Residents are trying to save a piece of Cherry Hill pop culture history from the 1950s and ‘60s

The only structure remaining from the racetrack that helped propel Cherry Hill’s mid-20th century transformation into a regional entertainment, dining, and shopping destination is for sale.

Unused for decades, the little brick building with rusted wrought iron gates has been a Route 70 landmark since Garden State Park opened in 1942.

It has survived the rise and fall of the racetrack itself ― twice — as well as the transformation of the 200-acre former thoroughbred racing venue into a busy mixed-use residential and retail development.

“The gatehouse is all that’s left of that iconic place,” said Dan Cirucci, who lives nearby and has launched an online petition to preserve the structure. The building stands at the edge of 10 otherwise empty acres on Route 70 west at Garden State Boulevard.

“It’s the only remaining piece of the pop culture history of Cherry Hill in the 1950s and ‘60s,” Cirucci said.

About 700 people have signed the petition, and township mayor David Fleisher has weighed in as well.

“For the record, I fully support the preservation [of this] important symbol of our township’s history,” the mayor said.

In February 2020, Cherry Hill’s planning board approved an application by the property’s current owner, a Wyomissing, Pa., company called Penn Entertainment, to develop a 750-seat off-track betting parlor called Favorites at Garden State there.

The approval “required the preservation of the gatehouse structure,” said Fleisher, adding, “if a new owner emerges, they will hear loud and clear that the protection of the gatehouse must be part of their future plans.”

Penn Entertainment officials could not be reached. The agent handling the property for sale did not respond to a voicemail message Friday.

The original Garden State Park was destroyed by fire in 1977. A new facility opened in 1985 and ran its final race in 2001.

“Cherry Hill was born at the track,” said Mike Feinberg, 87, a retired photographer who lives at Plaza Grande, the condominium community on the racetrack site. “Until the track, people had no reason to go to Cherry Hill. The gatehouse is special, and it shouldn’t be destroyed.”

In their book Cherry Hill: A Brief History, published by the History Press in 2010, coauthors Lisa C. Mangiafico and Mike Mathis wrote that the racetrack helped make what was originally known as Delaware Township into “the epicenter of entertainment and suburbia” in the 1950s and ‘60s.

The track marked the beginning of a surge in commercial development along adjacent sections of Routes 70 and 38. The highway strips near the track included restaurants such as Cinelli’s, Henry’s, and Sans Souci, as well as elaborate hotels such as the Rickshaw and Cherry Hill Inns.

The Latin Casino, a Vegas-style theater that attracted top entertainers from Frank Sinatra to the Supremes, moved from Center City Philadelphia to a spot on Route 70 near the track in 1960. And the Cherry Hill Mall, the first of its kind on the East Coast, debuted in 1961.

“Except for the mall, they’re all gone,” said Cirucci, a retired public relations executive.

He and his wife, Carole, a retired educator, live at Plaza Grande condominiums.

The former racetrack property has been developed in fits and starts for the last 20 years, through a succession of developers, mayors, and economic cycles.

Promoted early on as an opportunity for Cherry Hill to create a walkable downtown with a village green and other picturesque amenities, Garden State Park has evolved into something less groundbreaking.

“It’s a shame that what was supposed to be more of a parklike setting never came to fruition,” Dan Cirucci said. “So if it was a lost opportunity, then all the more reason to save the gatehouse.”

“It’s a little touch of what the heyday of Cherry Hill was like,” Carole Cirucci said.