Author Archives: njgate

What is now Lawrence Township was originally formed as Maidenhead Township on February 20, 1697, while the area was still part of Burlington County in West Jersey. The township was named by the early Quaker settlers after Maidenhead, a Thames River village west of London. It became part of the newly created Hunterdon County on March 11, 1714. Maidenhead Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey’s initial group of 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798.[23]

Long the home of the Lenape, Native Americans, European settlement in the area that would become Garfield dates back to 1679, when Jacques Cortelyou acquired more than 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land surrounding the Passaic River known as “Acqueyquinonke”, that ran from the Saddle River to present day Glen Rock.[22]

Deptford Township was formed June 1, 1695 and was known initially as Bethlehem. It was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798 as one of the state’s initial group of 104 townships formed under its new Township Act. Over the centuries, portions of the township were taken to create Washington Township (February 17, 1836), Woodbury Borough (March 27, 1854; now Woodbury City), West Deptford Township (March 1, 1871), Wenonah (March 10, 1883), Westville (April 7, 1914) and Woodbury Heights (April 6, 1915).[22]

As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,889.[15] The township has British roots going back to the 17th century. Abraham Levitt and Sons purchased and developed Willingboro land in the 1950s and 1960s as a planned community in their Levittown model.[16]

Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township. Long Branch was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1903, based on the results of a referendum, replacing the Long Branch Commission.[21]

Livingston was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 5, 1813, from portions of Caldwell Township (now Fairfield Township) and Springfield Township (now in Union County). Portions of the original township were later taken to form Fairmount (March 11, 1862, now part of West Orange) and Roseland (March 10, 1908).[20]

Voorhees Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1, 1899, from portions of Waterford Township. Portions of the township were taken on March 8, 1924, to form Gibbsboro.[21][22]

In March 2018, Bloomberg ranked Westfield as the 99th highest-income place in the United States, and the 18th highest-income location in New Jersey.[20] According to a 2014 nationwide survey, Westfield was ranked as the 30th-safest city to live in the United States.[21]

Princeton was founded before the American Revolutionary War. It is the home of Princeton University, which bears its name and moved to the community in 1756 from its previous location in Newark. Although its association with the university is primarily what makes Princeton a college town, other important institutions in the area include the Institute for Advanced Study, Westminster Choir College, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton Theological Seminary, Opinion Research Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Siemens Corporate Research, SRI International, FMC Corporation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Amrep, Church and Dwight, Berlitz International, and Dow Jones & Company.

What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 18, 1874, from portions of Belleville Township. Nutley was incorporated as a town on March 5, 1902, replacing Franklin Township.[23][24] In 1981, the town was one of seven Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining four municipalities that had already made the change, of what would ultimately be more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis.[25][26][27][28]