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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

Mercer County, New Jersey

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

County Seat: Trenton
Year Organized: 1838
Square Miles: 226

Court House:

640 South Broad Street
McDade Administration Building
Trenton, NJ 08611-1822

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Mercer is named for Hugh Mercer, an American Revolutionary War general.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

In 1786, after General Washington ensured that Trenton would not be the national capital, and before Washington D. C. was created, a petition was circulated around among the leaders of Burlington and Hunterdon Townships. The petition called for the creation of the City of Trenton. Unlike its original hamlet configuration, the City of Trenton would not be allowed to act as its cousins of the time, creating the necessary government and community atmospheres of the cities of the 18th century.

This petition failed, but a compromise struck in the political manner of the day did create the Borough of South Trenton. This new borough cut between Hunterdon and Burlington and made for interesting political discontent. Unhappy with the 50 year old system of the 13 original New Jersey counties, the state legislature saw the new Borough as the starting point of a new county - one that would balance the power of the more northern Hudson county, while still enabling the southern counties a powerful voice in the state legislature.

In 1838, twenty three years before the Civil War, the New Jersey state legislature decided to redraw its county lines. Increasing the colonial 13 counties to a more modern 15 counties balanced the political powers of the day. Unhappy with the odd number of representatives in the county system, the state legislature created Mercer County.

The new county, which encompassed Princeton and Trenton, was carved out of parts of Hunterdon, Burlington, Middlesex, and Somerset counties. This was the birth of modern day Mercer County.

The name of Mercer was given to land in honor of General Hugh Mercer, a Revolutionary General who fell at the Battle of Princeton.

Trenton once again became a seat of power; this time as the county seat. The prosperity that the region was about to enjoy could never have been imagined at this time, but the work that was done in 1838 led to the creation of one of the most powerful and economically important cities in 19th and early 20th century America. Mercer County, it seems, has always been the place where history is made, and adventure takes place.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- East Windsor	township
- Ewing	township
- Hamilton	township
- Hightstown	borough	Incorporated Area
- Hopewell	borough	Incorporated Area
- Lawrence	township
- Pennington	borough	Incorporated Area
- Princeton	borough	Incorporated Area
- Trenton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- West Windsor	township

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."