Bordentown, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bordentown, New Jersey
City
Clara Barton School
Seal
Location of Bordentown in Burlington County highlighted in red (right). Inset map: Location of Burlington County in New Jersey highlighted in red (left).
Census Bureau map of Bordentown, New Jersey
Bordentown, New Jersey Location in Burlington County, New Jersey Show map of Burlington County, New Jersey Bordentown, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Bordentown, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Burlington
Settled	1682
Incorporated	December 9, 1825 (as borough)
Reincorporated	April 3, 1867 (as city)
Named for	Joseph Borden
Government
• Type	Walsh Act
• Body	Board of Commissioners
Area
• Total	0.97 sq mi (2.52 km2)
• Land	0.94 sq mi (2.42 km2)
• Water	0.04 sq mi (0.10 km2)  4.02%
Area rank	504th of 565 in state 36th of 40 in county
Elevation	49 ft (15 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	3,993
• Estimate  (2023)	4,021
• Rank	414th of 565 in state 31st of 40 in county
• Density	4,272.7/sq mi (1,649.7/km2)
• Density rank	145th of 565 in state 4th of 40 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	08505
Area code(s)	609 exchanges: 291, 298, 324, 424
FIPS code	3400506670
GNIS feature ID	0885165
Website

Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 3,993, an increase of 69 (+1.8%) from the 2010 census count of 3,924, which in turn reflected a decline of 45 (−1.1%) from the 3,969 counted in the 2000 census.

Bordentown is located at the confluence of the Delaware River, Blacks Creek, and Crosswicks Creek. The latter is the border between Burlington and Mercer counties. Bordentown is the northernmost municipality in New Jersey that is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley. It sits about one-third of the distance from Center City, Philadelphia to Midtown Manhattan; it is located 5.8 miles (9.3 km) south of the state capital Trenton, 27 miles (43 km) northeast of Center City Philadelphia, and 54 miles (87 km) southwest of New York City.

Bordentown's first recorded European settlement was made in 1682 in what became known as Farnsworth's Landing and, after 1717, the town that had developed in the Provence of New Jersey was renamed to Borden's Town. After the American Revolution and the establishment of the New Jersey state government, Bordentown was incorporated with a borough government form by an act of its legislature on December 9, 1825, from portions within Chesterfield Township. It was reincorporated with a city government form on April 3, 1867, and it was separated from Chesterfield Township about 1877.

History

Thomas Farnsworth, an English Quaker, became the first European settler in the Bordentown area in 1682, when he moved his family upriver from Burlington. He made a new home on the windswept bluff overlooking the broad bend in the Delaware River, near today's northwest corner of Park Street and Prince Street, perhaps where an 1883 frame house now stands. "Farnsworth Landing" soon became the center of trade for the region. Farnsworth is also the namesake of one of Bordentown's main streets, Farnsworth Avenue.

Joseph Borden, for whom the city is named, arrived in 1717, and by May 1740 founded a transportation system to carry people and freight between New York City and Philadelphia. This exploited Bordentown's natural location as the point on the Delaware River that provided the shortest overland route to Perth Amboy, from which cargo and people could be ferried to New York City. The town was the childhood home of Patience Wright, America's first female sculptor, who lived there in the 1730s.

By 1776, Bordentown was full of Patriots. Joseph Borden's son (also named Joseph Borden) became a colonel during the American Revolutionary War. Other noted patriots lived in the area, including Thomas Paine. Francis Hopkinson (a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence), Colonel Kirkbride, and Colonel Oakey Hoagland. Hessian troops briefly occupied Bordentown in 1776 as part of the New York and New Jersey campaign before leaving to engage in the Battle of Iron Works Hill on December 23. On May 8, 1777, during the Philadelphia campaign, British forces raided Bordentown in pursuit of retreating American militiamen. The Redcoats burned several Bordentown buildings along with large quantities of American military supplies and several ships in the nearby waters. On June 23, 1778, British forces again raided Bordentown, destroying several buildings.

In August 1831, master mechanic Isaac Dripps of Bordentown re-assembled (without blueprints or instructions) the locomotive John Bull (originally called "The Stevens") in just 10 days. It was built by Robert Stephenson and Company, in England, and was imported into Philadelphia by the Camden and Amboy Railroad. The next year it started limited service, and the year after that regular service, to become one of the first successful locomotives in the United States. The John Bull is preserved at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Another notable resident of Bordentown is Clara Barton, who started the first free public school in New Jersey in 1852. Barton later founded the American Red Cross. A recreation of her schoolhouse stands at the corner of Crosswicks and Burlington streets.

In 1866, Susan Waters moved into what is now one of the larger properties on Mary Street. This was a base from which she taught and produced over 50 of her works, many of which are painting of animals in natural settings and pastoral scenes. She was also an early photographer. In 1876 she was asked to exhibit several of her works at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.

