Editing Howell Township, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Howell Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on February 23, 1801, from portions of [[Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey|Shrewsbury Township]]. Portions of the township were taken to form [[Brick Township, New Jersey|Brick Township]] in the newly created [[Ocean County, New Jersey|Ocean County]] (February 15, 1850), [[Wall Township, New Jersey|Wall Township]] (March 7, 1851) and [[Farmingdale, New Jersey|Farmingdale]] (April 8, 1903).<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [https://nj.gov/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''], Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 180. Accessed May 29, 2024.</ref> The township was named for [[Richard Howell]], who served from 1794 to 1801 as the third [[Governor of New Jersey]].<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=16 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 2, 2015.</ref><ref>[[Henry Gannett|Gannett, Henry]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA162 ''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''], p. 162. [[United States Government Printing Office]], 1905. Accessed September 2, 2015.</ref>

Founded in 1822 by engineer and philanthropist [[James P. Allaire]], the [[Howell Works]] provided iron for [[Allaire Iron Works]], which was a leading supplier of iron in the 19th century.<ref>[https://allairevillage.org/history/ History], The Historic Village at Allaire, Accessed January 30, 2022. "Allaire State Park’s earliest recorded history of industrial activity was in the early 1750s. In 1822, James P. Allaire purchased the property, and named it the Howell Works to differentiate the site from his Allaire Works in New York."</ref> [[Allaire Village]] was a bustling [[mill town]] at the height of the mining operations and it has been preserved as [[Allaire State Park]], which is in Howell Township and [[Wall Township, New Jersey|Wall Township]].<ref>[https://www.njparksandforests.org/parks/allairestatepark.html Allaire State Park], [[New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection]]. Accessed January 30, 2022.</ref>

Some scenes for the ''[[War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds]]'' 2005 remake were filmed here, and a neighborhood called Ardena Acres was recreated as a set and left standing in [[Universal Studios Hollywood]].<ref>O'Sullivan, Eleanor. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/asbury-park-press-martians-will-be-landi/135496054/ "Martians Among Us: Howell Is Ready For Its Close-Up"], ''[[Asbury Park Press]]'', May 15, 2005. Accessed November 20, 2023, via [[Newspapers.com]]. "Howell residents were delighted to see a big-time movie star and director just before Thanksgiving - Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, who were in town shooting scenes for the upcoming release "War of the Worlds."... The Ardena Acres development of Howell and a nearby farm were used by Spielberg in updating Wells' 19th-century story..."</ref>

In June 2017, two separate tornadoes, both rated EF0 on the [[Enhanced Fujita scale]], struck minutes and miles apart. The first one struck the Fort Plains area, damaging a [[Home Depot]], [[Chase Bank]], a strip mall, and a local ice cream parlor. The second one struck a park in the Oak Glen area.<ref>Cohen, Noah. [http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2017/06/2_tornadoes_confirmed_in_nj_town_weather_service_s.html "2 tornadoes confirmed in N.J. town, weather service says"], NJ Advance Media for [[NJ.com]], June 25, 2017. Accessed June 28, 2017. "Two tornadoes touched down in Howell early Saturday, uprooting numerous trees, pushing cars into each other and ripping away part of a bank roof, according to the National Weather Service. Extreme weather first hit at 7:21 a.m. with another twister reported six minutes later, a report from the weather service said. Maximum wind speeds reached 75 miles per hour."</ref>

Roughly six years later in [[Tornado outbreak of March 31 – April 1, 2023|April 2023]], a tornado rated EF-2 struck Howell and neighboring [[Jackson Township, New Jersey|Jackson Township]] near the Aldrich Road area.<ref>McDaniel, Pat.[https://patch.com/new-jersey/howell/howell-tornado-hit-aldrich-ramtown-areas-135-mph-officials "Howell Tornado Hit Aldrich Area First In 1.4-Mile Path: Officials"], ''Patch.com'', April 3, 2023. Accessed April 6, 2023.</ref> The [[National Weather Service]] confirmed that the tornado was 50 yards wide and 1.4 miles in length. It was one of the strongest tornadoes to have hit the state, as it was part of four separate powerful tornadoes that had also impacted the state that same day.<ref>Oglesby, Amanda. [https://www.app.com/story/weather/2023/04/03/four-tornadoes-hit-nj-in-one-night-howell-jackson-sea-girt-cinnaminson/70073616007/ "4 tornadoes hit NJ: What we know about damage in Howell, Jackson, Sea Girt, Cinnaminson"], ''Asbury Park Press'', April 3, 2023. Accessed April 6, 2023.</ref>