Cameron is a city in Clinton, DeKalb and Caldwell counties in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. The population was 8,513 at the 2020 census. The Clinton and Caldwell counties portion of Cameron are part of the

Kansas City Metropolitan Area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, while the DeKalb County portion is part of the

St. Joseph, Missouri Metropolitan Area The St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties - three in northwest Missouri (Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew, Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan, and DeKalb Co ...

. The city as a whole is a part of the Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City Combined Statistical Area.

History

In 1854, Samuel McCorkle platted the town of Somerville. When the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (a line whose founders included the father of

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

and which was to deliver the first mail of the

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. During its 18 months of opera ...

) proposed coming through the area, the line claimed the area around Somerville was too steep for the rail, so he platted a new community 1.5 miles to the west in what is now Downtown Cameron just one year after the founding of Sommerville in 1855 . Since the Hannibal and St.Joseph Railroad Company could not come through Sommerville McCorkle had Judge Stokes and his son Edmund D. Stokes move all the buildings from Sommerville to the new town of Cameron that was named for the maiden name of his wife, Malinda Cameron. McCorkle Park is still Cameron's centerpiece park. During the 1860s, as fierce competition raged for the starting point of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

, there was competition to get the Hannibal & St. Joseph (which at the time was the farthest west railroad connected to the main rail network) to cross the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

was to win the fight when the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

started the railroad west from there. However, there was no bridge connecting it to the rest of the network.

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

was able to convince the railroad to bypass its rivals in St. Joseph,

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Leavenworth is located on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the site o ...

Atchison, Kansas Atchison is a city in, and the county seat of, Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator ...

and

Parkville, Missouri Parkville is a city in Platte County, Missouri, Platte County, Missouri, United States and is a part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The population was 7,177 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. According to the 2022 census, the ...

to create the "Cameron Branch" of the railroad. The construction of the Hannibal Bridge in Kansas City (which was to beat Omaha in any bids to cross the Missouri) was to propel that city into being the dominant city in the region. Cameron was to enjoy a surge in its population because of the cutoff, with its population growing from 100 in 1859 to 3,000. Cameron was a college town from 1883 until 1930. Founded as the Cameron Institute, it became

Missouri Wesleyan College Missouri Wesleyan College was a college in Cameron, Missouri, from 1883 until 1930.Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

until 1930. A building on the campus would become Cameron High School until being torn down in the 1960s, when a new high school was built on a site a few blocks south; the campus grounds are now used as parking for the nearby football field. Cameron gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s after Cameron area resident Bob F. Griffin served more than 15 years as Speaker of the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

—the longest of any representative. Among the pork barrel legislation he was to bring to the town were the Missouri Veterans Home and the Western Missouri Correctional Center, the latter of which is the city's largest employer, with 700 employees. A street in the town is named "Bob Griffin Road," though the road remains (as of June 2016) unpaved for most of its length. Griffin eventually served four years in prison for corruption. Cameron's character has evolved with the intersection of limited access highways. It has expanded to the north towards and past U.S. Route 36 (which in 2007 was proposed to be part of

Interstate 72 Interstate 72 (I-72) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern United States. Its western terminus is in Hannibal, Missouri, at an intersection with U.S. Route 61 (US 61); its eastern terminus is at Country Fair Drive in Champa ...

). It has also expanded to the east towards

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Unusual street grid

More than two thirds of the community is in Clinton County, south of NE Platte/8th Street/County Road 56. This area includes the original olde town center, Cameron High School and Veterans Home. The area north of the street in DeKalb includes the Crossroads Correctional Center and Western Missouri Correctional Center, and the shopping centers next to U.S. 36. In addition, portions of the community stretch east to the Caldwell County line. The north-south-east division creates an unusual street grid naming system in which some streets in the northern part of Cameron in DeKalb follow that county's naming structure of Southeast Rogers Road, Southeast Summit Road, Southeast Pence Road, etc. while roads in the south of Cameron in northern Clinton County have road names of Northeast 358th Street, Northeast 348th Street, etc. These latter street names and directions represent a continuation of the street system for

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

. With Caldwell County on the east side of Cameron, that means that street name extensions in Caldwell County on the far east side have a prefix of Northwest such as Northwest Old Highway 36. In one instance just outside the city limits, Southeast Oregon Road in Dekalb County becomes Northwest Oregon Road in Caldwell County when heading east from Cameron.

