Penns Grove, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Penns Grove, New Jersey
Borough
Church of Our Merciful Saviour
logo
Motto(s):  Pride in Progress
Penns Grove Borough highlighted in Salem County. Inset map: Salem County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Penns Grove, New Jersey
Penns Grove, New Jersey Location in Salem County, New Jersey Show map of Salem County, New Jersey Penns Grove, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Penns Grove, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Salem
Incorporated	March 8, 1894
Named for	William Penn
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	0.89 sq mi (2.31 km2)
• Land	0.89 sq mi (2.31 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)  0.00%
Area rank	517th of 565 in state 15th of 15 in county
Elevation	7 ft (2 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	4,837
• Estimate  (2023)	4,865
• Rank	383rd of 565 in state 5th of 15 in county
• Density	5,418.8/sq mi (2,092.2/km2)
• Density rank	102nd of 565 in state 1st of 15 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	08069
Area code(s)	856 exchanges: 299, 351
FIPS code	3403357750
GNIS feature ID	0885348
Website

Penns Grove is a borough in Salem County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,837, a decrease of 310 (−6.0%) from the 2010 census count of 5,147, which in turn reflected an increase of 261 (+5.3%) from the 4,886 counted in the 2000 census.

Penns Grove had the fourth-highest property tax rate in New Jersey, with an equalized rate of 5.556% in 2020, compared to 3.476% in Salem County and a statewide average of 2.279%.

History

The area was long primarily agricultural. Penns Grove was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 8, 1894, from portions of Upper Penns Neck Township (now Carneys Point Township), based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. It began to industrialize around this time. The borough's name comes from William Penn.

In the early 20th century, many Italian immigrants from Valle San Giovanni and the surrounding southern province of Teramo came to work at the local E.I. DuPont de Nemours plant in Carneys Point. Many settled on Pitman Street in Penns Grove. In 1925, the Italian community arranged to commission a copy of the statue of the Madonna and Child from the Chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie in Teramo, and had it installed in the Saint James Roman Catholic Church in Penns Grove. Other immigrants from eastern Europe also settled in the county, markedly increasing the population.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Penns Grove borough had a total area of 0.89 square miles (2.31 km²), all of which was land.

The borough borders Carneys Point Township and the Delaware River. The borough is located across the Delaware River from Wilmington, which is part of the Delaware Valley, and 33 miles (53 km) south of Philadelphia.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 5,147 people, 1,801 households, and 1,235 families in the borough. The population density was 5,656.0 inhabitants per square mile (2,183.8/km²). There were 2,004 housing units at an average density of 2,202.2 per square mile (850.3/km²). The racial makeup was 41.83% (2,153) White, 39.77% (2,047) Black or African American, 0.66% (34) Native American, 0.49% (25) Asian, 0.00% (0) Pacific Islander, 12.40% (638) from other races, and 4.86% (250) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28.27% (1,455) of the population.

Of the 1,801 households, 36.8% had children under the age of 18; 29.9% were married couples living together; 31.6% had a female householder with no husband present and 31.4% were non-families. Of all households, 25.3% were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.38.

32.3% of the population were under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29.7 years. For every 100 females, the population had 89.5 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 82.5 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $30,104 (with a margin of error of +/− $9,093) and the median family income was $37,663 (+/− $9,442). Males had a median income of $42,908 (+/− $8,706) versus $30,353 (+/− $5,538) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $15,785 (+/− $2,169). About 28.1% of families and 28.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.2% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Students in public school for kindergarten through twelfth grade attend the Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District, together with students from Carneys Point Township. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 2,185 students and 182.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1. Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Lafayette-Pershing School with 331 students in grades Pre-K to Kindergarten, Field Street School with 480 students in grades 1–3, Paul W. Carleton School with 355 students in grades 4–5, Penns Grove Middle School with 465 students in grades 6–8 and Penns Grove High School with 508 students in grades 9–12.

A majority of students in ninth through twelfth grades from Oldmans Township, New Jersey, attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Oldmans Township School District, with the balance attending Woodstown High School in the Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District.

The Catholic K–8 school St. James Elementary School of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden closed in 2000, with students redirected to Bishop Guilfoyle Regional Catholic School in Carneys Point, which in turn closed in 2010. As of 2020^[update] Guardian Angels Regional School is a K-8 school that operates under the auspices of the Diocese of Camden and accepts students from Penns Grove. Its PreK-3 campus is in Gibbstown while its 4-8 campus is in Paulsboro.

Transportation

U.S. Route 130 southbound through Penns Grove

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 19.19 miles (30.88 km) of roadways, of which 13.76 miles (22.14 km) were maintained by the municipality, 4.14 miles (6.66 km) by Salem County and 1.29 miles (2.08 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

U.S. Route 130 (locally called Virginia Avenue) and Route 48 (starting at its western terminus and called Main Street within Penns Grove) both pass through the borough.

Public transportation

NJ Transit provides bus service between the borough and Philadelphia on the 402 route and to Woodstown on the 468 route.

Notable people

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

• Kenneth A. Black Jr. (1932–2019), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from District 3A from 1968 to 1974
• Don Bragg (1935–2019), Gold medal winner in the pole vault at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy
• Roy Elsh (1892–1978), professional baseball player
• John Forsythe (1918–2010), television and character actor
• Paul Foster (1931-2021), playwright
• Ernest Martin Hennings (1888–1956), landscape and portrait painter who was a member of the Taos Society of Artists
• Dave Romansky (born 1938), competitive racewalker who represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics
• Bruce Willis (born 1955), actor, moved to Penns Grove as child and graduated from Penns Grove High School

See also

In Spanish: Penns Grove para niños