In 1881, Rev. William Bowen purchased the old Spring Villa Female Seminary building (built on land purchased from the Bonapartes in 1837) and reopened it as the Bordentown Military Institute. In 1886, African-American Rev. Walter A. Rice established a private school for African-American children, the Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth, in a two-story house at 60 West Street, which later moved to Walnut Street on the banks of the Delaware, and became a public school in 1894 under Jim Crow laws. The school, which was known as the Bordentown School, came to have a 400-acre (1.6 km²), 30-building campus with two farms, a vocational/ technical orientation, and a college preparatory program. The Bordentown School operated from 1894 to 1955.

In 1909, the religious order Poor Clares established a convent in the former Motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy on Crosswicks Street. The building still stands and is used as an assisted living community called The Clare Estate. The Order of Poor Clares moved to a new facility outside Bordentown City.

Joseph Bonaparte

Former Bonaparte mansion, before 1923

Original entrance of Bonaparte tunnel, before 1923

Several years after the banishing of his family from France in 1816, arriving under vigilant disguise as the Count de Survilliers, Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Naples and Spain and brother to Napoleon I of France, purchased the Point Breeze Estate near Bordentown from American revolutionary, Stephen Sayre. He lived there for 17 years, entertaining guests of great fame such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and the future 6th U.S. President, John Quincy Adams. The residents of Bordentown nicknamed the Count, "The Good Mr. Bonaparte" (Good to distinguish him from his younger brother). He built a lake near the mouth of Crosswicks Creek that was about 200 yards (200 m) wide and 1⁄2 mile (800 m) long. On the bluff above it he built a new home, "Point Breeze". The current Divine Word Mission occupies its former site along Park Street.

Today only vestiges of the Bonaparte estate remain. Much of it is the remains of a formerly Italinate building remodeled in English Georgian Revival style in 1924 for Harris Hammon, who purchased the estate at Point Breeze as built in 1850 by Henry Becket, a British consul in Philadelphia. In addition to the rubble of this mansion and some hedges of its elaborate gardens, only the original tunnel to the river (broken through in several places) and the house of Bonaparte's secretary remain. Many descendants of Joachim Murat, King of Naples and brother in law of the Bonapartes executed in 1815, also were born or lived in Bordentown, having followed their uncle Joseph there. After the Bonaparte dynasty was restored by Napoleon III, they moved back to France and were recognized as princes.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 0.97 square miles (2.52 km²), including 0.93 square miles (2.42 km²) of land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) of water (4.02%).

The City of Bordentown is surrounded on three sides by Bordentown Township and on the western side by the juncture of the Delaware River and Crosswicks Creek, which is the border with Hamilton Township in Mercer County. It is bounded on the east by U.S. Route 130 and U.S. Route 206, on the south by Black's Creek and Interstate 295, and on the north by the Mile Hollow Run. Across the Delaware River is Falls Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 3,924 people, 1,859 households, and 922 families in the city. The population density was 4,222.3 per square mile (1,630.2/km²). There were 2,014 housing units at an average density of 2,167.1 per square mile (836.7/km²). The racial makeup was 83.51% (3,277) White, 10.12% (397) Black or African American, 0.20% (8) Native American, 2.73% (107) Asian, 0.03% (1) Pacific Islander, 1.17% (46) from other races, and 2.24% (88) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.81% (228) of the population.

Of the 1,859 households, 21.3% had children under the age of 18; 32.4% were married couples living together; 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present and 50.4% were non-families. Of all households, 41.3% were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.91.

18.4% of the population were under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 29.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.3 years. For every 100 females, the population had 91.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 87.1 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $66,557 (with a margin of error of +/− $9,567) and the median family income was $90,165 (+/− $11,644). Males had a median income of $52,652 (+/− $10,201) versus $48,906 (+/− $9,108) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $36,814 (+/− $3,714). About 1.7% of families and 3.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Downtown Bordentown has many book, record and antique stores lining its streets, with Italian and American restaurants. The restaurants are primarily Italian, but there are also restaurants and diners that specialize in American food, Chinese food, and more recently Japanese and Latin-American food.

Federal, state and county representation

Bordentown City is located in the 3rd Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 7th state legislative district. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 census, Bordentown City had been in the 30th state legislative district. Prior to the 2010 Census, Bordentown City had been part of the 4th Congressional District, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.

New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District is represented by Tom MacArthur (R, Toms River). New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Cory Booker (D, Newark, term ends 2021) and Bob Menendez (D, Paramus, 2019). For the 2016–2017 session (Senate, General Assembly), the 7th Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Diane Allen (R, Edgewater Park Township) and in the General Assembly by Herb Conaway (D, Moorestown) and Troy Singleton (D, Palmyra). Burlington County is governed by a Board of County Commissioners composed of five members who are chosen at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year; at an annual reorganization meeting, the board selects a director and deputy director from among its members to serve a one-year term. As of 2024^[update], Burlington County's Commissioners are: Director Felicia Hopson (D, Willingboro Township, 2024), Tom Pullion (D, Edgewater Park, 2026), Allison Eckel (D, Medford, 2025), Deputy Director Daniel J. O'Connell (D, Delran Township, 2024) and Balvir Singh (D, Burlington Township, 2026).

