Venus-Esterbrook Closes Cherry Hill Operations

In 1969, Venus-Esterbrook phased out its manufacturing operations in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, bringing Esterbrook's long history of pen production in the state to an end. The closure followed the 1967 merger of Esterbrook with Venus Pen and Pencil Corporation and came only a few years after Esterbrook had transferred its operations from its historic Camden works to Cherry Hill. The change ended a New Jersey manufacturing presence extending back more than a century. Richard Esterbrook had established steel-pen production in Camden in 1860, with the United States Steel Pen Works operating there from 1861. Manufacturing remained in Camden until 1964, when Esterbrook moved into a newer facility in Cherry Hill. After the Venus merger, production there continued only briefly before being phased out in 1969. The closure did not immediately end the Esterbrook name or its products. Venus-Esterbrook continued as a corporate and commercial entity, but the manufacturing operation descended from Esterbrook's original New Jersey pen works had come to an end.