Bordentown, New Jersey

See also: Bordentown Township, New Jersey

Bordentown City is in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 3,969; which had fallen to 3,953 as of the 2006 census estimate. 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 was originally incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on December 9, 1825, from portions within Chesterfield Township. It was reincorporated as a city on April 3, 1867, and separated from Chesterfield Township c. 1877.

History

Thomas Farnsworth, an English Quaker, is credited with having first settled the Bordentown area in 1682, when he moved his family up river from Burlington to make a new home on the windswept bluff overlooking at the broad bend in the Delaware River. The Farnsworth's cabin was situated near the northwest corner of Park Street and Prince Street, perhaps on the spot upon which an 1883 frame house now stands. "Farnsworth Landing" soon became the center of trade for the region.

Joseph Borden, for whom the town 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 South Amboy from which cargo and people could be ferried to New York City.

By 1776, Bordentown was full of patriots. Patience Lovell Wright, America's first sculptor, was creating wax busts in King George's court in England. Later, however, Bordentown became a rabble-rousing hotbed. In addition to Joseph Borden, who became a colonel during the war, Patriots Francis Hopkinson (a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence), Colonel Kirkbride, Colonel Oakey Hoagland, and Thomas Paine resided in the area. Due to well-published activity in Bordentown, the British retaliated. Hessians occupied the town in 1776 and the British pillaged and razed the town during May and June of 1778.

Other famous residents included Clara Barton who, in 1852, started the first free public school in New Jersey in the original schoolhouse, a re-creation stands at the corner of Crosswicks and Burlington Streets. Ms. Barton later founded the American Red Cross. 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 the ill-fated Napoleon I of France, established his residence in Bordentown for 17 years, later to entertain 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 wide and half a mile long. On the bluff above it he built a new home, "Point Breeze", which was located at the present site of the Divine Word Mission along Park Street. Today only vestiges of the Bonaparte estate remain. Much of it is actually the remains of a 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 also were born or lived in Bordentown, having followed their uncle Joseph there. They moved back to France after the Bonaparte dynasty was restored by Napoleon III and were recognized as Princes of France.

Isaac Dripps of Bordentown assembled (without blueprints or instructions) the locomotive John Bull. It was built by Robert Stephenson and Company, in England, and was imported by the Camden and Amboy Railroad. It was one of the first successful locomotives in the United States.

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, the Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth, in a two-story house at 60 West Street, later moved to Walnut Street. In 1909, the religious order Poor Clares established a monastery in the former Motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy on Crosswicks Street. The building still stands as an assisted living home for non-ambulatory elderly, called The Clare Estate, but the order of Poor Clares has since moved to a new facility in a more bucolic setting just outside of Bordentown City.

The Bordentown Yacht Club was formed in 1937 at the former site of Farnsworth's Landing.

Bordentown City remains home to an Ocean Spray processing plant. More recently, it has become a virtual mecca for weekend dining as well as for the casual perusal of its used books stores and art galleries. The town has an active downtown business association that 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. It and the Bordentown Historical Society sponsor other events, as well. See the Downtown Bordentown web page These activities are now readily accessed by visitors via Bordentown Station, a stop on the River Line light rail service. Bordentown Station is 11 minutes from the New Jersey Transit and Amtrak Trenton Rail Station.

The town was also expected to appear on the ABC reality/game show My Kind of Town, but ABC canceled the show after four episodes, before the Bordentown episode was aired.

Geography

Bordentown is located at (40.145900, -74.710148).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²). 2.4 km² (0.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (5.15%) is water.

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. 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

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,969 people, 1,757 households, and 989 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,665.7/km² (4,303.6/mi²). There were 1,884 housing units at an average density of abc 790.7/km² (2,042.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 81.25% White, 13.08% African American, 0.05% Native American, 1.91% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.81% from other races, and 2.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.82% of the population.

There were 1,757 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.7% were non-families. 35.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the city the population was spread out with 20.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 34.2% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $47,279, and the median income for a family was $59,872. Males had a median income of $39,909 versus $31,780 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,882. About 4.0% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.8% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over. Top 5 ancestries in bordentown 1.Irish-20% 2.German-15% 3.Black-13% 4.Italian-13% 5.Polish-8%

Government

Local government

Bordentown has been governed under the Walsh Act since 1913, with a government consisting of three commissioners, one of whom is selected to serve as Mayor. Members are elected to four-year concurrent terms in office in non-partisan elections.

