Marlboro Township, NJ

Marlboro is a Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a population of 36,398. Marlboro was formed as a Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 17, 1848, from portions of Freehold Township.

CNN and Money magazine selected Marlboro as one of the top 10 safest places to live, and a top 100 place to live in America.  People choose Marlboro Township due to its proximity to the Jersey Shore, while still being within commuting distance of New York City and, to a lesser extent, Philadelphia. People stay in Marlboro for a multitude of reasons, including getting away from urban issues, because of the presence of good schools and for retirement.

Historical timeline: Lenni Lenape

In the area of Marlboro, settlements began about 12,000 years ago when people who migrated eastward from Siberia spread throughout the Americas. Those who settled in this area, about 1000 AD, developed into the Lenni Lenape. As the settlements developed, an agricultural society emerged, and small villages dotted what was to become Marlboro Township, Monmouth County and all across New Jersey. The Lenni Lenape Native Americans were the first known organized inhabitants of this area.

In 1600 the Indian population may have numbered as many as 20,000.  Several wars, at least 14 separate epidemics (yellow fever, small pox, influenza, encephalitis lethargica, etc…) and disastrous over-harvesting of the animal populations reduced their population to around 4,000 by 1700. Since the Lenape people, like all Native Americans, had no immunity to European diseases, when the populations contacted the epidemics, they frequently proved fatal.  Some Lenape starved to death as a result of the over harvesting of mostly beavers. Others were forced to trade their land for goods such as clothing and food. As the Lenni Lenape population declined, and the European population increased, the history of the area was increasingly defined by the new European inhabitants and the Lenape Indian tribes played an increasingly secondary role.

Dutch arrival

After the Dutch arrival to the region in the 1620s, the Lenape were successful in restricting Dutch settlement to Pavonia in present-day Jersey City along the Hudson until the 1660s and the Swedish settlement to New Sweden (1655 – The Dutch defeat the Swedes on the Delaware). The Dutch finally established a garrison at Bergen, allowing settlement of areas within the province of New Netherlands. Within a period of 112 years, 1497-1609, four European explorers claimed this land for their sponsors: John Cabot, 1497, for England; Giovanni de Verrazano, 1524, for France; Estevan Gomez, 1525, for Spain, Henry Hudson, 1609, for Holland. Then for 50 years, 1614-1664, the Monmouth County area came under the influence of the Dutch, but it was not settled until English rule in 1664.

The initial European proprietors of the area purchased the land from the Lenni Lenape leader or Sakamaker.  The chief of the Unami, or Turtle clan, was traditionally the great chief of all the Lenni Lenape. One of the sons of the leader, was Weequehela who negotiated the sale of several of the initial tracts of land to the first farmers.  An early deed refers to “the chief sachems or leaders of Toponemus.” Their main village was near Wickatunk in Marlboro Township.

On April 2, 1664 the British appointed Richard Nicolls Deputy Governor of New York and New Jersey. One year later, April 8, 1665 Nicolls issued “The Monmouth Patent” to twelve men who had come from Western Long Island and New England seeking permanent stability for religious and civil freedom as well as the prospect of improving their estates. Nicolls was unaware that in June, 1664, James had given a lease and release for New Jersey to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret thus invalidating the grant to the Monmouth Patentees.  The rule at the time was that land should be purchased from the Patent.

However, in the time between 1685 and the early 18th century, the patent was ignored and land was gradually purchased from the Lenni Lenape causing confusion and disputes over ownership. Following the initial sale of land, the history of the township starts about 1685, when the land was first settled by European farmers from Scotland, England and the Netherlands. The Scottish exiles and early Dutch settlers lived on isolated clearings carved out of the forest.  The lingua franca or common language spoken in the area was likely, overwhelmingly Dutch. However, this was one of many languages spoken with the culture very steeped in New Netherlander. The official documentation at the time is frequently found to be in the Dutch language. The documents of the time also suggest that money transactions used the British shilling.  The English and Scotch settlers were predominantly of Quaker persuasion. After initial European contact, the Lenape population sharply declined.

