All but forgotten today, the R.M. Hollingshead Corporation was one of Camden's largest employers, manufacturing automotive chemicals among other things. Despite a devastating fire in July of 1940, which raged for days, leaving 10 workers and 1 fireman dead, the company was very much a going concern at the end of World War II.
Over 500 Hollingshead workers had answered the nation's call in World War II. Twelve Hollingshead workers lost their lives while in the service. After the war, workers and management teamed up to raise money for an eight-foot monument which stood at the company's plant at 16th & Mickle Streets in East Camden.
Many years later, the factory closed. The monument, which was not city property, was forgotten about, no one took responsibility for its upkeep. Although never vandalized, weed and trees grew around it, all but obscuring it.