Best Web Design in Camden, NJ (2026)

Web Design for Camden, New Jersey

Camden is a historic industrial city of about 71,000 on the Delaware River directly across from Philadelphia, once powered by the 'big three' of RCA Victor, Campbell Soup, and New York Shipbuilding. After decades of manufacturing decline, it has pivoted toward an 'eds and meds' economy while reinventing its waterfront with the USS New Jersey, Adventure Aquarium, and a concert amphitheater. Its motto, drawn from resident poet Walt Whitman, is 'In a Dream, I Saw a City Invincible.'

AppWT works with Camden, NJ businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Camden

Also known as. A City Invincible.

History. The land was home to the Lenape people for thousands of years before European settlement began in the 1600s. Jacob Cooper laid out a town site in 1773, named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, whose opposition to British taxation made him popular with the colonists; the city incorporated on February 13, 1828. Industry boomed at the turn of the 20th century behind the 'big three': the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor), Campbell Soup, and New York Shipbuilding. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge to Philadelphia opened in 1926. Manufacturing peaked around 1950; the Campbell Soup Camden plant ceased production in 1991 amid steep postwar industrial decline. A 2013 police restructuring is credited with a major crime decline, with violent crime later reported down about 46% from its 1990s peak.

Local economy. The economy shifted from manufacturing to an 'eds and meds' base, with education and health care accounting for roughly 45% of employment. Campbell Soup Company remains headquartered in Camden, its founding city. Cooper University Hospital and Rutgers University-Camden are anchor institutions and major employers. Subaru of America relocated its U.S. headquarters to Camden in 2018. The Delaware River Port Authority, a bi-state agency, is another significant employer.

Culture and community. Camden was a hub of recorded-music history through the Victor Talking Machine Company and RCA Victor, famous for the 'His Master's Voice' Nipper the dog trademark. The Walt Whitman House and the Walt Whitman Cultural Arts Center honor the poet who spent his final years in the city. The Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts supports the local arts scene. Local soul-food institution Corinne's Place has served Haddon Avenue for nearly three decades, and Reggae Grill offers Jamaican cuisine. The waterfront Freedom Mortgage Pavilion is a major outdoor concert venue. Camden is the birthplace of entertainers Lola Falana and crooner Russ Columbo.

What makes Camden distinct. The world's first drive-in movie theater grew from Camden inventor Richard Hollingshead's driveway experiments; he patented the idea and opened his Park-In Theater in June 1933 on Admiral Wilson Boulevard. The city's motto comes from a Walt Whitman poem: 'In a Dream, I Saw a City Invincible.' The first Church of Scientology was incorporated in Camden in December 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard and his wife Mary Sue. Camden contains Yorkship Village (now Fairview), the first federally funded planned community for working-class residents in the U.S. Three Camden mayors have been jailed for corruption: Angelo Errichetti, Arnold Webster, and Milton Milan.

Camden Landmarks and Local Life

• USS New Jersey - the decorated battleship now a museum and memorial on the Delaware River (opened 2001)
• Adventure Aquarium - home to a large East Coast shark collection and billed as the only aquarium in the world with hippopotamuses
• Walt Whitman House on Mickle Street - a National Historic Landmark where Whitman lived until his death in 1892
• Harleigh Cemetery (est. 1885) - Walt Whitman's burial site
• Camden Children's Garden and the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex on the waterfront.