Environmental Commission

The Bordentown City Environmental Commission (BCEC) is a volunteer group of Bordentown City residents. The Commission is an official body, and its chair answers to the Mayor. The BCEC advises local officials and the Planning Board regarding environmental issues and is a watchdog for environmental problems and opportunities. It is designed to inform elected officials and the public, serve on committees, research issues, develop educational programs and advocate for sound environmental policies. Local issues include preservation of open space, promoting walking and bicycling trails and the River Line, protection of wetlands and water quality, recycling and energy conservation, and environmental education.

The BCEC's most current efforts have focuses upon a bicycle and pedestrian circulation study, the City's open space plan, and the development of a set of local greenways (Thorntown and Black Creek).

Federal, state and county representation

Bordentown is in the Fourth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 30th Legislative District.

Education

Public school students in grades K through 12 attend the schools of the Bordentown Regional School District, which serves students from Bordentown City, Bordentown Township and Fieldsboro Borough. Schools in the district (with 2005-06 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics are) are Clara Barton Elementary School (grades K-3; 338 students), Peter Muschal School (grades K-3 and Pre-School Handicapped Programs; 717), MacFarland Intermediate School (grades 4&5), Bordentown Regional Middle School (grades 6-8; 352) and Bordentown Regional High School (grades 9-12; 694). The New Hanover Township School District, consisting of New Hanover Township (including the Cookstown area) and Wrightstown Borough, sends students to the district on a tuition basis for grades 9 - 12 as part of a sending/receiving relationship.

St. Mary's Elementary School is a Catholic school that teaches Pre-K - 8.

The Bordentown Military Institute was located here from 1881 to 1972. The Society of the Divine Word fathers operated a minor seminary in Bordentown from 1947 to 1983.

Transportation

The River Line offers service to Camden and Trenton Rail Station, with a station in Bordentown at Park Street. New Jersey Transit has bus 409 run through Bordentown. providing service to Philadelphia.

U.S. Route 130 and U.S. Route 206 join together and separate to respective parts of the state in Bordentown. Travelers can use the New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 7 as well. Interstate 295 has two interchanges Exit 57 and Exit 56 that take travelers into Bordentown.

Commerce

Downtown Bordentown has many book and antique stores lining its old time streets. Downtown Bordentown is home to many Italian restaurants.

Bordentown City's one square mile is home to at least 10 houses of worshipincluding: American Presbyterian Church, B’nai Abraham Synagogue, Christ Episcopal Church, Ebenezer Full Gospel Community Church, First Baptist Church of Bordentown, First Presbyterian Church, Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, Trinity United Methodist Church, Union Baptist Church. Bordentown also has a wide array of stores and establishments such as libraries, pharmacies, banks, antique stores, a dentist office, a yacht club, a deli, as well as many other stores.

The restauarants are primarily Italian, but there are also restaurants and diners that specialize in American food, Chinese food, and more recently Japanese food (sushi).

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Bordentown include:

• Samuel C. Forker (1821-1900), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1871-1873.
• Thomas Paine (1737-1809), American and French Revolution inspiration and Author of many works : "Common Sense", "The Rights of Man", etc.. Inventor of the Iron Cantilever bridge.
• Chris Prynoski, animator.
• Charles Stewart (1778-1869), a noted United States admiral, resided in Bordentown at the time of his death in 1869.

Other famous residents included Patience Wright, sculptor; Clara Barton who, in 1852, started the first free public school in New Jersey and later founded the American Red Cross; Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Naples and Spain and brother to the ill-fated Napoleon I of France.

References

External links

• Bordentown Regional School District
• Data for the Bordentown Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics
• Bordentown City Environmental Commission
• Joseph Bonaparte's Sojourn in the United States
• Point Breeze: Joseph Bonaparte's Home in America
• A Walking Tour of Bordentown, by the Bordentown Historical Society
• Downtown Bordentown Business Association
• The Northern Burlington Regional Chamber of Commerce (formerly The Greater Bordentown Area Chamber of Commerce)
• A July 3, 2000 Princeton Packet article on the Bordentown Ocean Spray Processing Plant
• Our Town: Bordentown City