Bound Brook, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bound Brook, New Jersey
Borough
Bound Brook Hotel on Main Street
Seal
Location of Bound Brook in Somerset County highlighted in yellow (right). Inset map: Location of Somerset County in New Jersey highlighted in black (left).
Census Bureau map of Bound Brook, New Jersey
Bound Brook, New Jersey Location in Somerset County, New Jersey Show map of Somerset County, New Jersey Bound Brook, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Bound Brook, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Somerset
Incorporated	February 11, 1891
Named for	Bound Brook (Raritan River)
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	1.70 sq mi (4.39 km2)
• Land	1.66 sq mi (4.30 km2)
• Water	0.03 sq mi (0.09 km2)  2.00%
Area rank	432nd of 565 in state 18th of 21 in county
Elevation	43 ft (13 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	11,988
• Estimate  (2023)	12,371
• Rank	212th of 565 in state 10th of 21 in county
• Density	7,217.3/sq mi (2,786.6/km2)
• Density rank	64th of 565 in state 3rd of 21 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	08805
Area code(s)	732
FIPS code	3403506790
GNIS feature ID	885166
Website

Queen's Bridge over the Raritan River

Bound Brook is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located along the Raritan River. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,988, an increase of 1,586 (+15.2%) from the 2010 census count of 10,402, which in turn reflected an increase of 247 (+2.4%) from the 10,155 counted in the 2000 census, .

Bound Brook was originally incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 24, 1869, within portions of Bridgewater Township. On February 11, 1891, it was reincorporated as a borough, based on the results of a referendum held on the previous day.

History

The area was first settled in 1681 and a community was established near the Bound Brook stream of the same name, which flows into the Raritan River via the Green Brook on the eastern side of the borough. The brook, which was mentioned as a boundary in a Native American deed, provides the source of the borough's name.

A wooden bridge over the Raritan River was erected as early as 1761 and named Queen's Bridge in 1767. Later, it became a covered bridge. During the American Revolutionary War, the bridge was used repeatedly by both sides including during the Battle of Bound Brook in 1777. In 1875, the wooden bridge was replaced by a steel pipe truss bridge. More than 100 years later, that bridge was itself replaced by a steel girder bridge in 1984, still using the old pillars. The bridge was renovated and repaved in 2007.

The Battle of Bound Brook, one of the battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign during the American Revolutionary War, occurred on April 13, 1777, and resulted in a defeat for the Continental Army, who were routed by about 4,000 troops under British command.

On April 22, 1921, over 100 people were injured in Bound Brook, and one died, when a cloud of phosgene gas began spreading over the city in the early morning hours, the result of a faulty valve of a storage tank at a paint factory in town. The intervention of four people stopped further escape of the phosgene, which had been used in concentrated form as a chemical weapon during World War I.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 1.70 square miles (4.39 km²), including 1.66 square miles (4.30 km²) of land and 0.03 square miles (0.09 km²) of water (2.00%).

The borough borders the municipalities of Bridgewater Township and South Bound Brook in Somerset County; and Middlesex Borough in Middlesex County.

Since the southern portion of the borough (including the downtown area) is a low-lying natural flood plain of the Raritan River, Bound Brook has suffered occasional severe flooding after heavy rain. Extensive flood control measures were put into place during 1999–2015 to provide protection from 150-year floods.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 10,402 people, 3,586 households, and 2,435 families in the borough. The population density was 6,269.6 per square mile (2,420.7/km²). There were 3,816 housing units at an average density of 2,300.0 per square mile (888.0/km²). The racial makeup was 69.73% (7,253) White, 5.74% (597) Black or African American, 0.54% (56) Native American, 2.57% (267) Asian, 0.05% (5) Pacific Islander, 17.48% (1,818) from other races, and 3.90% (406) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 48.66% (5,062) of the population.

Of the 3,586 households, 32.7% had children under the age of 18; 45.1% were married couples living together; 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present and 32.1% were non-families. Of all households, 22.8% were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.28.

22.6% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 34.2% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.1 years. For every 100 females, the population had 109.7 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 108.4 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $67,056 (with a margin of error of +/− $6,450) and the median family income was $68,315 (+/− $7,489). Males had a median income of $33,462 (+/− $4,681) versus $35,261 (+/− $7,245) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $25,015 (+/− $2,011). About 3.4% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 2.5% of those age 65 or over.

The borough had one of the highest Costa Rican percentages of any municipality in the United States and third-highest in New Jersey (population 500+), with 3.4% of residents in the 2010 Census reporting that they were of Costa Rican birth.

Parks and recreation

The borough has developed a series of trails for bicyclists and pedestrians that runs along the Raritan River, with a mix of paved and dirt trails providing access to residents.

