Hometown Living


Swedesboro Auction Yesterday And Today But What About Tomorrow? By Jesse Klein SWEDESBORO -- When first asked to write a piece on the Swedesboro Auction I instantly assumed it was a venue to auction off antiquities. Although a resident of our community for nearly a decade, I had no idea of its existence and heritage that has spanned more than 80 years. I was quickly educated that the Swedesboro Auction was one of the earliest and most successful venues for farmers throughout our area to market their superior produce to large wholesalers such as A&P and ACME as well as other purchasers that would come from far and wide. The history and heritage of the Swedesboro Auction is a story of how a once vibrant and highly successful produce market diminished over time, and what might be done to preserve and respect its legacy. Incorporated in May of 1938 the Swedesboro Auction was open Monday through Saturday. Occupying just under four acres between Locke, Anderson and Leahy Avenues the auction would attract literally hundreds of local farmers that would park their produce laden trucks often as many as 200 at a time, in a line that would often stretch well into the downtown area.

A LINE OF PRODUCE TRUCKS waiting to bring their loads to the buyers at Swedesboro Auction stretches all the way from Leahy Avenue down to Railroad Avenue and Kings Highway in this circa 1930 photograph. - Photo courtesy of Edith A. Rohrman

According to Mike Maccarone, current president of the Swedesboro Auction, many farmers would come to claim a spot in line the night before each auction day in order that they obtain an optimal position to sell through their produce to wholesalers and distributors which included large supermarket chains such as A&P and ACME. The produce delivered in those days included asparagus, sweet potatoes, peppers, eggplant, cantaloupes, watermelons, and peaches. Due to its high quality, the dealers would then ship the produce not just to Philly and New York but Boston and even Cleveland. To this day there are still 150 share owners of the auction. Some of the early family names who advertised their crops back in the early 1900s were Longacre, Leap, Costello, Yourison, Toole, Gaskill, Denny, Lane and Gill. The valley of Raccoon Creek made the Swedesboro area an ideal location not just for its fertile ground but as a convenient shipping lane giving it direct access to the Delaware. Wilmer Egee Mayor of Swedesboro in 1910, wrote in the book entitled Swedesboro Yesterday and Today by Edmund Burke, “It is my belief based on an experience of travel and observation through many of the states, from Massachusetts to central Tennessee, that there is not one county in all that area can raise as much produce to the acre as this part of Gloucester County New Jersey.” Egee goes on to say “Our farmers are among the best in the land, and by the judicious use of fertilizers, bring results that cannot be equaled.” The establishment of the railroad at that time also allowed Swedesboro to capitalize on freight train distribution as well as the use of the established waterways. This new mode of delivery was a huge boon for the already successful farming mecca and allowed them to abandon the outdated horse and wagon delivery method, giving Swedesboro the chance to ship their superior produce far and wide. Around that same time nearby Seabrook was perfecting the art of freezing fruits and vegetables, and after teaming up with Birdseye in the 1930s this methodology allowed Southern Jersey produce to be marketed farther and wider than ever before. As noted in the book South Jersey Farming by Cheryl Baisden, by the 1960s half of Jersey’s land was used for agriculture, and over half of all the fruits and vegetables came directly from South Jersey. In fact the William Kille family of Swedesboro raised award winning eggplants and several varieties of tomatoes and peppers. Another Swedesboro farmer, Harley Paul was credited with inventing the giant pepper. According to the Gloucester County Historical Society, he crossed three different kinds of peppers to create these “large red beauties.” One of the things that made the Swedesboro area an ideal spot for asparagus was its light soil. While the crop was very labor intensive in terms of preparing it for market, it was highly prized, so much so that the Swedesboro Auction would start each year by auctioning off the first case with the proceeds going to charity. Another opening day tradition was to ship crates of asparagus to the President of the United States. In fact, a recipe book created last year for the Swedesboro Outdoor Living and Garden Show depicts a photograph taken on May 11, 1949 of local resident Bertie Rhodes resting on a case of asparagus intended as a gift for President Truman from the Swedesboro Auction. Bertie, now Bertie Rhodes Dare who resides to this day in Swedesboro, recalls being stunned as she was plucked out of class and asked to pose for the newspaper picture. “I really don’t know how I was picked” but she remembered being flattered as she was photographed on the auction block holding two robust bunches of asparagus while leaning on a crate bearing the address of President Truman.

