World History

You are here: / Collection / New Jersey / History of Freehold, NJ

History of Freehold, NJ

History of Freehold Township, New Jersey

http://twp.freehold.nj.us/freehold-history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This land was first sighted by European Venetian John Cabot while sailing along the coast in 1498. The Lenni Lenape Indians originally inhabited the area called Freehold Township.

It wasn’t until September 1609 that the first European actually set foot at Sandy Hook. The Dutch West India Com., formed in Holland in 1671, developed commerce in the New World and in 1623 organized the New Jersey-Hudson River area into the Province of New Netherlands.

On June 23, 1664, the Duke of York granted a patent to Sir George Carteret and John, Lord Berkely for the entire area of what now constitutes New Jersey. The area was first settled in 1685 by a group of Scottish reformers fleeing religious persecution. Freehold Township was formally established by an act of the Legislature on October 31, 1693, one of the three original townships in Monmouth County.

Freehold was originally named Monmouth Courthouse. In 1714, John Reid, the first Surveyor General of East Jersey, wanted the county seat located in Freehold Township and thus sold the property to the Board of Chosen Freeholders at a bargain price, what may have been the deciding factor in Freehold’s competition with Middletown and Shrewsbury for the site. In return for the heavily-discounted price, Reid placed a restrictive covenant in the deed that, should the property ever cease being used as a courthouse, ownership would revert back to the Reid family. Direct descendants of John Reid still reside in Freehold Township.

Throughout the intervening three centuries it has been a place where people could raise their families, earn their living and live out their life in some measure of peace. Then as now, it has been a community of farms and churches, homes and neighborhoods. It has strong roots in a rich colonial tradition and an illustrious past. The Battle of Monmouth (probably the turning point of our War of Independence) was fought at its doorsteps on a scorching day in June 1778. Every major American military leader of the time participated: George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, Benedict Arnold, Anthony Wayne, Charles Lee, Alexander Hamilton, Nathaniel Greene, Friedrich van Steuben and the non-military Molly Pitcher. Most of the history made here, however, has been of the personal kind; of families and arms and small businesses, and the enduring values these institutions produce now and in the future. We invite all residents to know some of the heritage and become part of it.

Freehold also has a relatively forgotten but important place in the history of the bicycle. Cycling champion Arthur Augustus Zimmerman resided in the town during his racing career in the 1880s and 1890s, and from 1896-1899 operated the Zimmerman Bicycle Co.; the company’s bicycles were known as the “Zimmy.” Today, Freehold Borough is home to the Metz Bicycle Museum, where the only extant “Zimmy” can be seen.

African Americans made important contributions to the history of the borough and the county from the Revolutionary Period (Colonel Tye) to the present day (FBHS guidance counselor Lillie Hendry). While the first African American official gained office in 2007 (Jaye Sims), Freehold was one of the centers of African American civil rights activity in New Jersey during the years leading up to the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1955.

PureHistory.org ℗ is your source to learn about the broad and beautiful spectrum of our shared History.