Education

The Bound Brook School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 1,975 students and 172.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.5:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are LaMonte-Annex Elementary School with 195 students in grades PreK-Kindergarten Lafayette Elementary School with 266 students in grades 1-2, Smalley Elementary School with 545 students in grades 3-6, Community Middle School with 283 students in grades 7-8 and Bound Brook High School with 652 students in grades 9-12.

Students from South Bound Brook, New Jersey, attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the South Bound Brook School District. At the start of the 2011–12 school year, the school joined the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, which allows students from other area communities to attend the Bound Brook schools. In the 2011–2012 school year, the high school started a biomedical program from Project Lead the Way in addition to the existing engineering academy program.

There was an Interparochial Catholic School in the borough, Holy Family Academy (for Pre-K to grade 8) serving the local and surrounding communities with an estimated enrollment of 150 prior to closure. The school was one of three in the area closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen at the end of the 2010–2011 school year, with plans to feed remaining students to a school facility in South Plainfield.

Transportation

U.S. Route 22 in Bound Brook, the largest and busiest highway in the borough.

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 25.37 miles (40.83 km) of roadways, of which 20.56 miles (33.09 km) were maintained by the municipality, 2.73 miles (4.39 km) by Somerset County and 2.08 miles (3.35 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Clock at roundabout viewed from south

Route 28 travels east–west through the center of Bound Brook, while U.S. Route 22 clips the northern portion of the borough. County Routes 525, 527, 533 also pass through.

Interstate 287 is accessible to the west via Route 28 in bordering Bridgewater Township.

Public transportation

The borough is served by the Bound Brook train station, which offers NJ Transit service on the Raritan Valley Line to Newark Penn Station. The historic station building on the north side of the tracks is located at 350 E. Main Street and was constructed in 1913. It is now a restaurant; the other station building on the south side is now privately owned. A pedestrian tunnel connects the south and north sides of the tracks. There are also Conrail tracks going past the station, used for freight trains to and from Newark.

NJ Transit offers bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 114 and 117 routes, along with local service to Newark on the 65 and 66 routes.

Somerset County offers DASH, CAT, and SCOOT routes, providing service to destinations including Franklin Township, New Brunswick, Raritan, Manville and Hillsborough Township, as well as Bridgewater Commons and Raritan Valley Community College.

Bound Brook Cycling Classic

Every year, the Borough of Bound Brook hosts a nationally competitive bicycle race, the Bound Brook Cycling Classic, that on the same weekend, precedes the neighboring final purse contest, as part of the three-day Tour of Somerville, held annually on Memorial Day Weekend. The contest in Somerville, founded in 1940 by Fred “Pop” Kugler, is the oldest professionally competitive race in the United States.

Natural disasters

Downtown after April 2007 nor'easter, before completing Bound Brook portion of Green Brook Flood Control Project.

The lower downtown area of Bound Brook has been infamous for flooding of the Raritan River. In September 1999, many structures near the commercial zone were damaged or destroyed by record Raritan floods resulting from Hurricane Floyd. This disaster reinvigorated a long-planned effort called the Green Brook Flood Control Project that would protect Bound Brook from up to a 150-year flooding event from the Raritan River and its tributaries, the Middle Brook and Green Brook that form the western and eastern boundaries of the town. During 1999–2015, the United States Army Corps of Engineers implemented extensive flood control measures to provide protection from future floods.

The highest flooding level since 1800 in Bound Brook was reached during Hurricane Floyd in September 1999 – 42.13 feet (12.84 m), according to the United States Geological Survey—nearly matched by Tropical Storm Doria in August 1971, the April 2007 nor'easter and Hurricane Irene in August 2011. Main Street was also flooded in July 1938, September 1938, August 1955, August 1973, October 1996, and March 2010.

Bound Brook's downtown flooding led to several out-of-control fires over its history, including the fires of 1881 and 1887, which led to the formation of the Bound Brook Fire Department. In 1896, flooding likely caused the lime in the L.D. Cook lumberyard to ignite and the resulting fire spread to and destroyed the Presbyterian church. During Hurricane Floyd in 1999, a fire began in Otto Williams Harley Davidson on Main Street. With the building cut off by flood water, the fire spread quickly to two other structures before the Bound Brook Fire Department could contain it, then under the command of Chief Richard S. Colombaroni. Using fire boats from the New York City Fire Department as well as extensive help from mutual aid companies, the fire was stopped before two other buildings on Main Street and others nearby on Mountain Avenue, could be affected.

During the April 2007 Nor'easter, the Bound Brook Fire Department stopped another fire from spreading through an area of close residential construction. Under the command of Chief James Knight, and again with the assistance of mutual aid companies including the Finderne Fire Department, fire loss was restricted to three residential buildings.

On January 12, 2020, a non flood-related, seven-alarm fire set by an arsonist ripped through commercial buildings in the downtown area, causing $52 million in damages.

Notable people

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