[soug]

That's pretty fascinating. Following the road boundaries you laid out, the abrupt changes in the street grid you can see on google maps suddenly make sense.

[GraysFerryB4]

Speaking of new restaurants, we were extremely dissapointed with Zepoli, site of the first Indie Blue. Not a table to be had and we waited 12 minutes at the table before WE had to ask for menus. Portion size vs. price was very disproportioned for that area of Collingswood. $19/large gnocchi with 6 pieces, antipasto that advertised a selection of "meats & cheeses" was a plate of roasted vegetables with arugala. The fisherman's stew ($26) was not much larger than a cereal bowl with 1 large shrimp. They also served it with a clam that didn't open. When we mentioned it they "apologozed"; when I followed that up with "it's fine, I'll post my review online", we suddenly got a phone call. That tells me that they care only if they realize they are directly affected by negative press. It was so bad, we will not go back.