The History of Camden High School
Camden (population 97) is located in western Illinois in the southwestern portion of Schuyler County. Illinois Route 99 is the main roadway to and from Camden. Laprairie/Camden Road runs just south of Camden. MapQuest website shows the town of Camden to be 7 blocks long and 3 blocks wide. Camden is about 15 miles south and a little west of Macomb. According to Rootsweb webpage of http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilschuyl/Camden1908.html : “The village of Camden, which is situated on the southwest quarter of Section 17, was laid out by Robert Brown and Joseph N. Ward, January 28, 1831, and was surveyed and platted by Samuel McHatton, Deputy County Surveyor.” The history of the Camden school district is in need of research. We only have found out about the former high school when we were provided research material on Frederick High School by our good fan Patrick Kinn. On the basketball schedule of the 1941 Frederick High School team were the boys of Camden High School. Not once, but twice (they split with each winning one game that year) did the two teams meet. We sense that Camden and Frederick were likely three-year high schools through the 1940s, likely closing in the late 1940s. This is currently the extent of information we have. We acknowledge there may be errors in this report, but we hope if you have the correct information you will contact us to help us tell the real story of Camden High School. From John Weatherby regarding the Camden school. ‘The Camden school was still in operation in 1980 I believe that they closed 80 or 81. The elementary school still shared classrooms. And their sports team was the “Wildcats.” The made it to regional or state in the early 60s for basketball. The old gymnasium is still standing and currently a farmers storage shed, the basketball hoops are still hanging.” Camden High School Quick Facts Year opened: late 1800s/early 1900s Year closed: late 1940s? Consolidated to: Rushville School District Camden HS team nickname: “Wildcats” Camden HS team colors: unavailable School Fight Song: unavailable |
||||
![]() |
||||
|