The Quakers established a meetinghouse and a cemetery on what is now Topanemus Road and held the first meeting on Oct. 10, 1702.  The first leader of the church was Rev. George Keith who received a large grant of land in the area due to his position as Surveyor-General.  Among the first listed communicants of the new church were Garret and Jan Schenck.  The church later changed its affiliation to the Episcopal faith and became St. Peter’s Episcopal Church which is now located in Freehold.  The old burial ground still remains on Topanemus Road. In 1692 those of the Presbyterian Faith built a church and burial ground on what is now Gordons Corner Road. The church eventually moved to Tennent where it became known as the Old Tennent Church and played a role in the Revolutionary War. The old Scots Cemetery still remains at its original site.

Marl’s discovery

The township is named for the prevalence of marl, which was first discovered in the area east of the village in 1768. The “Marl Pits” are clearly reflected on maps from 1889 shown as a dirt road off of Hudson Street heading towards the current location of the township soccer fields.m  Farmers used marl to improve the soil in the days before commercial fertilizers and there was a heavy demand for it. Marlboro’s first industry was the export of the material, used primarily as fertilizer. In 1853, the Marl was harvested and transported to other parts of the state and to the Keyport docks via the Freehold Marl Company Railroad (now the Henry Hudson Trail).  The marl was then sent to New York and other parts of the country via ship.[citation needed]

Revolutionary War

Marlboro was the scene of a number of skirmishes during the American Revolutionary War, in particular following the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. During the war, the Pleasant Valley section was often raided by the British for food supplies and livestock. The area was referred to as the “Hornet’s nest” because of the intensity of the militia’s attacks on the British. Beacon Hill (of present day Beacon Hill Road) was one of three Monmouth County sites where beacons were placed to warn the residents and the Continental forces if the enemy should approach from the bay. There was also considerable activity in the Montrose area of the Township as British troops, retreating from the Battle of Monmouth, tried to wind their way to ships lying off Sandy Hook.

Township formation

Under the direction and influence of John W. Herbert, Marlboro was formed as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 17, 1848, broken from portions of Freehold Township.  The township’s name was originally “Marlborough” and then changed to “Marlboro”. It is unknown when the name officially changed, but it was relatively quick as a review of maps from 30 years later showed that the name is listed as “Marlboro.  The first elected freeholder was John W. Herbert.

Marlboro was rural and composed mostly of dairy, potato, tomato and other farms laced with small hamlets with modest inns or taverns. Before World War II Marlboro Township was actually the nation’s largest grower of potatoes and also known for a large tomato and egg industry.  During World War II, egg farms significantly increased in the area and “fed the troops”.

Following World War II, the state began to significantly build and improve the area transportation infrastructure. As the infrastructure improved, the population started to lightly increase.

New houses under construction off Buckley Road, late 2005.

The 50’s and 60’s saw Marlboro starting to significantly grow. Housing developments started to replace the farm and rural nature as the community expanded. After the early 1970s, Marlboro became a growing exurban destination for people working in New York and in nearby large suburban corporations. During the 1980s and early 1990s most of the new housing developments featured four- or five-bedroom houses, but then the trend turned toward larger estate homes. The building effort became so advanced that Marlboro Township placed restrictions for building around wetlands; called the Stream Corridor Preservation Restrictions to mitigate construction and living contamination. 2000 saw continued growth of housing tending towards larger homes. Towards the end of the decade, due to economic decline, housing starts declined and less growth was noted.