Burlington County's Constitutional Officers are: Clerk Joanne Schwartz (D, Southampton Township, 2028) Sheriff James H. Kostoplis (D, Bordentown, 2025) and Surrogate Brian J. Carlin (D, Burlington Township, 2026).

Education

Public schools

Public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grades attend the schools of the Bordentown Regional School District, which serves students from Bordentown City, Bordentown Township and Fieldsboro Borough. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 2,373 students and 194.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.2:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Clara Barton Elementary School with 235 students in grades K–2 (generally serves Bordentown City and the Holloway Meadows section of Bordentown Township), Peter Muschal Elementary School with 522 students in grades Pre-K–5 (generally serves remainder of Bordentown Township and the Borough of Fieldsboro), MacFarland Intermediate School with 243 students in grades 3–5, Bordentown Regional Middle School with 576 students in grades 6–8 and Bordentown Regional High School with 766 students in grades 9–12. The district's board of education is comprised of nine members, who are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year. The board's nine seats are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with three seats assigned to Bordentown City.

The New Hanover Township School District, consisting of New Hanover Township (including its Cookstown area) and Wrightstown Borough, sends students to Bordentown Regional High School on a tuition basis for ninth through twelfth grades as part of a sending/receiving relationship that has been in place since the 1960s, with about 50 students from the New Hanover district being sent to the high school. As of 2011, the New Hanover district was considering expansion of its relationship to send students to Bordentown for middle school for grades 6–8.

Students from Bordentown, and from all of Burlington County, are eligible to attend the Burlington County Institute of Technology, a countywide public school district that serves the vocational and technical education needs of students at the high school and post-secondary level at its campuses in Medford and Westampton Township.

Private schools

Saint Mary School was a Catholic school serving students in Pre-K–8, that operated for over 100 years under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton. The school closed its doors in June 2013 due to the school's financial challenges in the face of enrollment that was half of the 220 students needed to remain financially viable.

The Bordentown Military Institute was located in the city from 1881 to 1972. The Society of the Divine Word fathers operated a minor seminary in Bordentown from 1947 to 1983. One of its more notable alumni Douglas Palmer was the four-term mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, leaving office in 2009.

Transportation

U.S. Route 130 / U.S. Route 206 at County Route 528 in Bordentown

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the city had a total of 12.73 miles (20.49 km) of roadways, of which 10.09 miles (16.24 km) were maintained by the municipality, 2.25 miles (3.62 km) by Burlington County and 0.39 miles (0.63 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

U.S. Route 130 and U.S. Route 206 run through very briefly and intersect at County Route 528 in the city. In addition to CR 528's western terminus in Bordentown, County Route 545 has its northern terminus in the city. The New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95) passes through neighboring Bordentown Township with access at interchange 7 to U.S. Route 206, which is signed as Bordentown-Trenton. Interstate 295 also passes through Bordentown Township and has two interchanges that take travelers into Bordentown: exit 56 and exit 57.

Public transportation

The Bordentown station at Park Street offers service between the Trenton Rail Station in Trenton and the Walter Rand Transportation Center (and other stations) in Camden, on NJ Transit's River Line Light rail system.

NJ Transit provides bus service in the township between Trenton and Philadelphia on the 409 route.

Religion

Bordentown City's one square mile is home to more than 10 houses of worship, including: American Presbyterian Church, B'nai Abraham Synagogue, Christ Episcopal Church, Dorothea Dix Unitarian Universalist Community, Ebenezer Full Gospel Community Church, First Baptist Church of Bordentown, First Presbyterian Church, Mount Zion AME Church, Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, Trinity United Methodist Church and Union Baptist Church.

Points of interest

The city has become a destination for weekend dining as well as for the casual perusal of its book and record stores, historical sites and art galleries. The active downtown business association sponsors an annual Iris Festival & Art Show in early May, an annual Street Fair in mid- to late May, and an annual Cranberry Festival in early October. The Bordentown Historical Society sponsors events, such as the Holiday House Tour and Peach Social.

The Historical Society hosts exhibits at the Bordentown Friends Meeting House each year, and the 2022 exhibition consists of artifacts collected from Joseph Bonaparte which led to a visit from Philippe Étienne, the ambassador of France to the United States.

Crosswicks Creek Site III, an archaeological site from the American Revolutionary War era, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 for its significance in military and maritime history.

Point Breeze, the former estate of Joseph Bonaparte, was added to the NRHP in 1997 for its significance in architecture, landscape architecture, and politics/government.

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  Crosswicks Creek Site III

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  Point Breeze

Notable people

This statue on Prince Street honors Thomas Paine, who periodically lived in Bordentown

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Bordentown include: