Câmpina is mentioned in documents since 8^th of January 1503, this name appearing in the vigesimal books of merchants who were coming from Braşov and who transited the Prahova Valley, an area used as a commercial route, being a communication path between the Romanian provinces, Transylvania and Muntenia,  ever since the XIV century. Even though in the acts of royal chancelleries it is mentioned as ‘’Prahova’s custom’’, it is certain that the village of Câmpina, thanks to its geographical position situated at the entrance of the Carpathian mountains and its equidistant location between Bucharest and Braşov, was a customs, the strategic point to control goods. This aspect made possible a rapid development of the settlement, the city enjoying numerous benefits from trades that took place here. It operated as a customs from the year 1422 to the year 1840, when, for a brief period of time the customs moved to Breaza, and afterwards to Predeal, the border point in those times with Ardeal.

One of the sources of Câmpina’s blossoming was the transhumance, activity prolonged until the XIX century, bringing great benefits, for the city as well as for Wallachia’s vault. On Câmpina’s way there existed inns for travelers heading to Transylvania. In the same place, as a result of the written request of the landowner Scarlat Câmpineanu to the ruler Moruzi in 1799, a stockyard will be held each Monday, action that brought new advantages for the fair.

In 1822, Câmpina reaches the first place in the list of the Romanian Customs, with fuel oil as its trump, an element that gave great importance and value to this place.

For decades, the city of Câmpina knew a slow phase in its development, especially when the customs had moved to Breaza and, then to Predeal. Starting with the modern exploitation of oil, the settlement will flourish once again (1880).

The activities of Câmpina’s residents in this period were: agriculture, trade, beekeeping, carriage and fuel oil extraction from underneath the settlement by the famous well sinkers. Here eight watermills operated, located on the Prahova and the Doftana rivers. On the 1^st of December 1879 the railway between Ploiești and Predeal was inaugurated; where today lays the train station of the city, the young then engineer Anghel Saligny, the one who designed and built the Cernavodă bridge (1895) had his office.

The documents show the mayors of the city concerned to develop the settlement from urban comfort point of view through: paved streets, street lights, a marketplace, a public garden. It is mentioned, among others, about the mineral baths landscaped around the salt and sulfur springs on the south plateau of the city in 1857, land which became the property of Dumitru Hernia. Leased to individuals in Bucharest Garoflide and Georgescu they will be a highlight of the city, through: a casino, a restaurant with a German orchestra and band, accommodation and cabins, in a word, a complete spa establishment. In the middle of the park spread over an area of 2.5 ha a baroque chapel was built, which housed the tomb of Dumitru Hernia, a veritable place monument of art, today an admirable ruin.

The plain beauty and gentle climate of Câmpina were the main reasons why great people of the nation will establish their residence here: the painter Nicolae Grigorescu, the scientist Bogdan Petriceicu Haşdeu, the Dr. chemist Constantin Istrati, Ion Heliade Rădulescu.

The city was triving by exploitation of the „black gold”. The big industrial units were established: the refinery of the company ‘’Steaua Română” (literally: The Romanian Star), Câmpina Central Workshops, the Power Plant, the Sulfuric acid plant. The small industry is felt here through the workshop and foundry of Carol Saicovici, and in 1911, by the foundry of the Zipter brothers.

From a small provincial town, Câmpina became both a powerful oil industrial center and a metallurgical center, turning little by little into what it is nowadays: one of the most beautiful and prosperous settlements in Romania, where about 38,000 people live together.

In 1994, by government decree, Câmpina became municipality

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