East Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

🇺🇸 East Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The suburban bedroom community is part of the New York City metropolitan area and is located on the southern shore of the Raritan River, directly adjacent to the city of New Brunswick and located roughly 29 miles (47 km) away from New York City.

East Brunswick was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 28, 1860, from portions of both Monroe Township and North Brunswick Township. Portions of the township were taken to form Washington town within the township (February 23, 1870; became independent as South River on February 28, 1898), Helmetta (March 20, 1888), Milltown (January 29, 1889) and Spotswood (April 15, 1908).

As of the 2010 Census, the United States Census Bureau calculated that New Jersey's centre of population was located a few hundred feet east of Nenninger Lane, near the New Jersey Turnpike. Based on the results of the 2000 Census, the state's centre of population was located on Milltown Road in East Brunswick.

History The general area of central New Jersey was originally occupied by the Lenape Native Americans. According to a 1677 bill of sale now in the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, New Jersey, Thomas Lawrence, a New York baker, purchased thousands of acres of land from local Native Americans named Querameck, Kesyacs, Isarick, Metapis, Peckawan, and Turantecas.

In this document, the area is called Piscopeek, which later become known as Lawrence Brook, after its purchaser. Around the late 17th century, settlers began arriving in the northern part of East Brunswick, and by the mid-19th century, a small settlement had formed in the south-eastern part, known as the Old Bridge section of the town, an area that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the Old Bridge Historic District.

The area today known as East Brunswick was incorporated in 1860 from parts of North Brunswick and Monroe townships, including the community of Old Bridge. Originally a farming community, suburban settlement started in the 1930s with improved road access. Large scale housing and road construction, especially after World War II, transformed East Brunswick into a more suburban community. The extension of the New Jersey Turnpike to East Brunswick in 1952 led to a sharp spike in population growth, with the 1950 Census population of 5,699 more than tripling to 19,965 as of the 1960 enumeration.

In the early 1970s, a citizens group called Concerned Citizens of East Brunswick sued the New Jersey Turnpike Authority over a proposed major widening project. The citizens group effectively won the case, gaining concessions in turnpike design, scale and mitigation measures for noise and air quality. The citizens group presented technical data from their own experts and prevailed in what was one of the earliest technical confrontations regarding urban highway design related to environmental factors in U.S. history.

East Brunswick was also the site of the gunfight at Turnpike exit 9 shortly after midnight on May 2, 1973, in which a car being driven by Zayd Malik Shakur (born James F. Costan), with Assata Shakur (formerly JoAnne Chesimard) and Sundiata Acoli (born Clark Squire) as passengers, was stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike State Trooper James Harper, backed up by Trooper Werner Foerster in a second patrol vehicle. After Zayd Shakur was asked to step out of the car to address a discrepancy in his identification, a shootout ensued in which Trooper Foerster was shot twice in the head with his own gun and killed, Zayd Shakur was killed, and both Assata Shakur and Trooper Harper were wounded.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 22.36 square miles (57.91 km²), including 21.78 square miles (56.42 km²) of land and 0.57 square miles (1.48 km²) of water (2.56%).

The township lies on exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike. Its Municipal Building, named for 1970s Mayor Jean Walling, is located 31 miles (50 km) south-west of New York City's Times Square and 49 miles (79 km) north-east of Center City, Philadelphia. It takes approximately 45–60 minutes to reach Midtown Manhattan in New York City or Center City, Philadelphia, depending on traffic and destination. Route 18 runs through the eastern part of the township, as it serves as a vital route in Central Jersey for access to the Jersey Shore and interior parts of the state. East Brunswick's pristine suburbs and its convenience to major highways for leisure and for work, have contributed to it being a popular place for New York City commuters.

