Camden District Court

Camden has plenty of good roads running through it such as US 79, US 79 Business, US 278, SR 4, SR 4 Business, SR 7 and SR 376.

The first settlement at Camden was a French trading post named Ecore Fabre, or Fabre's Bluff, for its first settler, a Frenchman. Around 1820, steamboats came to the city on the Ouachita river allowing it to trade with markets in New Orleans, spurring growth of the city and causing it to be named the “Queen City” of the river. Around 1840 when Ouachita county was formed, Camden was named the county seat. AS 1860 rolled around the city continued to flourish and newspapers, churches, schools, merchants, lawyers, and manufacturers came to the town. After the Civil War, cotton was an important part of the economy and steam boats continued to ply the river. Pine and hardwood forests soon were added to the economy and although the railroads serviced much of the commercial trade, the steamboats continued to service the city until the 1930s. The Camden Visitors center and museum was established in a restored 1913 train depot. Camark pottery and Grapette soft drinks are related to the city and artifacts of the two are in exhibits dedicated to them. Other exhibits display items related to local history, railroad and Civil War memorabilia.

Hon. Phil Foster