OUR TOWN USA - Camden, TN

Camden, Tennessee was named after Camden, S. C. and is the county seat of Benton County, located along the eastern side of Kentucky Lake, formerly the Tennessee River.

It is located near the east-west route of I-40 and is 85 miles west of Nashville, the state capital, and 140 miles east of Memphis. Running north and south through the town is U. S. 641 and running east and west through the town is U. S. 70.

The county courthouse was built in the middle of the public square in 1837. The town had a population of less than 200 persons in 1850. Its population today is over 3,000.

Camden has always been the principal town in Benton County, since it is centrally located.

The town has several flourishing churches, factories, financial institutions and numerous small businesses in the town proper as well as in South Camden and in its latest developed section, the West End.

In l963, Camden grabbed national headlines. On a stormy March 5 night, three of country's music's greatest talents perished in a plane crash three miles northwest of Camden.

On the plane were Patsy Kline, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas as well as the pilot Randy Hughes, who was also Cline's manager.