Historical events: Town center

The Marlboro town center has historically been considered an area around the intersection of Main Street (Route 79) and School Road.  In the late 19th century the intersection held a hotel [currently fire department parking lot], general store [was on the lot of the current fire department building], and Post Office [was on the lot of a current Chinese Restaurant]. Behind the current small mini-mart on the corner of this intersection, you can still see one of the original barns from the early 19th century. The township of Marlboro has erected signs in front of historically significant buildings to explain their historical significant status. Multiple signs can be seen along Main Street and on some other streets in the town center area. However, Marlboro no longer has any official town center and can be considered an example of suburban sprawl. Efforts are underway to create an official “town center” and multiple proposals have come forward in recent discussions.

Cell phone ban

In 2000, Marlboro became the first municipality in New Jersey, and one of the first areas in the U.S., to ban cell phone use while driving, a ban that took effect in March 2001.

Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital

Opened in 1931, Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital was located on 400 acres (1.6 km2) in the eastern part of the township. It was opened with much fanfare as a “state of the art” psychiatric facility. It was closed 67 years later on June 30, 1998.  The land that the hospital was placed on was known as the “Big Woods Settlement”. It was largely farm land but there was a large distillery on the property which was torn down to make room for the hospital.  Additionally, due to the long residential stays at the hospital, a cemetery was also located near the hospital for the residents who died while in residence and were unclaimed. There is currently a large fence around the hospital as the fate of the hospital grounds is currently not settled. Some of the land was carved out for a Monmouth County Park system park, some of the ground was granted to the YMCA, and some of the ground disposition is not settled. The large hospital buildings remain currently although they will likely be torn down due to the huge cost to maintain them and their current state of decay.

40% Green

In June 2009, Marlboro Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MTMUA) deployed a 900 kW solar power array from Sharp that will enable the MTMUA to meet nearly 40% of its electricity needs with emissions-free solar-generated power. This is considered one of the largest of its kind in the East. This solar energy system will reduce New Jersey CO2 emissions by more than 4,200,000 lb (1,910,000 kg) annually; SO2 emissions by 28,000 lb (13,000 kg); and NO2 emissions by 18,000 lb (8,200 kg)., as well as eliminating significant amounts of mercury.  Additionally, Marlboro has been recognized as a Cool City by the Sierra Club. Marlboro is the 10th Monmouth County municipality to be named a Cool City.

Preston Airfield

Marlboro had an airport, Preston Airfield, which opened in 1954 and was in operation for almost 50 years. The airport was opened by Rhea Preston on his farm and consisted of two runways, one was 2,400 feet (730 m) as well as airplane hangars. It obtained a paved runway before 1972. Exact records are not known as to when it changed its name to Marlboro Airport. It is believed to be somewhere between 1975-1979. In 1979, the airport was described as having a single runway 2,200 feet (670 m) long. In 2000, the airport was purchased by Marlboro Holdings LLC owned by Anthony Spalliero who closed it with the intent to redevelop the airport into housing.  To foster the case for redevelopment, Spalliero donated land holdings he had near the airport to the township Board of Education. This donated land was then developed as the school Marlboro Early Learning Center – a school specialized for Kindergarten classes.

Following a $100,000 pay-off to former Mayor Matthew Scannapieco the planning board used the distance to the new school as justification to close the airfield citing a reference to a fatal plane crash in 1997.  Part of the airport has now been developed into Marlboro Memorial Cemetery which now borders the defunct airfield. Using Google Maps, you can still see the dis-used airfield. In the most current image, some of the landing strip is overgrown but a large yellow “X” is painted at each end of the runway to show it is no longer used. The cemetery can be seen on the side of the landing strip to the north. The Marlboro Early Learning Center is the “U” shaped gray building to the north-west of the runway with a large parking lot. The current image also shows the Henry Hudson Trail crossing the eastern edge of the runway.