East Brunswick is located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region, as the township is located right on the southern shore of the Raritan River. The Lawrence Brook, a major tributary of the Raritan River, runs along the western border of the township. Farrington Lake and Westons Mill Pond are sections of the Lawrence Brook that have been widened by the presence of man-made dames. The South River, another major tributary of the Raritan River, runs along the eastern border of the township near the historic village of Old Bridge. The Manalapan Brook's watershed (a tributary of the South River) encompasses much of the southern half of the township near Spotswood and Monroe, whereas the aforementioned Lawrence Brook's watershed encompasses much of the northern half of the township near Milltown and the other Brunswicks.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Brookview, Dunhams Corner, Fairview Knolls, Farrington Lake Heights, Gillilandtown, Halls Corner, Herberts, Herberts Corner, Herbertsville, Jamesburg Park, Lawrence Brook, Lawrence Brook Manor, Newton Heights, Old Bridge, Orchard Heights, Patricks Corner, Paulas Corner, Tanners Corner, Washington Heights and Westons Mills., Country Lane

The township borders the Middlesex County municipalities of Edison, Helmetta, Milltown, Monroe Township, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Old Bridge Township, Sayreville, South River, South Brunswick and Spotswood.

Demographics The 2010 United States census counted 47,512 people, 16,810 households, and 13,179 families in the township. The population density was 2,189.6 per square mile (845.4/km²). There were 17,367 housing units at an average density of 800.4 per square mile (309.0/km²). The racial makeup was 69.36% (32,954) White, 3.98% (1,890) Black or African American, 0.10% (48) Native American, 22.80% (10,835) Asian, 0.01% (6) Pacific Islander, 1.68% (798) from other races, and 2.06% (981) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.70% (3,184) of the population.

Of the 16,810 households, 37.2% had children under the age of 18; 65.8% were married couples living together; 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present and 21.6% were non-families. Of all households, 19.0% were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.23.

24.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 32.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.5 years. For every 100 females, the population had 93.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 90.4 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $100,655 (with a margin of error of +/− $3,929) and the median family income was $110,948 (+/− $3,838). Males had a median income of $80,527 (+/− $3,109) versus $54,162 (+/− $2,066) for females. The per capita income for the township was $41,518 (+/− $1,366). About 3.0% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.4% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

Economy With easy access to major highways like Route 18 and the New Jersey Turnpike, East Brunswick's proximity to cities such as New Brunswick, New York, Newark, and Philadelphia has contributed in the township being a longtime premier economic centre in the Central New Jersey region.

Corporate, commerce, and hospitality Opened in 1970, Brunswick Square Mall is a single-story regional shopping mall, located on the corner of Route 18 and Rues Lane. The mall is currently anchored by Macy's and JCPenney and it has a gross leasable area (GLA) of 769,041 sq ft (71,446.2 m²). Outside of Brunswick Square, the township itself has many other shopping malls and plazas, mostly dotted on Route 18. There are some other notable shopping destinations near East Brunswick, including the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, Woodbridge Center in Woodbridge, the Freehold Raceway Mall in Freehold, and The Shoppes in Old Bridge.

The Tower Center complex includes two 23-story office towers, a 12-story Hilton Hotel, located near the intersection of the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 18. The two towers are among the tallest structures in Central Jersey, and can be seen for several miles. In March 2023, Bengaluru-based technology services and consulting company Wipro opened its American international headquarters in the Tower Center.

Giamarese Farm & Orchards is a family-owned business covering 35 acres (14 ha) and dating to 1941. It is a popular seasonal attraction for East Brunswick residents, located on Fresh Ponds Road in the southern section of the township.

Arts and culture East Brunswick is home of Playhouse 22, a volunteer-run community theater, housed at the Elliott Taubenslag Theater at the East Brunswick Community Arts Center.

Founded in 2019, the East Brunswick Arts Coalition supports arts and cultural organizations such as the East Brunswick Museum, East Brunswick Arts Commission, Playhouse 22, the East Brunswick Historical Society and the East Brunswick Human Relations Council. Harvest Fest is an annual outdoor festival hosted by the East Brunswick Arts Coalition and located in the township's beautiful historic district. The festival typically showcases food vendors, art and craft vendors, a beer garden, live music, and more.

