Hopewell, New Jersey

Hopewell is a borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States
Census, the borough's population was 1,922,[8][9][10] reflecting a decline of 113 (-5.6%) from the
2,035 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 67 (+3.4%) from the 1,968 counted
in the 1990 Census.[18]
Hopewell was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 14, 1891,
from portions of Hopewell Township, based on the results of a referendum held on March 21, 1891.
Additional portions of Hopewell Township were annexed in 1915, and the borough was reincorporated
in 1924.

History
Colonial era

The first Colonial influence in Hopewell was the purchase of a 30,000-acre (120 km2) tract of land by
Daniel Coxe a Royal British governor of West Jersey, in the latter half of the 17th century. All land in
Hopewell can be traced back to this purchase.[20] In 1691 Coxe, transferred his land to a company
called The West Jersey Society of England, who intended to sell the land.[21] The society appointed an
agent, Thomas Revell, to preside over the land and sell it to prospective buyers.[22] Revell then
attracted settlers from New England, Long Island, and New Jersey with questionable incentives, saying
that the land was fertile, and tame. However, the families that arrived in Hopewell only found vast
stretches of wilderness.[23] The first settler in Hopewell Valley was Thomas Tindall who on November
10, 1699 bought a 300-acre (1.2 km2) tract of land from The West Jersey Society of England through
Revell, for "ten pounds per hundred acres".[24] Other early settlers in Hopewell are said to be the
Stouts, who immigrated from Holmdel to Hopewell in 1706.[25] Perhaps the first conflict between
colonists in Hopewell was the dispute between Revell and the early inhabitants of Hopewell, who
realized that their deeds were worthless due to Revell's false claims. Fifty settlers then organized a class
action lawsuit against Revell and the West Jersey Society. The long and arduous trial took place in
Burlington, and eventually ruled against the settlers, who were forced to repurchase their land or
relocate. Many settlers weren't able to repay and moved north into North Jersey and New York.[26]
On April 23, 1715, the settlers who stayed in Hopewell, most notably the Stout family, organized the
Old School Baptist Church, and what is now known as Hopewell was then referred to as "Baptist
Meetinghouse".[27][28] One of the most valued members of the meeting house was Declaration of
Independence signer John Hart who in 1740 purchased 193 acres (0.78 km2) of land in the north of
current day Hopewell, and in 1747 as a sign of Hart's devotion to the Church, donated a plot of his land
to the Baptists.[29][30] The very next year the Baptists made good use of this land and in 1748 erected
their Old School Baptist Church meeting house on West Broad Street. The meeting house brought in
Baptists from miles around to Hopewell and encouraged Hopewell's early growth.[31]

Numerous lumber mills were established in and around Hopewell at this time to process the lumber that
was generated from the clearing of forests for farms.
In 1756, Isaac Eaton the first pastor of the Old School Baptist Church established the Hopewell
Academy. One of his students, James Manning, would go on to establish Brown University in 1765.
[32]

Frog war
The first railroad to reach Hopewell was the Mercer and Somerset Railway, which was backed by the
Pennsylvania Railroad. It was created largely to protect the monopoly the Pennsylvania Railroad had
on New Jersey, by cutting off the first separately owned railroad in New Jersey, the Delaware and
Bound Brook Railroad, by being built in the way of it. It was completed in 1874. The Delaware and
Bound Brook reached Hopewell in 1876, but the railroad had to cross the Mercer and Somerset's track
just to the northwest of Hopewell. A dispute occurred at the crossing, known as a frog, and escalated
into each company parking locomotives over the crossing to prevent the other company from moving
trains over it. Eventually militia had to be called in to keep the peace, and the Delaware and Bound
Brook prevailed.[33] Soon after the Frog War the Mercer and Somerset was liquidated having failed at
its purpose. Some of the abandoned right of way for the Mercer and Somerset in Hopewell became
Model Avenue. The Delaware and Bound Brook was leased by the Philadelphia and Reading in 1879
for 999 years, and has become the CSX Trenton Line and is still in use today. The Frog is also what
gives Hopewell Elementary school its mascot, "Freddy the Frog" in honor of the Hopewell frog war.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.703 square miles
(1.820 km2), all of which was land.[1][2]

The borough is an independent municipality surrounded entirely by Hopewell Township,[35] making it

part one of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds
another.