Ronald Reagan Rock - Hammonton, NJ
N 39° 38.195 W 074° 48.148
18S E 516950 N 4387441
The rock and plaque commemorate President's Reagan's visit to Hammonton, NJ on September 19, 1984. The rock is located at the busy intersection of Central and Bellevue Avenues.
Waymark Code: WM8M7Y
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2010
Views: 1
The location of Reagan's speech and the subsequent marker is literally the center of town; Google Earth has the spot marked as "Hammonton". Ronald Reagan visited Hammonton during his 1984 re-election campaign. He used Springsteen's song "Born in the USA" as his theme song to his campaign and even used it in his speech. Ironically, the song is exactly the opposite of what Reagan, or at least his staff, thought it was about. The chorus of the song is pretty upbeat but the message is one of anger, frustration and bitterness directed at the U.S. government's treatment of Vietnam Veterans.
When I visited this late afternoon, the landscape was kind of dull and the light in front of the rock was broken and off its mount. I found a blog where citizens are debating whether it should be repaired and if so where would the money come from. The rock is on the northeast corner of Hwy 54/Bellevue Ave. and Hwy 542/Central Ave.
The text on the marker reads:
RONALD REAGAN
40th President of
The United States of America
Honored the Town of Hammonton
By Addressing the residents of the Community
And Southern New Jersey From This Site On
September 19, 1984
This plaque was presented to
the town of Hammonton
by
The Greater Hammonton Chamber of Commerce
To Commemorate This HIstoric Event