CAMDEN, a city of New Jersey, U.S.A., the county seat of Camden county, on the Delaware river, opposite Philadelphia, with which it is connected by a suspension bridge (opened 1926) which is 8,126ft. long, 135ft. above the water, and has a span of 1,75o feet. It is on Federal highways 3o and 13o, and is served by the Pennsylvania and the Reading railways. The land area is 7.75q. miles. The population in 1920 was 116,309, of whom 20,262 were foreign-born white and 8,5oo were negroes; and was 118,70o in 193o by Federal census.
The city has a water-front of 6.1m. on the Delaware and 6.2 along the Cooper river, which divides it into East and West Cam den. A municipal pier with a floor area of 33,636sq.f t. was built in 192o-21. A civic centre was being developed in 1928 as part of a comprehensive city plan. Bus and electric lines are co-ordinated in a unified service, operating out of a common terminal. The water supply is derived from 136 artesian wells, with a flow of 36,00o,o0ogal. a day. The city has a commission form of govern ment (adopted 1923). The assessed valuation of property in 1927 was The manufacturing industries are numerous and important, with a varied output ranging from pen-points to battleships. The aggregate output in 1925 was valued at $164,050,849. Among the products manufactured are: steel pens, talking-machines, canned soups, and oilcloth and linoleum. During the World War the New York Shipbuilding Corporation delivered more ships than any other yard in the country, and made a record for rapid construc tion in the collier "Tuckahoe," which was launched on the 27th day after work was begun on her keel. There has never been a bank failure in Camden. Clearings in 1926 amounted to $771,000,000.
The early settlers were largely Quakers. William Cooper in 1681 built a home just below the mouth of the Cooper river, and called it Pyne Poynt. For a century the settlement consisted of a little group of houses around the ferry. In 1773 Jacob Cooper, a descendant of William, laid out a town, and named it after Lord Chancellor Camden, one of the strongest opponents of the Stamp Act. Until 1828, when Camden was incorporated, with a popula tion of 1,143, it was a part of the town of Newton, Gloucester county. During the British occupation of Philadelphia in the Revolutionary War a British force was stationed in Camden, and it was the scene of several skirmishes. Camden was the home of Walt Whitman from 1873 until his death. He was buried in Har ley cemetery, and his house in Mickle street is kept as a memorial.