Neighborhoods

• East Camden
• Knights Hill
• Dusty Bend
• Windsor Heights
• White Gardens
• Arrowwood
• The RaceTracks

Colonial years

Camden is the oldest inland city and the fourth oldest city in South Carolina. It is near the center of the Cofitachequi chiefdom that existed in the 1500s.^[9] In 1730, Camden became part of a township plan ordered by King George II. Kershaw County's official website states, "Originally laid out in 1732 as the town of Fredericksburg in the Wateree River swamp (south of the present town) when King George II ordered eleven inland townships established along South Carolina's rivers, few of the area settlers chose to take lots surveyed in the town, choosing the higher ground to the north. The township soon disappeared." In 1758, Joseph Kershaw from Yorkshire, England, came into the township, established a store and renamed the town "Pine Tree Hill". Camden became the main inland trade center in the colony. Kershaw suggested that the town be renamed Camden, in honor of Lord Camden, a champion of colonial rights in the British Parliament.^[10] In the 1770s it was the site of an early American porcelain factory, established by John Bartlam.

American Revolution and antebellum era

Flag of Great Britain in Camden, representing the city's connection to the Revolutionary War period.

May 1780 brought the American Revolution to Charleston, South Carolina, when it fell under the Crown's control. Lord Charles Cornwallis and 2,500 of his Loyalist and British troops marched to Camden and established there the main British supply post for the Southern campaign. The Battle of Camden, the worst American defeat of the Revolution, was fought on August 16, 1780, near Camden, and on April 25, 1781, the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill was fought between about 1,400 troops led by General Nathanael Greene and 950 Loyalists and British soldiers led by Lord Francis Rawdon. The latter battle was a costly win for the British and forced them to leave Camden and retreat to the coast.

After the Revolution, Camden's prominence and wealth grew as a major interior trading town with direct ties to Charleston and the world. Regional products, augmented with goods from the interior of North Carolina and far lands to the west were transported from Camden to Charleston on flat-bottom riverboats that plied the adjacent Wateree River before the railroad arrived in 1842. An Episcopal seminary opened in the town in 1857, but the campus burned during Sherman's invasion. The school did not reopen.^[11]

American Civil War and later years

American Revolutionary War reenactment.

Camden was the source of six Confederate generals during the American Civil War. Richard Rowland Kirkland – "The Angel of Marye's Heights" – is interred in the Old Quaker Cemetery. At the end of the war, components of Sherman's army burned Confederate and nearby properties, including a full block of downtown buildings. The last Federal officer killed in the Civil War was 1st Lt E.L. Stevens of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry who died in a skirmish 9 miles south of Camden at the Battle of Boykin's Mill on April 18, 1865.

Starting in the mid-1880s the Camden area became an increasingly popular destination for wealthy northern families to spend the winter. Eventually, three resort hotels provided winter tourism activities well into the 1930s and beyond. The town became associated with many equestrian activities and is now the home of the third oldest active polo field in America. In the winter, more than 1,500 thoroughbreds call the area home. According to Kershaw County's web site, "Horse-related activities became very popular. That interest in equine activities has continued and today the horse industry is a major part of the county's economy. For that reason, the city is known as the 'Steeplechase Capital of the World'."

Aerial view of the Orlon Plant in Camden.

In 1950, Dupont opened the Dupont May Plant in Camden which manufactured Orlon. The plant was located on five miles of land and employed over 2,000 people.^[12][13] For many years it was the town's largest employer.^[14] In 1977, DuPont notified the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of a study the company conducted which showed an "excessive incidence and cancer mortality" rate among a cohort of workers who worked at the plant from 1950 to 1955.^[15] The findings were liked to a major chemical component of Orlon, acrylonitrile.^[16] Citing issues with foreign competition, Dupont ended the production of Orlon in 1990.^[17] Since the closure of the Orlon plant, the town has attracted a number of manufacturing companies such as Hengst GmbH & Co. and Haier.^[18] In 2003, Target opened an $85 million distribution center in the town.^[17]

Jewish community

Camden has long had a Jewish community. Members of the community have included David Camden de Leon, Mordecai M. Levy, Chapman Levy, and Bernard Baruch.^[19]

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,788 people, 2,905 households, and 1,810 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the census^[3] of 2010, there were 6,838 people living in the city limits, in 2,967 households and 1,800 families. The population density was 692.2 inhabitants per square mile (267.3/km²). There were 3,544 housing units at an average density of 331.8 per square mile (128.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 62.2% White, 35.1% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 2.7% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.4% of the population.

There were 2,967 households, out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 20.1% from 18 to 39, 34.5% from 40 to 64, 17.3% from 65 to 84, and 4.3% who were 85 years of age or older. The median age was 45.3 years. 45.0% of the population was male and 55.0% of the population was female.

The Kershaw House, Georgian mansion first built, 1775–1780, by Joseph Kershaw, merchant and leading citizen of Camden became the headquarters for the occupying British army, 1780–1781. It burned in 1865, and was the object of an archaeological dig in 1968. Then it was rebuilt from 1974 to 1977.

The median income for a household in the city was $48,313, and the median income for a family was $62,140. Males had a median income of $42,597 versus $32,524 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,385. About 13.7% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those aged 65 or over.