| Hopewell, New Jersey | |
|---|---|
| — Borough — | |
| Hopewell highlighted in Mercer County. Inset map: Mercer County highlighted in the State of New Jersey. | |
| Census Bureau map of Hopewell, New Jersey | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Jersey |
| County | Mercer |
| Incorporated | April 14, 1891 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Borough (New Jersey) |
| • Mayor | Paul Anzano |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.7 sq mi (1.8 km2) |
| • Land | 0.7 sq mi (1.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 197 ft (60 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 1,922 |
| • Density | 2,745.7/sq mi (1,067.8/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 08525 |
| Area code(s) | 609 |
| FIPS code | 34-33150[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 0877244[2] |
| Website | http://www.hopewellboro-nj.us |
Hopewell is a Borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 1,922.
Hopewell was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 14, 1891, from portions of Hopewell Township, based on the results of a referendum held on March 21, 1891. Additional portions of Hopewell Township were annexed in 1915, and the borough was reincorporated in 1924.[3]
Hopewell was the town nearest to the estate owned by Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh in East Amwell Township.[4] Their firstborn son, Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, was abducted from their home and later found dead near the town. See Lindbergh kidnapping for more information about the incident involving the Lindbergh child.
Hopewell Township, the much larger municipality which surrounds Hopewell Borough, includes the land along the east side of the Delaware River to which George Washington and the Continental Army crossed from Pennsylvania. Once in Hopewell Township, the army marched to Trenton on Christmas Day, 1776. The Battle of Trenton followed. Today, Washington Crossing State Park commemorates this important milestone in American history.
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Hopewell is located at (40.389005, -74.764010).[5]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.7 square miles (1.8 km2), all of it land.
Hopewell Borough is an independent municipality surrounded entirely by Hopewell Township.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1930 | 1,467 |
|
|
| 1940 | 1,678 | 14.4% | |
| 1950 | 1,869 | 11.4% | |
| 1960 | 1,928 | 3.2% | |
| 1970 | 2,271 | 17.8% | |
| 1980 | 2,001 | −11.9% | |
| 1990 | 1,968 | −1.6% | |
| 2000 | 2,035 | 3.4% | |
| 2010 | 1,922 | −5.6% | |
| Population 1930 - 1990.[6] | |||
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 2,035 people, 813 households, and 561 families residing in the borough. The population density was 2,963.7 people per square mile (1,138.7/km2). There were 836 housing units at an average density of 1,217.5 per square mile (467.8/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 95.43% White, 1.08% African American, 0.49% Native American, 0.98% Asian, 1.23% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.31% of the population.
There were 813 households out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were non-families. 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the borough the population was spread out with 26.1% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 27.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $77,270, and the median income for a family was $91,205. Males had a median income of $52,656 versus $47,315 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $38,413. None of the families and 2.1% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 5.2% of those over 64.
Hopewell is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year.[7] All legislative powers of the Borough of Hopewell are exercised by the Borough Council. These powers can take the form of a resolution, ordinance or proclamation.[8]
As of 2011[update], Paul Anzano is the Mayor of Hopewell (term expires December 31, 2011). Members of the Borough Council are Council President David Knights (2012), Deb Horowitz (2012), Sean Jackson (2013), Robert Lewis (2011), David Mackie (2013) and C. Schuyler Morehouse (2011).[9]
Hopewell is in the 12th Congressional district. New Jersey's Twelfth Congressional District is represented by Rush D. Holt, Jr. (D, Hopewell Township).[10] New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).
Hopewell is in the 15th Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature, which is represented in the New Jersey Senate by Shirley Turner (D, Lawrenceville) and in the New Jersey General Assembly by Reed Gusciora (D, Trenton) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D, Ewing Township).[11]
Under Mercer County's form of government, the County Executive performs executive functions and oversees the day-to-day operations of the county and a seven-member Board of Chosen Freeholders acts in a legislative capacity, setting policy. As of 2011, the County Executive is Brian M. Hughes.[12] Members of the Board of Chosen Freeholders are elected at-large to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two or three seats coming up for election each year. A Freeholder Chair and Vice-Chair are selected on an annual basis from among its members.[13] County Freeholders are Freeholder Chair Pasqual "Pat" Colavita, Jr. (term ends December 31, 2012; Lawrenceville)[14], Freeholder Vice Chair Lucylle R. S. Walter (2011; Ewing Township)[15], Samuel T. Frisby (2011; Trenton)[16], Ann M. Cannon (2012; East Windsor Township)[17], Anthony P. Carabelli (2013; Trenton)[18], John Cimino (2011; Hamilton Township)[19] and Andrew Koontz (2013; Princeton Borough)[20][21]
Public school students in kindergarten through twelfth grade attend the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, a comprehensive regional public school district serving nearly 4,000 students from Hopewell Borough (371 students), Hopewell Township (2,998 students), and Pennington Borough (497 students). Elementary school students from Hopewell Borough attend Hopewell Elementary School.
