Lawrence, New Jersey, United States

🇺🇸 Lawrence Township is a township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The township is part of the New York Metropolitan area but directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. The township is a regional commercial hub for central New Jersey.

History What is now Lawrence Township was originally formed as Maidenhead Township on February 20, 1697, while the area was still part of Burlington County in West Jersey on the eastern boundary of the Province Line (on the other side of which was East Jersey). The township was named by the early Quaker settlers after Maidenhead, a Thames River village west of London.

In 1698, Puritan settlers from Long Island and Connecticut came to Maidenhead and were granted land and established a Presbyterian church. A meetinghouse was erected on the site of the present Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville in the early 1700s. A record from 1709 indicates that it was used both for a meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia and for a session of the Hunterdon County Court. The present structure was built in 1764.

The township became part of the newly created Hunterdon County on March 11, 1714. Maidenhead Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798.

In 1810, the seventh minister of the church, Isaac V. Brown, began the Maidenhead Academy to prepare young men for college. This school is now the Lawrenceville School.

On January 24, 1816, the municipality was renamed Lawrence Township, in honor of Captain James Lawrence—commander of the frigate USS Chesapeake, one of the naval heroes of the War of 1812, and a native of relatively nearby Burlington, New Jersey—best known for his dying command of "Don't give up the ship". Lawrence Township became part of Mercer County at its creation on February 22, 1838. Portions of the township were taken to form Millham Township on February 10, 1882, which was annexed six years later by Trenton.

On September 23, 2003, at approximately 8:25am, an F1 tornado ripped through Lawrence Township. The tornado followed a path along Princeton Pike and caused widespread damage to homes. There were no fatalities.

Violent crime in Lawrence Township is notably rare. A fatal shooting at an Applebee's restaurant on November 14, 2017, was the first murder in the township in 16 years.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 21.98 square miles (56.94 km²), including 21.73 square miles (56.27 km²) of land and 0.26 square miles (0.67 km²) of water (1.17%).

Lawrenceville (with a 2010 Census population of 3,887) is a place and unincorporated community located within Lawrence Township.

Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include: Bakersville, Clarksville, Colonial Lakelands, Coxs Corner, Eldridge Park, Franklin Corner, Harneys Corner, Lawrence Station, Lewisville, Louisville, Port Mercer, Princessville, Quaker Bridge, Rosedale, Slackwood and Sturwood Hamlet.

Many area residents often refer to all of Lawrence Township as Lawrenceville, as a significant majority of township residents use a Lawrenceville mailing address as specified by the United States Postal Service, while other residents have mailing addresses in either Princeton or Trenton. The township was notified by the Postal Service in 2007 that the preferred designation for the ZIP code 08648 would be changed to "Lawrence Township".

The township borders the Mercer County municipalities of Ewing Township, Hamilton Township, Hopewell Township, Princeton, Trenton and West Windsor.

Economy Lawrence Township is home to the headquarters of the Educational Testing Service and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Research & Development Division.

Quaker Bridge Mall is a two-level, indoor shopping centre located in Lawrenceville on U.S. 1, near Interstate 295. The mall opened in 1975, and has over 100 retail establishments. The mall's anchor stores include J.C. Penney, Macy's, and Old Navy. The mall has a gross leasable area of 1,076,000 square feet (100,000 m²). Quaker Bridge Mall also had a renovation in 2011–2012, and was finished around August 2012.

Lawrenceville has a small business district near the Lawrenceville School. The Lawrence Shopping Center and other businesses along U.S. Route 1 provide additional commercial clusters in the township.

The transmitter for WKXW-FM, better known as New Jersey 101.5, is located near the Quaker Bridge Mall.

Education: Universities Founded in 1865 and granted university status in 1992, Rider University is a private university with its main campus just south of Lawrenceville that serves nearly 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Historic District The Lawrence Township Historic District is a 550-acre (220 ha) historic district encompassing the community of Lawrenceville, consisting of a number of buildings along U.S. Route 206 (formerly King's Highway, as well as the Lincoln Highway), two early cemeteries associated with the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville (Est. 1697), and the Lawrenceville School. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 1972 for its significance in architecture, landscape architecture, literature, military history, and transportation. The district includes 45 contributing buildings.

Transport: Road As of May 2010, the township had a total of 132.33 miles (212.96 km) of roadways, of which 102.37 miles (164.75 km) were maintained by the municipality, 11.48 miles (18.48 km) by Mercer County and 18.48 miles (29.74 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Several major transportation routes traverse the Township. Interstate 295 runs through as a semicircle while U.S. Route 1, the other major highway, bisects the municipality. U.S. 1 is in effect three different roads: the original route from Trenton to New Brunswick in the southern half of the Township, the limited access Trenton Freeway, and the combined road in the northern half that serves as a regional arterial linking the Interstates with New Brunswick and Route 18.

U.S. Route 206 (Lawrence Road) is the main artery within the township itself, running from Trenton to Princeton roughly north-to-south. It is a segment of the historic Lincoln Highway, and before that, it was part of the main New York-Philadelphia Post road in the decades after the Revolutionary War. Major county routes that pass through include County Route 533, County Route 546 and County Route 569.

Lawrence Township had been the site of what was called the "abrupt ending" of Interstate 95. This was a result from politics in Somerset County that eliminated a planned connection of the Somerset Freeway to Interstate 287. Originally, when drivers travelled along I-95 north while approaching the interchange for U.S. Route 1, the 95 designation abruptly ended and the highway turned southward and became Interstate 295. Drivers wishing to continue north were required to use an alternate route, either by taking US 1 north, or continue along Interstate 295 south to Interstate 195 east and to the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95) at Exit 7A in Robbinsville Township. This portion of interstate (between the Hopewell Township border and U.S. 1) was renumbered from I-95 to I-295 in May 2018.

Public transportation The busy Northeast Corridor rail line, carrying Amtrak and NJ Transit trains, runs along the eastern edge of the township. The nearest stations are in Hamilton, Trenton, Princeton and Princeton Junction.

NJ Transit provides bus service to Trenton on the 600, 603, 605, 606, 609 and 613 routes, and local service on route 612.

A rail spur used to run to Lawrenceville from Trenton, but was discontinued in the 1970s and is now a bicycle trail. From Lawrenceville, a trolley line to Princeton existed from 1900 to 1941, but was dismantled before World War II, and the right-of-way largely has reverted to neighboring landowners.

The nearest commercial airport is Trenton-Mercer Airport, formerly known as the Mercer County Airport, in Ewing Township with nonstop service to 10 major cities in the eastern half of the United States. Lawrence Township is roughly equidistant to the other two nearby commercial airports, Philadelphia International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Points of interest The Port Mercer Canal House is located at 4378 Quakerbridge Road, along the Delaware and Raritan Canal near the border of West Windsor and Princeton. The house was built in the 1830s as housing for the bridge tender and his family. The bridge tender was needed to open the swing bridge when canal boats came through, then close it to allow traffic to cross over the canal.

The Delaware and Raritan Canal has an intact walking towpath for most of its length. Additional walking trail areas in the township include Shipetaukin Woods, Carson Road Woods, and part of Rosedale Park. Lawrence Township is part of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, currently under development.

Jasna Polana was the home of John Seward Johnson I of Johnson & Johnson. His widow converted it into Tournament Players Club at Jasna Polana golf course.

Terhune Orchards is a winery and produce farm.

Colonial Lake, a man-made lake covering 25 acres (10 ha), is the centerpiece of the township's Colonial Lake Park.

The Brearley Oak, the largest Black Oak tree in New Jersey, is located along the Princeton Pike.