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New Jersey Counties

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New Jersey Counties

New Jersey has 21 counties. New Jersey was governed by two separate groups of proprietors as two distinct provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey, for the 28 years between 1674 and 1702. New Jersey's first counties were created as administrative districts within each province, with East Jersey split in 1675 into Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, while West Jersey's initial counties of Burlington and Salem date to 1681. The most recent county created in New Jersey was Union County, created in 1857 and named after the union of the United States

Cumberland County, New Jersey

Cumberland County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Bridgeton
Year Organized: 1748
Square Miles: 489

Court House:

790 East Commerce Street
County Administration Building
Bridgeton, NJ 08302-2269

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Cumberland is named for the Earl of Cumberland.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

The Colonial Legislature, at a session held January 30, 1748, passed an Act stipulating the east side of Salem County as a new county to be known as Cumberland. It was so named by Governor Jonathan Belcher in honor of his patron, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, brother of the king and the victor over "Bonnie Prince Charles", (Stuart) the Young Pretender to the throne of England whose hopes were quenched at the bloody Battle of Culloden Moor.

The Act establishing the new county divided it into six townships: Greenwich , Hopewell , Stow Creek, Deerfield , Fairfield , and Maurice River. The Legislature ordered the Freeholders to meet first at Cohansey Bridge, which is now Bridgeton, to arrange for the taking of a poll to determine the location of the county seat. The first court was held at Greenwich. In December of the same year, 1748, Cohansey Bridge (now Bridgeton) was chosen as the seat of county government. The selection was a compromise with Greenwich, Fairfield, and Deerfield contending for the honor, the convenience, and the practical advantage from a business standpoint.

In 1752, Cumberland County's first court house, (Cumberland has had four) was built in the center of what is now West Broad Street, east of the line of Franklin Street. During the next 15 years Cumberland County developed rapidly. At the same time dissatisfaction over Colonial rule was increasing, a feeling that brought about eventual separation from the British Crown. In 1772, Cumberland County elected two representatives to the Colonial Legislature. Theretofore, Salem and Cumberland had been jointly represented. When Downe Township was established in 1772, it was named after Governor William Franklin's wife, Elizabeth Downes, whose name was misspelled in the printed legislation and has been misspelled ever since

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Bridgeton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Commercial	township
- Deerfield	township
- Downe	township
- Greenwich	township
- Lawrence	township
- Maurice River	township
- Millville	city	Incorporated Area
- Shiloh	borough	Incorporated Area
- Stow Creek	township
- Upper Deerfield	township
- Vineland	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."