Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 1860.
The Camden post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Camden’s history is told.
Peaked at 650 in 1890; 175 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Camden’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCamden (vicinity), Missouri. A farmstead along the right of way on the Atchison, Topeka, …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Camden.
Camden was platted in 1838. The community most likely was named after a family of early settlers. Camden was a Missouri River boat stop until the early 1900s, when the Missouri River's Camden bend was cut off after major river flooding, moving the new channel south. A post office called Camden began operation in 1838, but closed in the early 2000s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Camden. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Camden.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Camden’s page.
Retake this view · +15Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Camden post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1943