The Camden Great Fire Historic District encompasses 21 buildings along Elm and Main Streets, on the west side of the Camden Harbor. The Megunticook River runs under the district at its north end and several of the buildings on the east side of the district are actually built on the bridge and over the river or its catch basin. Within the district boundaries is the previously listed Richardson Romanesque Camden Opera House, fifteen substantial, brick, commercial buildings, and seven smaller, frame commercial buildings. Most of the buildings in the Great Fire District were built in 1893, immediately following the fire that swept through the town on the night of November 10, 1892. The buildings reflect the enthusiastic community spirit and community planning that were the response of a small Maine town. The two-, three-, and four-story brick buildings represent the work of four local architects and four architects from other parts of New England. They include fine examples of commercial vernacular architecture with Richardson Romanesque and Renaissance Revival details and a dramatic Second Empire building. With regard to both the street scape and architecture, the district retains the scale and density of a prosperous, 19th century New England commercial center. The district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of not only its architectural significance of the individual buildings, but as a commercial neighborhood that achieved its form due to concentrated community planning and cooperation.