Book Description

Comprised of ten distinct communities, Woodbridge Township, New Jersey nevertheless has a unified identity with historic roots reaching back more than 330 years. Originally populated by Native Americans, the Dutch claimed the area in the early seventeenth century before the English established the religious, political, and educational heritage that Woodbridge boasts today. In the 1800s, the township flourished under the leadership of residents who provided strong social ties and entrepreneurs who developed the clay and brick companies as well as the once popular Boynton Beach resort in Sewaren. Dedicated citizens continued their commitment to Woodbridge's progress and prosperity through the years.Woodbridge: New Jersey's Oldest Township takes readers on a trip through an ever-changing community. Vintage photographs, maps, and a lively narrative reveal the heroic actions of citizens such as Janet Pike Gage, who raised the town's first liberty pole, and Reverend Azel Roe, the minister who defied the British during the Revolutionary War. Readers accompany the town's growth through the rise and fall of the clay and brick industries that once defined the local economy from 1825 to the onset of the Great Depression. Voted "All-America City" in 1964 by the National Municipal League, the community continues to uphold the legacy of the people who made it such a great place to live and work. Woodbridge: New Jersey's Oldest Township is a memorable tribute to this tradition.