Camden

/kam"deuhn/, n.

1. a borough of Greater London, England. 192,800.

2. a port in SW New Jersey, on the Delaware River opposite Philadelphia. 84,910.

3. a city in SW Arkansas. 15,356.

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▪ Arkansas, United States

      city, seat (1843) of Ouachita county, southern Arkansas, U.S., 100 miles (160 km) south-southwest of Little Rock, on a pine-covered bluff overlooking the Ouachita River. Settled in 1783, it was first known as Écore á Fabre (for a French pioneer). After 1824 steamboats docked at the site. It was incorporated in 1844 and was renamed Camden by Thomas Woodward for his hometown in Alabama. Following the American Civil War railways became the main carriers, but in 1926 the river channel was deepened by a series of locks and dams, and the boat trade was revived.

      Camden is now a shipping point for timber, pulpwood, and paper and has a diverse economy that includes the manufacture of automobile equipment, disposable diapers, explosives, and ammunition. There are local deposits of kaolin clay (used in pottery and chinaware), lignite, sand and gravel, and petroleum. Southern Arkansas University Tech (1967), formerly Southwest Technical Institute, is located in the city. White Oak Lake State Park is to the northwest, as is Poison Spring Battleground Historical Monument, which during the American Civil War was the site of the Confederate capture of a Union supply wagon train (April 18, 1864) that resulted in a total of more than 300 casualties. Pop. (1990) 14,380; (2000) 13,154.

▪ New Jersey, United States

      city, seat (1844) of Camden county, New Jersey, U.S., on the Delaware River, there bridged to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1681, the year before Philadelphia was founded, William Cooper built a home near the Cooper River where it enters the Delaware and named the tract Pyne Point. Settlement, largely by Quakers, was slow. A town site was laid out by Jacob Cooper, a descendant of William, in 1773. It was named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, whose opposition to British taxation policies made him popular with the American colonists. The development of the new village was impeded by the American Revolution, and Camden was often held by the British when they occupied Philadelphia. After 1800 growth was spurred by increased ferry services and the advent of the railroad.

      Further expansion followed the American Civil War, when important industries were introduced. A steel pen company, the first of its kind in the country, was established in Camden in 1860; the Campbell Soup Company plant was opened there in 1869 and started marketing condensed soups in 1897. The Victor Talking Machine Company, founded in 1894 and purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1929, further developed the phonograph in Camden and manufactured it there for more than three decades. Shipbuilding on the waterfront began about 1899.

      In the decades after World War II, Camden's economy declined as industries closed down or left the city; white, middle-class residents moved to the suburbs. By the early 1990s more than half the city's population was African American and about a third Hispanic; nearly half was under the age of 21. The unemployment rate was more than twice the state's average, and almost half of Camden's inhabitants lived below the poverty line.

      The “boxlike” row houses that were built for workers in the 1930s are architecturally unique; many, however, have been abandoned or torn down. The poet Walt Whitman (Whitman, Walt) lived in Camden from 1873 until his death in 1892; his home is maintained as a state historic site. The New Jersey State Aquarium opened in 1992. Camden is the site of an urban campus (1927) of Rutgers (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), the State University of New Jersey. Camden County College (1967) is at nearby Blackwood. Inc. 1828. Pop. (1990) 87,492; (2000) 79,904.

▪ New South Wales, Australia

      town, eastern New South Wales, Australia, on the Nepean section of the Hawkesbury River, in the Southern Highlands. The locality, originally known as Cowpastures, was renamed Camden Park in 1805, after the 2nd earl Camden, secretary of state for the colonies at that time, by John Macarthur, who bred merino sheep in Australia. The village, surveyed in 1836, was proclaimed a municipality in 1889. At that time, dairying was rising to prime importance in the district's economy, a position that it still holds. Other activities include coal mining, livestock raising, and the cultivation of fruits, grapes, and vegetables. The Hume Highway from Sydney, 35 miles (56 km) northeast, passes through the town. Pop. (2006) local government area, 49,645.

