Over the course of a few centuries, the Village of Marlton went from having just a few houses to the center of Marlton we know today. While the creation of Cooper Avenue and the long gone 'Shirk Road' may not be of much import, I always enjoy looking at the incremental steps that took us from Point A to Point B.
In 1876, the village of Marlton contained very few roads. Two north-south roads traversed town - Maple and Locust. North of Main Street between Maple and Locust, there are no roads, presumably nothing but farmland. Cooper Avenue is not present on the map below.
A 1933 Insurance map (provided by John Flack) provides the answer.
It remains in the aerial photos through the 1970s. It disappeared when Route 70 became the 4 lane divided highway it is today, which was constructed in 1981-1982. Looking at aerial photos, it doesn't appear that there were ever any houses or businesses on Shirk, so I'm not sure what it was for.
In 1876, the village of Marlton contained very few roads. Two north-south roads traversed town - Maple and Locust. North of Main Street between Maple and Locust, there are no roads, presumably nothing but farmland. Cooper Avenue is not present on the map below.
In September 19, 1882, the government of the Township filed applications in Mount Holly, the capital of Burlington County, to build additional roads. As per a report in the Courier Post on September 16, 1882:
There are notices up that there will be application, Tuesday next, to the court at Mt Holly, for two streets from the Main street of Marlton to the railroad near the station. One is the same street that was laid and then vacated by the Freeholders about a year ago. The other is about 100 yards west of the first, and is in opposition to it.
By 1900, the two roads were completed. One road, running north and south (between the 'a' and 'r' in Marlton on the map) is Cooper Ave. The other, running east-west just south of the railway, indicated by the arrow, is a mystery.
A closeup of Marlton Village shows that just south of the rail line is Shirk Avenue or Road. Next to the rail line is Route 40, which was renamed Route 70 in 1953.
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| On the left side of the map are 3 parallel lines. From left to right, Route 40, the 'New Jersey and Seashore Railroad', and Shirk Road respectively |
So where did Shirk Road go? Here is an aerial photo from 1940 (printed with permission from HistoricAerials.com). The black arrow indicates what I believe is Shirk, the yellow is Cooper.
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