Editing National Park, New Jersey (section)

==History==
===American Revolutionary War===
{{Further|Battle of Red Bank|Fort Mercer}}
[[File:Red Bank Battle Monument, 1906, National Park, NJ.jpg|thumb|The Red Bank Battle Monument, dedicated in 1906]]
In 1777, during the [[American Revolutionary War]], the [[Continental Army]] under command of [[George Washington]] constructed two forts on the [[Delaware River]] to block the approach to [[Philadelphia]]: [[Fort Mifflin]] on the [[Pennsylvania]] side and [[Fort Mercer]] on the [[New Jersey]] side, which is now National Park. The fort was named in honor of [[Brigadier General]] [[Hugh Mercer]], who died earlier that year in the [[Battle of Princeton]]. A park, monument, and museum commemorate Fort Mifflin on its original site.

On October 22, 1777, in the [[Battle of Red Bank]], an attack by 900 [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian troops]], serving under [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British]] [[Major General]] [[William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe|William Howe]], who then occupied [[Philadelphia]], was repelled, with heavy losses on the Hessian side, including the death of their commander, [[Colonel]] [[Carl von Donop|Carl Emil Kurt von Donop]], by the 600 [[Continental Army]] defenders under Colonel [[Christopher Greene]]. After the loss of [[Fort Mifflin]], Fort Mercer was abandoned without a fight when [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Lord Charles Cornwallis]] landed 2,000 British troops nearby on November 18.<ref>[http://www.nationalparknj.com/about.htm About National Park], Borough of National Park. Accessed November 10, 2019.</ref><ref>[http://www.gloucestercountynj.gov/depts/p/parks/parkgolf/redbank/ Red Bank Battlefield Park], [[Gloucester County, New Jersey]]. Accessed November 10, 2019.</ref>

===19th century===
In 1895, the area began to be commercially developed as a religious retreat for members of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] and called National Park on the Delaware. The founder, the Rev. James E. Lake, also created [[Ocean City, New Jersey]].<ref>Shamlin, Wilford S. [https://archive.today/20130131143354/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courierpostonline/access/1785557741.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+01,+2005&author=WILFORD+S+SHAMLIN&pub=Courier+Post&desc=National+Park+has+green,+but+no+park&pqatl=google "National Park has green, but no park"], ''[[Courier-Post]]'', July 1, 2005. Accessed November 7, 2012. "Originally named National Park on the Delaware River, National Park was incorporated on April 15, 1902. But it was several years earlier, in 1895, that the Rev. James E. Lake, who also founded Ocean City, and others incorporated The National Park Association."</ref>

===20th century===
National Park was formally established as a borough by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on April 15, 1902, from portions of [[West Deptford Township, New Jersey|West Deptford Township]].<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. 140. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref> The town's name likely originated as a reference to the county park at [[Red Bank Battlefield]].<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=22 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 9, 2015.</ref>