▪ South Carolina, United States

      city, seat (1791) of Kershaw county, in north-central South Carolina, U.S. It was founded by English settlers along the Wateree River (Santee-Wateree-Catawba river system) about 1733 and was originally known as Pine Tree Hill. It changed its name in 1768 to honour Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (Camden, Charles Pratt, 1st Earl, Viscount Bayham Of Bayham Abbey, Baron Camden Of Camden Place), a British supporter of the colonial cause and became a contested site in the American Revolution (see Camden, Battle of). Afterward Camden enjoyed a period of prosperity as a cotton and resort centre. During the American Civil War it was a Confederate supply base and was occupied and burned by General William Tecumseh Sherman (Sherman, William Tecumseh)'s Union troops in February 1865. It subsequently developed as an agricultural centre and has benefited from industrialization, producing textiles and clothing. Camden is known for equestrian sports, and its Springdale Race Course is the scene of the annual Carolina Cup and Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup steeplechases; the latter is an international event. Inc. 1791. Pop. (1990) 6,696; (2000) 6,682.

▪ borough, London, United Kingdom

 inner borough of London, part of the historic county of Middlesex, to the north of Westminster (Westminster, City of) and the historic City of London (London, City of). It extends some 5 miles (8 km) from below High Holborn (road) to the northern heights of Hampstead Heath. Camden was created a borough in 1965 by the amalgamation of the former metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St. Pancras. Camden includes (from north to south) Highgate (in part), Hampstead, West Hampstead, Kentish Town, Camden Town, Kilburn (in part), Somers Town, St. Pancras, Bloomsbury, and Holborn.

      The route of an ancient Roman highway is partly followed by Watling Street, a section of which (in modern Kilburn High Road and Shoot-up Hill) skirts Camden's western edge. In the southern part, the Holborn district covers an area once occupied by two medieval villages (Holborn and St. Giles) and by three estates—Blemondesberi (Blemundsbury), the Soke of Portlepoole, and the Liberty of Ely Place.

      Hampstead was a village in Anglo-Saxon times; in the 10th century AD its manor was bestowed on the monastery at Westminster. In 1086 St. Pancras was held by St. Paul's Cathedral (Saint Paul's Cathedral) and divided into the manors of Pancras, Tothele (Totenhall), and Rugmere and a portion of land identified as Kennistoune or Cantelowes. In the 15th century Eton College obtained Chalcot's Farm (which gave its name to Chalk Farm) as an endowment from Henry VI; the prestigious secondary school still owns much property in the area.

      Following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, manors throughout the region were allocated to landed gentry. Many of the place-names of Camden remain associated with these landlords, notably the dukes of Bedford, the Lords Southampton, and the Somers family. Camden Town, from which the borough derived its name, was so called after the estate of Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (Camden, Charles Pratt, 1st Earl, Viscount Bayham Of Bayham Abbey, Baron Camden Of Camden Place), who in 1791 provided land there for building. With the increase in population, the expansion of the canal system, and the advent of the railways in the 19th century, villages grew and agricultural land north of Holborn disappeared. Today the lodging houses, tenements, railway stations, and railroad marshaling yards of southern and central Camden offer striking contrasts with the expensive residential areas in the north of the borough, including the “villages” of Hampstead and Highgate, which have been surrounded by the northward spread of Greater London.

      Historic landmarks include the chapel of St. Etheldreda, which is a remnant of a 13th-century structure, at Ely Place. In Holborn are the legal centres of Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn; the half-timbered Staple Inn is a former Inn of Chancery dating from Elizabethan times. Around Lincoln's Inn Fields are Sir John Soane's Museum and other historic edifices. St. Pancras Gardens is in the former churchyard of St. Pancras Old Church (14th century; remodeled 1848); St. Pancras New Church (1822; restored 1953) is an exemplary Regency (Regency style) structure. To the south is the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields (1733). Cast-iron dogs in the style of Sir Edwin Landseer (Landseer, Sir Edwin) guard the main doors of the church of St. George (1724) in Hanover Square. The parish church of Hampstead is a mid-18th century structure, whereas the late 17th-century Fenton House is a museum owned by the National Trust. Kenwood House, the former home of the Mansfield family, was remodeled (1764–73) by Robert Adam (Adam, Robert); its extensive grounds are now the setting for summer lawn concerts. Displayed within the house is a collection of masterpieces mainly by 18th-century British painters. Heath House was the centre of abolitionist activity in the late 18th century, and Burgh House (c. 1703) is now used as a cultural centre and museum. The Romantic poet John Keats (Keats, John) met his fiancee, Fanny Brawne, while residing at Wentworth Place; now known as Keats House, the site (restored 1974–75) includes a museum.