Musical groups from East Brunswick include ska punk group Catch 22, heavy metal quintet God Forbid and ska punk band Streetlight Manifesto.

In July 2021, the film Shiv Shastri Balboa starring Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta was filmed in East Brunswick.

Parks and Recreation While there are no major county or state parks within East Brunswick's borders, there is still a nice assortment of recreational activities in the township.

On the border of East Brunswick and South Brunswick is the Ireland Brook Conservation area, a 22,651,200 sq ft (2,104,370 m²) nature preserve of forests, fields, nature trails, and wetlands, near the Ireland Brook (a tributary of the Lawrence Brook within the much larger Raritan Valley region).

Heavenly Farms is the largest park operated by the township's division of recreation. It features baseball and softball fields, bike trails, a disc golf course, a dog park, football fields, lacrosse fields, and lighted soccer fields.

Crystal Springs Family Waterpark is an aquatic centre that hosts 5 various size pools, a splash park, water slides, a lazy river, and more recreational activities. The park opened in 1994 and was the first municipal waterpark in New Jersey. The park was built on the site of parts of Dallenbach Lake.

Smaller parks in the township include the township's Community Park, along with Bicentennial Park, Country Lane Park, Crandall Play Area, Dideriksen Park, Frost Woods, Great Oak Park, Keystone Park, Lenape Park, Pine Ridge Park, Riva Avenue Park, Sadowski Play Area, Tices Lane Park, Volunteer and Veterans Park, Washington Heights Park, and Welsh Park.

Education The East Brunswick Public Schools serve students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of 11 schools, had an enrollment of 8,260 students and 687.0 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 Bowne-Munro Elementary School (with 220 students; in grades K–4), Central Elementary School (415; Pre-K–4), Murray A. Chittick Elementary School (498; K–4), Robert Frost Elementary School (472; Pre-K–4), Irwin Elementary School (473; K–4), Lawrence Brook Elementary School (454; Pre-K–4), Memorial Elementary School (568; Pre-K–4), Warnsdorfer Elementary School (450; K–5), Hammarskjold Upper Elementary School (1,279; 5-6), Churchill Junior High School (1,282; 7–9) and East Brunswick High School (2,095; 10–12). In the 2012 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the district's high school was ranked 45th in New Jersey, after being ranked 48th statewide in 2011.

Eighth grade students from all of Middlesex County are eligible to apply to attend the high school programs offered by the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools, a county-wide vocational school district that offers full-time career and technical education at Middlesex County Academy in Edison, the Academy for Allied Health and Biomedical Sciences in Woodbridge Township and at its East Brunswick, Perth Amboy and Piscataway technical high schools, with no tuition charged to students for attendance.

Hatikvah International Academy Charter School, a Hebrew language charter school that offers an International Baccalaureate program opened in September 2010 for grades K–7, with plans to add a new grade each year until an eighth grade is offered. A lottery is held each year, with separate draws for residents of East Brunswick Township and non-residents, to allocate the limited number of positions available for each class. The school plans to build a permanent structure as part of the Campus for Jewish Life (formerly known as the YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley) to replace its current facility the school has rented located near Trinity Presbyterian Church. Concerns have been raised regarding the funding for the school, which will come from the East Brunswick Board of Education budget, including $1.34 million for the 2010–2011 school year, and that the district will not be able to reduce expenses by the amount that will be paid to the charter school. Hatikvah school officials emphasize that charter schools can often educate students at a lower cost than traditional public schools and that "taxpayers do not pay an extra penny for having a charter school in town, period". The school received $75,000 in grants from foundations to cover the costs of applying for a charter and for getting the school operational. Hatikvah budgeted $11,033 per student for the 2010–2011 school year, while the East Brunswick Public Schools budgeted $12,782 per pupil for that same year. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 573 students and 44.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.0:1.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley, a Conservative Jewish day school, closed its doors before the start of the 2013–2014 school year in the wake of sharply lower enrollment and financial difficulties. During the 2009–2010 school year, the school was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.