Climate

Cameron experiences a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, with cold and snowy winters and hot and humid summers. Extreme weather, such as

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

s and

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

es, can and have occurred in Cameron. Snow falls during the winter months, while late spring and early summer are the wettest time of the year.

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 8,513 people, 2,414 households, and 1,338 families in Cameron. The population density was 1,241.0 per square mile (479.1/km). There were 2,812 housing units at an average density of 409.9 per square mile (158.2/km). The racial makeup was 84.98% (7,234)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 8.08% (688) black or African-American, 0.41% (35) Native American, 0.87% (74) Asian, 0.0% (0)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.67% (57) from other races, and 4.99% (425) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race was 3.6% (319) of the population. Of the 2,414 households, 27.0% had children under the age of 18; 43.6% were married couples living together; 31.4% had a female householder with no husband present. Of all households, 34.3% consisted of individuals and 17.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 2.9. 17.0% of the population was under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.4 years. For every 100 females, the population had 208.5 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 207.3 males. The 2016-2020 5-year

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

estimates show that the median household income was $57,855 (with a margin of error of +/- $9,137) and the median family income was $65,047 (+/- $6,533). Males had a median income of $35,053 (+/- $3,617) versus $27,485 (+/- $4,462) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $30,823 (+/- $2,389). Approximately, 5.5% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.9% of those under the age of 18 and 4.1% of those ages 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 9,933 people, 2,605 households, and 1,562 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,951 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 82.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 14.8%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population. There were 2,605 households, of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.0% were non-families. 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.04. The median age in the city was 37.4 years. 17.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 36.2% were from 25 to 44; 24% were from 45 to 64; and 13.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 66.0% male and 34.0% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 8,312 people, 2,263 households, and 1,434 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,540 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 84.90%

, 12.64%

, 0.60% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 1.30% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.37% of the population. There were 2,263 households, out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were

living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.03. In the city the population was spread out, with 18.5% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 40.2% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 171.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 189.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $32,136, and the median income for a family was $40,540. Males had a median income of $29,529 versus $19,777 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $12,375. About 9.8% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the

, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 19.2% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Cameron uses a council–manager form of government with a city manager appointed by the city council. As of February 2020, the current city manager is Steve Rasmussen.

Transportation

Highways

* , Cameron accessible via exits 52 and 54 * as Evergreen Street and Walnut Street, and concurrent with US-36 * concurrent with I-35 Bus. from Walnut Street to Monarch Highway * as Grand Avenue and Walnut Street * as Walnut Street * as Chicago-Kansas City Expressway

Transit

Intercity bus service to the city is provided by

Jefferson Lines Jefferson Lines (JL or JLI) is a regional intercity bus company operating in 14 states in the Midwest and the West of the United States. History The company is operated by Jefferson Partners L.P., located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jefferson P ...

Education

All portions of Cameron are in Cameron R-I School District. Cameron R-I School District operates one elementary school, one intermediate school, one middle school, and Cameron High School. The town has a lending library, the Cameron Public Library, with 35,000 items in its collection.

Notable people

* Joseph Irwin France, U.S. Senator, representing

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

* Don Gillis, composer and conductor * DeWitt Clarke Jennings, actor * George Smith, lieutenant governor of Missouri

References

External links

City of Cameron
* Historic maps of Cameron in th
Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection
at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

{{authority control Cities in Clinton County, Missouri Cities in DeKalb County, Missouri St. Joseph, Missouri metropolitan area Kansas City metropolitan area Populated places established in 1830 1830 establishments in Missouri Cities in Missouri