 The neoclassical British Museum is within the famous district of Bloomsbury, near research institutes, colleges, and the main offices of the University of London (London, University of). The British Library was opened at St. Pancras in 1998. Other notable buildings include Friends' House (1926), the Town Hall (1937), and the Wellcome Institute building (1932). A well-known landmark is the 620-foot- (189-metre-) high BT Tower (1964; formerly the Post Office Tower). Just north of Euston Road in Somers Town are the 19th-century railway terminals of King's Cross (1852), St. Pancras (1868), and Euston (1837).

      In Camden Town the production of tourist-oriented crafts has displaced former furniture and piano-making trades. Hatton Garden is the centre of London's diamond, gold, and silver trades. Tottenham Court Road has developed into a specialist shopping area.

      The borough's public open spaces include Primrose Hill, the eastern end of Regent's Park, Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and Coram's Fields. The Fitzroy Square area has been noted for its association with such artists and writers as Roger Fry (Fry, Roger), John Constable (Constable, John), Virginia Woolf (Woolf, Virginia), and George Bernard Shaw (Shaw, George Bernard). Karl Marx (Marx, Karl), who spent most of his later years in Camden, is buried in Highgate Cemetery, as are a number of other luminaries, including writers George Eliot (Eliot, George), George Henry Lewes (Lewes, George Henry), Radclyffe Hall (Hall, Radclyffe), and Douglas Adams (Adams, Douglas); poet Christina Rossetti (Rossetti, Christina); painters John Singleton Copley (Copley, John Singleton) and the Australian Sidney Nolan (Nolan, Sir Sidney); philosopher Herbert Spencer (Spencer, Herbert); and scientist Michael Faraday (Faraday, Michael).

      Camden has a long history of multiethnicity. Greek and Irish communities became established there in the 17th century. Italian immigrants, fleeing the upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars, settled in parts of Hatton Gardens and Saffron Hill, Holborn. Many Germans later settled in St. Pancras, and in the mid-20th century a large Cypriot community became established in Camden Town. Ethnic minorities constitute more than one-fifth of the population, with large numbers of South Asians and Africans. Area 8.4 square miles (22 square km). Pop. (2001) 198,020.

▪ county, New Jersey, United States

      county, southwestern New Jersey, U.S., bordered to the west by Pennsylvania, the Delaware River constituting the boundary. It comprises a lowland region drained by the Mullica and Great Egg Harbor rivers. The primary forest species are oak and hickory.

      Fort Nassau, near present-day Gloucester City, was one of the first colonial settlements in New Jersey (1623). At that time Delaware Indians still inhabited the area. The city of Camden, the county seat, is linked to Philadelphia across the Delaware by the Ben Franklin Bridge. It developed as the terminus of the Camden and Amboy Railroad (1834) and the Camden and Atlantic Railroad (1854). Located in the city are the house where poet Walt Whitman (Whitman, Walt) spent his final years (1873–92) and also, from 1927, a campus of Rutgers University (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey). The principal towns are Cherry Hill, Gloucester City, Pennsauken, Winslow, Gibbsboro, and Haddon.

      The county was formed in 1844 and named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (Camden, Charles Pratt, 1st Earl, Viscount Bayham Of Bayham Abbey, Baron Camden Of Camden Place). The primary components of the economy are services (health and business) and manufacturing (foods and telecommunications). Area 222 square miles (576 square km). Pop. (2000) 508,932; (2007 est.) 513,769.

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