Tag: Senator Johnson Camden

May 4, 1887: W.Va. Legislature Elects Charles Faulkner Jr. to the Senate

On May 4, 1887, the West Virginia Legislature pulled its support from incumbent U.S. Senator Johnson Camden and elected Charles Faulkner Jr. of Martinsburg to the Senate. At the time, U.S. senators were chosen by state legislatures.

The move ended a legislative deadlock that had dragged on for months. Camden, a railroad and oil developer, was a controversial figure even within his own Democratic Party. Anti-Camden forces disliked his links to big business, namely John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. As a silent partner of Rockefeller, Camden had forced most West Virginia oil companies other than his own out of business.

As a U.S. senator, Camden was one of the state’s first politicians to exploit his position for personal and business advantage. While in the senate, he speculated financially on West Virginia’s attempts to settle pre-statehood debts with Virginia, helped get Standard Oil into international markets, and repealed laws opposed by the oil industry.

In the 1890s, Johnson Camden returned to the Senate for two years, completing the unexpired term of John Kenna—all the while, becoming one of West Virginia’s richest men.

April 16, 1920: Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital Dedicated

Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital was dedicated in Parkersburg on April 16, 1920. Its roots date back to the old City Hospital, a 40-bed facility that opened in 1898 on present 13th Street. It also operated a nursing school.

In 1920, the hospital moved to the Camden mansion on Garfield Avenue. That had been the home of former U.S. Senator and industrialist Johnson Camden and his wife, Anne. After her death in 1918, the family honored her by giving the mansion to the city. With a donation and bequest from Dr. Andrew Clark, the city added a wing and adapted the mansion into Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital.

In the 1970s, the hospital was expanded with a new kitchen, mechanical wing, surgery suite, and a North Wing Tower, featuring a radiology department, coronary care unit, emergency department, laboratory, and pharmacy. Later additions included a medical office building, outpatient physical therapy building, and catheterization lab.

In 2011, Camden-Clark merged with St. Joseph’s Hospital to become Camden Clark Medical Center, an affiliate of the West Virginia United Health Center. Today, the 370-bed hospital employs about 2,500 and serves the Mid-Ohio Valley region.

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