Virgin Mary sighting

Starting in 1989, Joseph Januszkiewicz started reporting visions of the Virgin Mary near the blue spruce trees in his yard at exactly 9:28pm.  The visions started to appear six months after he returned from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Yugoslavia. Since that time as many as 8,000 pilgrims gathered on the first Sundays of June, July, August and September to pray, meditate and share in the vision.  On September 7, 1992 Bishop John Reiss gave Joseph Januszkiewicz permission to release his messages. However, in 1993, Catholic Diocese of Trenton ruled that nothing “truly miraculous” was happening at the Januszkiewicz home. However, in Nov. 2004, pictures were taken of a mist which shows up at the location of the vision.  In April 2005, Januszkiewicz claims that the visions had stopped and he reports there have been no sightings since.

Historic locations: The Marlboro Tree

Discovered in 1997 and located near one of the Big Brook tributaries, The Marlboro Tree, a massive black willow tree has been certified by the New Jersey Forest Service as a “State Champion” tree, signifying that it is the largest known tree of its species in the State of New Jersey, and the largest tree of any kind in Marlboro Township. It is about 152 years old and measures 76 feet (23 m) in height and 19′ 8″ in circumference. Five grown people must hold hands to fully encircle the tree.

Old Scots Burial Grounds

On the National Register of Historic Places since August 2001, Old Scots Burial Grounds, Marlboro – Circa 1705. Under active study, Archaeologist Gerard Scharfenberger is working to excavate the foundation of the original Old Scots Meeting House as well as any unmarked graves on the property. This is the original location where the congregation of the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church once met as well as part of the site where the Battle of Monmouth was fought.

Robertsville Elementary School

Originally built in 1832, Robertsville Elementary School was once a one-room schoolhouse that was built on the corner of Tennent and Union Hill Roads. It was remodeled in 1912 and used for special education purposes at that time. This building is still standing today. In 1968, the current school was constructed down the road. It is believed to have been named after Matthew Roberts, a prominent businessman in the day.

September 11 Memorial

Marlboro lost eight of its residents as the result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; a memorial has been built. It is located near the Marlboro Recreation Center. The memorial consists of a circle of flowering dogwoods, surrounding benches and a memorial fountain on the township municipal grounds. The memorial was badly damaged and is currently being renovated after a serious motor vehicle accident in 2009.

Battle of Monmouth

The Battle of Monmouth as well as a number of skirmishes were fought in and around Marlboro Township during the American Revolutionary War. Many area placards and signs can be found on the local roads to identify specific local events from the battle. The Marlboro Township area farms were often raided by the British for food supplies and local livestock taken from area farmers. Following defeat in this battle, the British retreat from the area to their ships in the bay. A local state park, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, nearby in Freehold Township and Manalapan Township provides local reference to this historic event.

Township historic markers

Many of the houses and buildings located in the area commonly known as the “center of town” (around the intersection of Route 79 and School Road), are older historic buildings. Many of them contain signs in front of them identifying the individual buildings and their historic significance. Among the buildings identified, one building was one of the first churches in the area (now a dance studio), another was the childhood home of Garret Augustus Hobart – 24th Vice President of the United States (now an art studio), and another was the old parsonage (now a hair cutting business).

Liberty Hall/Hardy Blacksmith Shop

Liberty Hall also went by the name of Alfred Hardy & Son Blacksmith Shop, is a small brick building. It is located on Route 79 in the small section of Morganville. The building was reportedly built around 1880. The building name can faintly be seen in scripted letters painted over the door of the building. The blacksmith shop operated into the early 20th century and was one of the last blacksmith operations in the area. Following the blacksmith shop closing, the building housed a machine shop until 1942 when a small defense contractor, Lavoie Laboratories bought it to produce radio gear for the military.  In 1966 Lavoie sold it to Entron Industries, a manufacturer of missile circuitry that occupied the building until the mid-1970s.  The building is currently in disrepair and appears abandoned.

Old Brick Church

This church was known as the Freehold-Middletown Dutch Congregation (now Old Brick Church.) The Dutch residents who attended this church names appear in the early records and grave stones dating from 1709 (early records were written in the Dutch language.) In the beginning when services began, circa 1699, the preachers would come across the bay in small boats from Long Island to provide the service to the people of the parish.

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