Camden, Texas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Camden
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 Camden
Location in Texas
Camden
Location in the United States
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  Texas |
| County | Polk |
| Population
(2000)
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| • Total | 1,200 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
Camden is a small community in Polk County, Texas, United States. It's not an official city, but an unincorporated community. You can find it where Farm to Market Road 942 and Farm to Market Road 62 meet. This spot is about eighty miles north of Beaumont. Back in the year 2000, about 1,200 people lived there. Students in the area go to schools in the Corrigan-Camden Independent School District.
Camden's History
Camden started as a special kind of town called a company town in the early 1900s. A company town is built and owned by a single company for its workers. In Camden, the W. T. Carter & Brother lumber company built almost all the houses. They rented these homes to their employees.
In the late 1960s, Champion Paper bought the lumber company. After the sale, most of Camden's public buildings and houses were sold. Many were even moved away. Camden was one of the last company towns left in Texas at that time. The Camden School District also joined with the Corrigan School District. They formed the new Corrigan-Camden School District. By the early 1970s, Camden mostly had a post office and Champion company offices. A few vacation homes owned by the Carter family also remained.
There's a fun idea about how Camden got its name. Some people think that early members of the Carter family knew about Camden, Maine. They might have named this Texas community after that place.
Getting Around in Camden
A special railroad called the Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad helps Camden. It serves the Champion wood products plant in the area. This railroad connects with the Union Pacific railroad in a town called Moscow. People used to be able to ride this train to Moscow. However, passenger service stopped in 1973.