Saint Bartholomew's School is a Catholic elementary school serving 372 students in Pre-K through eighth grade as of the 2019–2020 school year. The school operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen.

Historic district The Old Bridge Village Historic District is a 108-acre (44 ha) historic district located along the South River in the southern portion of the township. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1977 for its significance in art, education, and industry. The district includes 78 contributing buildings.

Transport: Road As of May 2010, the township had a total of 205.94 miles (331.43 km) of roadways, of which 176.11 miles (283.42 km) were maintained by the municipality, 19.65 miles (31.62 km) by Middlesex County, 5.48 miles (8.82 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 4.70 miles (7.56 km) by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The township is served by several major roads and highways.

The New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95) passes through East Brunswick. The Turnpike's Joyce Kilmer service area is located between interchanges 8A and 9 northbound at milepost 78.7. New Jersey Route 18 connects with the turnpike in East Brunswick and provides connections to New Brunswick, U.S. Route 1 and the Jersey Shore. Major county roads that pass through include CR 527 and CR 535. Other limited access roads are accessible outside the township, such as the Garden State Parkway in neighboring Sayreville and Old Bridge, and Interstate 287 in neighboring Edison.

The Turnpike's "dual-dual" configuration (car-only and truck lanes) was extended from exit 10 in Edison Township to just south of exit 9 in 1973, then to exit 8A in 1990, and finally to exit 6 in 2014.

Transport: Public NJ Transit bus service is provided on the 138 route to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, on the 68 to Jersey City, and on the 811, 815 and 818 local routes.

The MCAT shuttle system provides local service on the M2 route serving Brunswick Square, Monroe Township and Jamesburg the M3 route, which operates between Brunswick Square and Old Bridge Township and the M7 route between Brunswick Square Mall and South Amboy.

Suburban Transit operates bus routes to New York City every 10–15 minutes from both the Transportation Center and Tower Center; it takes about 30–50 minutes depending on traffic. Service to the Port Authority Bus Terminal is available on Line 100 from Princeton and on Line 400 from the Transportation Center, to 59th Street and Madison Avenue on Line 300, to the United Nations on Line 500, and to Wall Street on Line 600.

Dating back to 1888, the Raritan River Railroad is a shortline railroad that stretched 12.6 miles (20.3 km) through Middlesex County. Passenger service ended in 1938 and the line, now much-reduced in length and part of Conrail, provides freight service through the township, where two businesses still receive weekly freight shipments of plastic. There have been proposals to turn the line into a light rail corridor.

Old Bridge Airport in Old Bridge Township supply short-distance flights to surrounding areas and are the closest air transportation services. The closest major airport is Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark / Elizabeth, via the New Jersey Turnpike, which is 24 miles (39 km) (about 37 minutes drive) from the centre of East Brunswick. John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens is roughly 36 miles (58 km) away, traveling via the Belt Parkway after crossing through Staten Island. LaGuardia Airport is roughly 37 miles (60 km) away.

Points of interest • Playhouse 22, East Brunswick's Community Theatre and Performing Arts Center, resides in the multi-purpose Community Arts Center at Heavenly Farms Park. Recognized in 2000 as Community Theatre of the Year in New Jersey, Playhouse 22 has staged many hit musicals, dramas, comedies and original works. • Farrington Lake and Westons Mill Pond, two segments of Lawrence Brook, are available to canoeists, kayakers and nature lovers. • The township has Tamarack Golf Course, a public golf course operated by the Middlesex County Improvement Authority. • The Middlesex County Fair Grounds is the site of the week-long Middlesex County Fair held every August, providing festivities and food for families throughout Central Jersey and surrounding regions. First held in 1938, the Fair moved to its current site located on Cranbury Road (County Route 535) in 1965. • The East Brunswick Museum, formerly the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, in the community of Old Bridge features the works of local artist James Crawford Thom.