History of Camden, New Jersey

History of Camden, New Jersey starts with the introduction of Quakers into the native lands of the Lenape population in the Delaware Valley.^[1][2] Throughout the city's history there have been times of economic growth and development; as well as stagnation and decline.^[3][2] The City of Camden was named after Camden County, which was named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden,^[4][5] who was a civil libertarian, promoter of the American cause, and a British judge and lawyer.^[4][5] The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.^[6]

The current demographics show Camden to currently be in a population decline, economic decline, and crime rate decline.^[7][8][9] Once known for violent crime statistics,^[10] Camden has seen a decrease in this number since restructuring their police force.^[7] Some major changes that have created economic decline revolve around the history of major employers and their interaction with the local population, the changes war brought to the United States over the decades, changes in the crime rates, and the changing face of population demographics.^[3] There is an extensive history of cultural growth that includes a location that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad located at the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church,^[11] the grave and home of Walt Whitman,^[12][13][14] as well as the growth and development of multiple higher education campuses.^[15][16][17] In recent years the development of groups like Camden Community Partnership ^[18] and Cooper's Ferry Partnership are working in the community for change, including the development of new parks.^[19]

Revitalization projects have been met with limited success.^[3] Destruction of low-income housing options for business and city development has also limited the availability of housing in the city.^[3] The construction of the Ben Franklin Bridge is one event that impacted the face of housing in the northern sections of Camden in the 1920s. Not only was low-income housing destroyed during this construction, but the city was also effectively split by the addition of the highway leading up to the bridge as well.^[3]

As the former home of many manufacturing companies, Camden has had a major impact on the history of the county, state, and country.^[3] This impact is such that it has defined itself as a city in its own right and not just a suburb of the larger Philadelphia, which is located just across the Delaware River to the west. Some of the important parts of American history that parallel Camden history include: the changes of gender roles in factories as the war pulled men overseas; the changes of the minority demographics as the Civil War moved slavery out of the norm and civil rights changed the face of segregation; and the impact of immigration on the populations that settled here and how they grouped together as families and ethnicity groups.^[3]