Camden

• Sherwood Anderson1876-1941Novelist and short-story writer whose Winesburg, Ohio (1919), drawn from his boy...

• Myron E. ScottPerson · 1907-1998

How Camden began

Camden began as Dover, laid out in 1818 in Somers Township. When a post office was sought, the name had to change because an Ohio Dover already existed, and in 1824 the village became Newcomb, honoring state senator George Newcomb; that name failed to take hold, and in 1835 the village renamed itself again, this time for Camden, South Carolina. It grew as a farm-trade town through the nineteenth century, reaching 637 residents by 1860 and peaking at 2,302 in 2000. Camden is the birthplace of novelist Sherwood Anderson and of Myron Scott, the Dayton news photographer who in 1933 invented the All-American Soap Box Derby.

Platted 1818 (as Dover).

Where the name comes from

Laid out in 1818 as Dover, the village was renamed Newcomb in 1824 after State Senator George Newcomb because an Ohio Dover already existed and the name could not be used for a post office; that name did not catch on, and in 1835 the village took its present name after Camden, South Carolina.

Before the town

No mound, village, trail or treaty site specific to Camden was found in the sources checked.

Nations recorded here: Miami, Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1818 — The settlement was laid out as Dover in what became Somers Township.
2. 1824 — The village was renamed Newcomb after State Senator George Newcomb, since an Ohio Dover already existed.
3. 1835 — The village took its current name, Camden, after Camden, South Carolina.
4. 1860 — Camden's population was recorded at 637.
5. 1876-09-13 — Novelist Sherwood Anderson, author of 'Winesburg, Ohio,' was born in Camden.
6. 1933 — Camden-born Dayton Daily News photographer Myron Scott organized a soapbox car race that became the first All-American Soap Box Derby.
7. 1970-1980 — Camden's population grew 30.8 percent, its largest decade of growth on record.
8. 1998-02-12 — The Camden City Hall and Opera House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
9. 2000 — Camden's population peaked at 2,302.

Stories

The village that renamed itself twice

Camden's first name, chosen when it was laid out in 1818, was Dover -- ordinary enough, except that Ohio already had a Dover, up in Tuscarawas County, and a village without a unique name could not get its own post office. So in 1824 the settlers tried again, calling their town Newcomb after George Newcomb, the state senator who represented them in Columbus. That name never took either; residents kept calling it by other names, and by 1835 the village board gave up trying to honor a living politician and reached instead for a place with no local connection at all: Camden, South Carolina, a name that finally stuck. The town grew slowly under that third name, from a few hundred farm-trade families to a peak of just over 2,300 residents by the year 2000, and it is that name -- not Dover, not Newcomb -- that produced two men who put small-town Ohio on a national stage: novelist Sherwood Anderson, born there in 1876, and Myron Scott, the local boy turned Dayton news photographer whose 1933 idea for a soapbox car race became the All-American Soap Box Derby.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Every historic place in Preble County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Camden, Village Of69% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Southwest Regional Water District31% of residentsGreat Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Public libraries (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-09-03

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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