Schools in the district (with 2005-06 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[22]) include four Elementary Schools (K-5) — Bear Tavern Elementary School with 532 students, Hopewell Elementary School with 522 students, Stony Brook Elementary School with 522 students, Toll Gate Grammar School with 310 students — Timberlane Middle School with 952 students in grades 6 -8, and Hopewell Valley Central High School, which has an enrollment of 1,152 students in grades 9 - 12.
The first Colonial influence in Hopewell was the purchase of a 30,000-acre (120 km2) tract of land by Daniel Coxe a Royal British governor of West Jersey, in the latter half of the 17th century. All land in Hopewell can be traced back to this purchase.[23] In 1691 Coxe transferred his land to a company called The West Jersey Society of England, who intended to sell the land.[24] The society appointed an agent, Thomas Revell, to preside over the land and sell it to perspective buyers.[25] Revell then attracted settlers from New England, Long Island, and New Jersey with questionable incentives, saying that the land was fertile, and tame. However, the families that arrived in Hopewell only found vast stretches of wilderness.[26] The first settler in Hopewell Valley was Thomas Tindall who on November 10, 1699 bought a 300-acre (1.2 km2) tract of land from The West Jersey Society of England through Revell, for "ten pounds per hundred acres".[27] Other early settlers in Hopewell are said to be the Stouts, who immigrated from Holmdel to Hopewell in 1706.[28] Perhaps the first conflict between colonists in Hopewell was the dispute between Revell and the early inhabitants of Hopewell, who realized that their deeds were worthless due to Revell’s false claims. Fifty settlers then organized a class action law suit against Revell and the West Jersey Society. The long and arduous trial took place in Burlington , and eventually ruled against the settlers, who were forced to repurchase their land or relocate. Many settlers weren’t able to repay and moved north into North Jersey and New York.[29]
On April 23, 1715, the settlers who stayed in Hopewell, most notably the Stout family, organized the Old School Baptist Church, and what is now known as Hopewell was then referred to as "Baptist Meetinghouse".[30][31] One of the most valued members of the meeting house was Declaration of Independence signer John Hart who in 1740 purchased 193 acres (0.78 km2) of land in the north of current day Hopewell, and in 1747 as a sign of Hart’s devotion to the Church, donated a plot of his land to the Baptists.[32][33] The very next year the Baptists made good use of this land and in 1748 erected their Old School Baptist Church meeting house on West Broad Street. The meeting house brought in Baptists from miles around to Hopewell and encouraged Hopewell's early growth.[34] Numerous lumber mills were established in and around Hopewell at this time to process the lumber that was generated from the clearing of forests for farms. In 1755, Isaac Eaton the first pastor of the Old School Baptist Church established his own school in Hopewell and later relocated his school to Rhode Island where it eventually became Brown University.[35]
The first railroad to reach Hopewell was the Mercer and Somerset Railway, which was backed by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was created largely to protect the monopoly the Pennsylvania Railroad had on New Jersey, by cutting off the first separately owned railroad in New Jersey, the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad, by being built in the way of it. It was completed in 1874. The Delaware and Bound Brook reached Hopewell in 1876, but the railroad had to cross the Mercer and Somerset's track just to the northwest of Hopewell. A dispute occurred at the crossing, known as a frog, and escalated into each company parking locomotives over the crossing to prevent the other company from moving trains over it. Eventually militia had to be called in to keep the peace, and the Delaware and Bound Brook prevailed.[36] Soon after the Frog War the Mercer and Somerset was liquidated having failed at its purpose. Some of the abandoned right of way for the Mercer and Somerset in Hopewell became Model Avenue. The Delaware and Bound Brook was leased by the Philadelphia and Reading in 1879 for 999 years, and has become the CSX Trenton Line and is still in use today. The Frog is also what gives Hopewell Elementary school it mascot, "Freddy the Frog" in honor of the Hopewell frog war.[37]
Hopewell has four major roads that travel through it. Route 518 Enters Hopewell from due west having come from Lambertville and then turns slightly northward, joining West Broad Street. Route 518 then runs through Hopewell and exits Hopewell in the East and heads towards Rocky Hill. Pennington Hopewell Road enters Hopewell from roughly the southwest, and immediately becomes West Broad street when it enters Hopewell. It connects Hopewell with Pennington to the south. Princeton Avenue, Route 569 starts at Broad Street and continues south and becomes Hopewell Princeton Road, and connects Hopewell with Princeton. Greenwood Avenue runs north out of Hopewell and connects Hopewell with Amwell
New Jersey Transit has been planning to restore passenger commuter rail service to Hopewell for several years. New Jersey Transit plans to use the existing one track right of way that CSX owns through Hopewell, the former four-track Reading Company Trenton Line. The proposed plan includes double tracking most of the CSX line to increase capacity and construction of a new rail station on Somerset Street. The use of the historic Hopewell Station is not under consideration in this current proposal. The line would connect Hopewell with New York City, as well as Philadelphia via a SEPTA connection in West Trenton[38] and restore service to Hopewell, which ended in 1982.[39]
Notable current and former residents of Hopewell include:
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