Some Early History of Camden Township and the Founding of Kipton on the New Railroad 

The coming of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland railroad in 1852 made a vital change in the affairs of Camden township. Up to that time flourishing villages were established at Camden Center and at Samtown. The railroad changed all this and the village of Kipton became the center of trade. The railroad was originally laid out through Oberlin and then on to Grafton where it connected with the Big Four tracks. The first passenger train arrived from Norwalk early in 1853. William W. Whitney, who owned the land where Kipton lies, proceeded to lay out a village west of the highway and extending south from the tracks. He named it Binghampton, in honor of his native place, Binghampton, N.Y. The name was later changed to Kipton when the railroad adopted that name for its station.

Dr. Week’s says: "When the railroad was built, there was erected a horse pump back of the hotel, to raise water from the river for the water tank by the railroad. There used to be large sheds for the storage of firewood for the locomotive near the depot. Some farmers used to receive quite an income from the sale of wood for this purpose. At Samtown a store was built where Henry Salzman’s house stands, and the goods were moved from Morgan’s old woodhouse. Goodale and Goodrich were the merchants, and they built an ashery back of it, which was afterwards made over into a sawmill. The ashery business must have been an active one, as we read that they made from seven to ten tons of potash a week and sold it from $130 to $160 a ton. They obtained their wood at prices from 25 to 31 cents per cord, cut and piled. Besides the store and ashery, Samtown had other industries, shoemaker, blacksmith shop, hotel and other things.

Camden Center was a flourishing little village, having a wagon shop, store and other shops, but it too lost its industries. The active Baptist church is all that remains of its former glory.

"Obadiah Bowen built the first hotel in Kipton but sold it to Wallace Campbell in 1857. The building was destroyed by fire in 1873 but was rebuilt. The first store in Kipton was kept in the south end of the hotel, the stock being furnished by Charles Campbell, father of Wallace. Another store was kept where the hardware store now stands. McFarland, probably Harvey, built the first brick store, which was sold by Thomas Linnell to Alonzo and Benjamin Breckenridge in 1867. They had started in a small building two years before. The two brothers finally divided their business, Ben continuing in the mercantile business while Lon engaged in the warehouse and elevator business. He died August 6, 1908, and the elevator is now the Farmers’ Cooperative.

The township was organized in 1835,  The name was suggested by Gideon Waugh, after his native town, Camden, N.Y. An election for officers was ordered for April 6, and all but one man in the township entitled to vote, cast their ballots. The officers chosen were: Trustees, Azel Washburn, Robert Douglas and Obed Holcomb; Clerk, John Cyrenius; Treasurer, David Wells; Overseers of the Poor, Thomas Lee and Joseph Wilcox; Supervisors of Highways, Gideon Waugh, James Smith and Reuben Eddy. Gideon Waugh was elected Justice of the Peace later in the year. The township also elected to the office of Fence Viewers, James Smith, Joseph Wilcox and Benjamin Wilcox. The duties of this set of officers were probably not very arduous, and most of the township affairs soon fell to the trustees.