Editing Mount Ephraim, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Mount Ephraim was authorized to incorporate as a borough by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on March 23, 1926, from portions of the now-defunct [[Centre Township, New Jersey|Centre Township]], and then incorporated following a referendum on April 28, 1926, being the last borough to dissolve the former township. Acts authorizing the creation of the boroughs of [[Bellmawr, New Jersey|Bellmawr]], [[Runnemede, New Jersey|Runnemede]] and [[Lawnside, New Jersey|Lawnside]] were also passed during the same two-day period.<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. 107. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref> The borough was named for Ephraim Albertson, who owned a tavern in the area in the early 1800s.<ref>[http://www.mountephraim-nj.com/history.html A Brief History], Borough of Mount Ephraim. Accessed September 8, 2015. "Originally a colonial settlement, the town Mount Ephraim came into popularity by a man named Ephraim Albertson, who owned the Public House, also called the Old Tavern, a popular meeting place, at Black Horse Pike & Kings Highway, from 1800 to 1825."</ref><ref>Prowell, George Reeser. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FPhHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA711 ''The History of Camden County, New Jersey''], p. 711. Richards, 1886. Accessed September 8, 2015. "A public house has been kept in this locality from a period so remote that the memory of the oldest citizen does not reach it. The first keeper is not remembered, but it is believed to have been Albertson from whom the village obtained its name and who owned the land."</ref>

In a 1981 decision in ''Schad v. Mount Ephraim'', the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], in a decision authored for the majority by Associate Justice [[Byron White]], the court decided by a 7–2 margin to overturn the convictions of the two owners of a bookstore where there was nude dancing, despite a prohibition against all forms of live entertainment in the borough's zoning ordinance. The decision cited the First Amendment rights of the storeowners.<ref>[[Linda Greenhouse|Greenhouse, Linda]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/02/us/high-court-rejects-ban-on-live-entertainment.html "High Court Rejects Ban On Live Entertainment"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 2, 1981. Accessed January 20, 2022. "The Court, voting 7 to 2, reversed the convictions of two owners of a so-called adult bookstore in Mount Ephraim, N.J., who were fined $300 for exhibiting a live nude dancer in a glass booth in their shop. While the bookstore was licensed to show films of nude dancers on coin-operated machines, Mount Ephraim's zoning ordinance banned all live entertainment.... While today's opinion, by Associate Justice Byron R. White, stopped short of defining the permissible limits of zoning regulation, it rejected the New Jersey courts' premise that zoning laws exist apart from First Amendment considerations."</ref><ref>Hudson Jr., David L. [https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/24/schad-v-mount-ephraim "''Schad v. Mount Ephraim'' (1981)"], ''The First Amendment Encyclopedia''. Accessed January 20, 2022. "The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in ''Schad v. Mount Ephraim'', 452 U.S. 61 (1981), that a municipality cannot impose a complete ban on live entertainment, including nonobscene nude dancing."</ref>

In January 2014, New Jersey State Senate President [[Stephen M. Sweeney]] put forward a proposal which was intended to lower real estate taxes in the state and cut state expenses by merging many of the states 566 municipalities. Mount Ephraim was then the 29th largest town in Camden County, so it is very likely that the town would have been merged with neighboring municipalities to cut costs, share expenses, reduce bureaucracy, share resources, and reduce the burden in the taxpayers and the state itself. Mount Ephraim was formerly part of Centre Township, which included all of the neighboring communities, and it is possible that the name may be used again in the future if the merger proposal goes forward.<ref>[https://www.nj.com/mercer/2014/01/nj_sen_president_stephen_sweeney_to_press_plan_to_get_towns_to_merge_share_services.html "NJ Sen. President Stephen Sweeney to press plan to get towns to merge, share services"], ''[[The Times (Trenton)|The Times]]'', January 30, 2014. Accessed September 18, 2019.</ref>