History of Cinnaminson Township, NJ
Cinnaminson Township, 2011
The Township of Cinnaminson is a community of families, neighbors and businesses. Taking our name from the Lenni-Lenape Tribe, we are the place where fresh waters and fresh ideas flow. We pride ourselves on an effective education system, on neighbors who care about our homes and one another and a well-run local government dedicated to serving citizens fairly and economically. We warmly welcome new businesses and support our long-term business partners.
The Lenni-Lenape Tribe came to the Cinnaminson area from somewhere west of the Mississippi. Lenni-Lenape means “original people” which to Cinnaminson they were. They named their hunting grounds Cinnaminson, which meant Sweetwater. One ancient spelling of Cinnaminson was Senamensing; this name belonging traditionally to a trail from the Delaware River through Moorestown and Mount Laurel to the seashore.
Cinnaminson, the Township, was created by an act of the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, approved March 15, 1860.
The legislation formed the Township of Cinnaminson by dividing Chester Township, and states in part, “The inhabitants of the township of Chester having become so numerous that it is impracticable for them to meet with convenience and good order in one assembly…the Township shall be divided.” The line of division ran from “the bridge that crosses the South Branch of the Pennsauken Creek, known as Rudderow’s Bridge, to the creek road, where Hackney’s Run crosses same; thence down the said Run to the Rancocas River. The part lying north of said line shall be known as the Township of Cinnaminson.”
The act further stated, “the inhabitants of Cinnaminson shall hold their first town-meeting at the West Chester schoolhouse in said township on the second Tuesday of March next.”
In accordance with this requirement, the first town-meeting of the new township’s residents was held on March 12, 1861, and at this meeting the act cited above was read and adopted.
Several of the measures taken at this initial meeting seem worth noting, not only for their historical import, but also by way of contrast with similar items confronting the township of the present era. A few of these resolutions were: “that the town-meetings assemble at 2:00 PM instead of 10:00 A.M. . .That $1000 be raised for township purposes. . . .That $700 be raised and appropriated for school purposes, by a vote of 140 against a vote of 85 for the sum of $1000.
It was also resolved at this meeting that “the offer of Samuel Hunter of land near New Albany be accepted for the site of the townhouse” and “that no Justice of the Peace shall issue more than one permit to any pauper.”
