Historical Highlights of Lawrenceville
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HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF LAWRENCEVILLE
Lawrence Township was established in 1697 by the colonial Supreme Court at Burlington as one of West New Jersey’s early municipalities. Originally named Maidenhead, its eastern boundary, the Province Line, was the division line between the two original colonies of East and West Jersey. As part of West Jersey, it was located in Burlington County until 1714 when Hunterdon County was formed. In fact, the first Hunterdon County Court met here in 1714. Mercer County was not established until 1838.
Straddling the main road between New York City and Philadelphia, known as the King’s Highway or Great Road, today Route 206, the village became the center of township activities with the establishment of what was to become the Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church in 1698. There soon followed taverns to house travelers, homes, and shops that led to the development of a town center.
In late September or early October 1755, the defeated British troops of General Edward Braddock, (who had become commander of the British forces in America) passed through the village with about 1,700 men, cannon and supply wagons following his army’s disastrous Fort Duquesne expedition during the French and Indian War.
Maidenhead was the center of much activity during the Revolutionary War. General George Washington traveled through the township in 1775 en route to Cambridge, Massachusetts to assume his responsibilities as commander of the Continental Army. Lord Cornwallis and a detachment of British soldiers were quartered on Main Street here on December 8, 1776. Years later, an enigmatic footnote from the British general’s day book recorded the occasion with: “one night in Maidenhead was more than enough.” Following the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, the British Army moved down the King’s Highway in order to recapture Trenton. On January 2, 1777, Colonel Edward Hand’s riflemen slowed their advance by fighting a delaying action on the road, including a skirmish at Shabakunk Creek, a short distance from the “village.” These maneuvers delayed the British long enough for General Washington and the Continental Army to escape during the night of January 2-3, 1777. The army circled the British and, while traveling through Princeton, engaged the British on January 3, 1777. The French Army, commanded by Comte de Rochambeau, passed through Maidenhead in 1781 en route to victory at the Battle of Yorktown. Not only did the armies of three nations march through Maidenhead and down the King’s Highway, but all the principal American leaders of the Revolutionary War era undoubtedly also traveled through Maidenhead on their way to New York City, Philadelphia, or Princeton.
The nineteenth century saw the development of farms, mills, and taverns throughout the community. The name of the township was changed from Maidenhead to Lawrence in 1816 in honor of James Lawrence, naval hero of the War of 1812. The township became an educational center with the establishment of the Academy of Maidenhead, later to be known as The Lawrenceville School, in 1810. Isaac Van Arsdale Brown founded the school in his front parlor and it gradually expanded during the 1800s. John Cleve Green bequested a considerable sum of money to the school in 1875. His endowment enabled the school to construct nine late nineteenth century buildings that give the school its architectural ambience and has led to the protected status of these structures at the national, state and local levels of government.
Travel on Lawrenceville Road receded until the advent of the twentieth century and the development of the automobile. The present Route 1 (Brunswick Avenue) had its beginnings with the chartering of the New Brunswick Turnpike Company in 1804. Three years later, in 1807, the Princeton-Kingston Branch Turnpike was chartered and present day Princeton Pike and Avenue was completed the following year. The 1830s saw the construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Camden and Amboy Railroad which sped the travel of passengers and freight between New York City and Philadelphia. The latter part of the nineteenth century witnessed the development of south Lawrence as an extension of Trenton as well as the construction of additional homes in the “village” and in north Lawrence.
The twentieth century changed Lawrence Township from a rural community to that of a suburb, first for Trenton and later for Philadelphia and New York City. The introduction of public transportation and the ever-increasing use of the automobile resulted in rapid development. The post-World War II suburban development process continues today with new single family homes, condominiums, town houses, shopping centers, and office complexes. Though not as peaceful or secluded as it was before the advent of interstate highways and the Route 1 “Princeton Corridor,” the township has retained much of the rural charm of its earlier years. It has become a most desirable residential and academic community, steeped in colonial and Revolutionary lore.
