The MLK House, at left, sustained considerable damaged after a fire tore through the building in March 2023. The exterior has been stabilized, and efforts to rebuild the civil rights landmark will begin this year. | Photo: Michael Bixler

The long-awaited first phase of restoring the fire-ravaged home where Martin Luther King, Jr. once lived in Camden, New Jersey in now underway. The repairs include a new roof and structural improvements funded by $40,000 in donations and an insurance payout of $150,000.

The MLK House is the temporary residence inhabited by the civil rights leader during his years as a student at Crozer Theological Seminary from 1948 to 1951. During this time King and his close friend Walter McCall encountered Northern-based racism in Maple Shade, New Jersey. They were refused service at Mary’s Cafe and had a .45-caliber gun pointed at them. This incident has been cited as leading King into becoming a civil rights activist. In the 74 years since that incident, the MLK House at 753 Walnut Street has had a run of bad luck that resulted in the house being added to Preservation New Jersey’s 2024 most endangered sites list.

Jeanette Lily Hunt, who knew King and whose father-in-law owned the two-story home and rented out the rooms, has long seen the importance of preserving the landmark. She and local activist Patrick Duff shared a dream to secure funds to establish a learning center there for Camden residents and visitors. After multiple setbacks, including damage by squatters, the house continued to deteriorate. Then, in 2016, a deal fell through with Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, and a $229,000 grant was redirected to the Fire Department in 2018.

A chance meeting between Amir Khan and Hunt changed the trajectory of the house. Khan, a long-time resident of Camden, recounts what convinced him to get involved. “I always knew the history [of the house], but there was no huge burning desire to restore it. Our space, New Beginnings, works with formerly incarcerated people who are dealing with homelessness and the evicted population. We have never dealt with historical landmarks,” he explained. Ultimately, it was hearing Hunt’s dream that made the 2021 deal happen.

At this time, the estimated cost to repair and convert the house into a community center and office for the Camden NAACP is around $450,000 with a prospective completion in 2027. To earn its historical designation, existing elements, including the floors and stairs where King once walked, are being preserved.

Martin Luther King Jr. lived in Camden, New Jersey from 1948 to 1951 while attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. | Photo courtesy of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

In 2021, the New Jersey Historic Trust provided a $99,789 grant to the City of Camden to research and identify civil rights-era sites. With these funds, Hunter Research, Inc. was commissioned to interview, document, and develop future content for the MLK House derived from testimonials by King’s family and local civil rights activists such as the Monk Brothers (Richard, Winston, and Hooper), Luther Wallace, one of the founders of the Black Peoples Unity Movement, Donald “Ducky” Birts, a community leader and activist, and historian Yocontalie Jackson.

Khan sees the entire project as a stepping stone to establishing historical markers, not only at the MLK House, but for other notable heroes throughout the city. “The story needs to be told.” Khan recounted the incident at Mary’s Café on June 11, 1950 that prompted King and McCall file a report at a police station for the breach of New Jersey’s anti-discrimination law. The case later involved the local chapter of the NAACP as counsel and was used as part of a drive to desegregate spaces. The issue was so important that King asked his soon-to-wed brother Alfred Daniel King to postpone his wedding so he could be at the trial.

Kelly C. Ruffel, executive director of Preservation New Jersey, sees the future use of the MLK House as a cultural center that is “more than just the history of Dr. King in Camden, but how his legacy still impacts the community at large.” She said that it will be “a place to foster new ideas, create new community initiatives, and bring awareness to social injustices facing our nation.”

After renovations are completed and the center opens in 2027, the project’s second phase is slated to begin with the addition of a 10,000-square-foot property similar to The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The property next door at 755 Walnut Street is owned by the City of Camden and will be donated after the completed MLK House project is granted a historical designation. In the end, the fully realized goal is “something that will be passed on for generations to come,” according to Khan.