SWEDESBORO AUCTION CIRCA 1965 Photo courtesy of the Swedesboro Woolwich Historical Society
In the 1960’s a virus infected the local asparagus crops and Mike Maccarone and his father Samuel, one of the original board members of the Swedesboro Auction recall that as a real blow to the local farmers. The blight nearly wiped out the once bountiful supply of the highly prized vegetable. Since that time the auction which relied on the early asparagus crop to kick off its season in May has slowly dwindled. Samuel Maccarone who helped start the auction with his father and brother said that the number of buyers began to dwindle and many of those that came from as far away as Cleveland were drawn elsewhere such as Vineland. That left the Swedesboro Auction with mainly local buyers that only sold locally “and that hurt us.” Samuel said these factors coupled with Jersey employers being required to pay one of the highest minimum wages in the country really bit into the local farmer’s ability to make a profit. Since the late 1980’s the auction has offered only early crop tomatoes of several varieties and the auction site once open six days a week is now open only on Saturday. The tomatoes are sold from mid June to mid August at which point the vendors switch over to selling cucumbers and zucchini. From an original group of 150 shareholders that own the property now only about 10 farmers show up on Saturday to sell their wares. Mike Maccarone the said that things may have been different for the Swedesboro Auction had they offered a wider selection of vegetables and not relied so heavily in the early years on bumper crops of tomatoes and asparagus. He along with other local growers have watched the Vineland Auction take off by leveraging new technology and pursuing continuous modernization such as refrigerated loading.

SWEDESBORO AUCTION CIRCA 2007 -- Photo courtesy of Brett Boone
Today Vineland which touts themselves as “the Premier Produce Auction in the Eastern U. S.”operates a sophisticated plant with motorized loading docks and state of the art computer systems. They open for the Season in late April and operate Monday through Saturday often until early December. Thirty eight different crops are available that include a vast array of vegetables and fruit as well as herbs. Mike Maccarone feels that had Swedesboro continued to invest in new technology it could have kept pace with neighboring Vineland. But now it may be too late, and many of the shareholders want to sell the property. The town council is hoping to convince the Auction shareholders to protect the historic site. Mayor Tom Fromm and Councilman Dave Flaherty met with the auction board recently to gain agreement to submit an application to protect 2 of the 3.7 acres through the New Jersey Green Acres Farm Preservation Program. That application is now under review. If the property is approved for the grant the town would like to make two of the acres of the original action site a quiet community recreation area; no basketball courts but walking paths and use of some of the historic loading docks as stages for outdoor musical entertainment. In any case the decision will be up to the Swedesboro Auction shareholders as to preserve and protect the property that provides Swedesboro with a rich history and a lovely downtown location for community enjoyment, or sell the land for development. Either way it will be a difficult decision as this historic site awaits its fate. In the words of Mike Maccarone the Swedesboro Auction still boasts some of the best tomatoes to be sold in the county, saying that they are “like a taste of heaven.” But in the end the Auction cannot realistically survive on tomatoes alone, and its future hangs in the balance. Fromm hopes that by year end the council and the Auction board will have a clear answer from the state as to what they are willing to pay to preserve the two acres of the original 3.7. “These gentlemen have worked hard and dedicated their lives to farming. The town would like to be able to partner with them by helping protect the land they have stewarded for more than 80 years, while allowing them to reap some deserved reward for their hard work and historic love they have dedicated to this once robust farming icon.”