Old Bridge Township, NJ

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History

The first inhabitants of the area known as Old Bridge, were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans. Those who settled in Old Bridge were known as the Unami, or “people down the river.”  They, like many people today, migrated to the shore along the Raritan each summer from their hunting grounds in the north. When the English gained control from the Dutch in 1664, the state was divided into two provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey. In 1682, the general assembly of East Jersey defined the boundaries of Middlesex County as containing all plantations on both sides of the Raritan River, as far as Cheesequake Harbor to the east, then southwest to the Provincial line. This Southwest line is the border of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties and the Township’s southern border.

Thomas Warne one of the original twenty-four proprietors of East Jersey was listed as a landowner of this area. His son is said to have been the earliest white resident residing in the Cheesequake area in 1883. John and Susannah Brown were granted a 1,000 acre land grant from the King of England in 1737. They called the area Brownville, and today this part of town is now known as Browntown.  Other important proprietors of Old Bridge were the Bowne, Morgan, Letts, Brown, Tone, Herbert and Cottrell families. Their names date back as some of the first landowner’s of Old Bridge.

In 1684, South Amboy Township was formed. At that time, it covered an area that now consists of the Townships of Monroe and Old Bridge and the Boroughs of Sayreville and South Amboy. The Township comprises 42 square miles (109 km²) that separated from South Amboy on March 2, 1869, and was called Madison Township.  In 1975, the name was changed by referendum to the Township of Old Bridge. The purpose of doing this was to formulate just one postal designations and zip code for the township and to differentiate the township from the Borough of Madison, in Morris County.  “Old Bridge derives its name from the fact that the first bridge spanning the South River was built there, and as other bridges were built across the river the first one became known as “the Old Bridge.” Prior to that, it was known as South River Bridge.”

Census Bureau map of Old Bridge Township, New Jersey

Coordinates: 40°24′48″N 74°18′25″W