Editing Pennsauken Township, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Pennsauken Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on February 18, 1892, from portions of the now-defunct [[Stockton Township, New Jersey|Stockton 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. 108. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref>

The exact origin of the name Pennsauken is unclear, but it probably derives from the language of the [[Lenape|Lenni Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], who once occupied the area from "{{lang|unm|Pindasenauken}}", the [[Unami language|Lenape language]] term for tobacco pouch.<ref>[http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/SPECIAL20/610190426/-1/special20 "Pennsauken: Centuries of growth"], ''[[Courier-Post]]'', October 19, 2006. Accessed April 9, 2015. "Pindasenakun, the early version of the name Pennsauken, means tobacco pouch, according to the Lenape Indians."</ref> Alternatively, the "Penn" in the township's name refers to [[William Penn]], while "sauk" is a water inlet or outlet.<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=25 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 16, 2015.</ref>

Pennsauken was home to America's first [[Drive-in theater|drive-in movie theater]], created in 1933 with the opening of the Camden Drive-In in Pennsauken.<ref>Strauss, Robert. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/nyregion/drive-theater-tries-comeback-looking-for-few-hundred-adventurous-moviegoers.html "The Drive-In Theater Tries a Comeback; Looking for a Few Hundred Adventurous Moviegoers"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 23, 2004. Accessed July 24, 2012. "The nation's first drive-in theater was built by the Hollingshead family along the tawdry Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken, N.J., in 1933."</ref> It featured the comedy ''Wives Beware'', released in the theaters as ''Two White Arms''.

For 50 years, the township was the home to the Pennsauken Mart, a large multi-vendor indoor market, which was closed in January 2006 to make way for a sports arena/conference complex, however, that did not materialize. Most of the vendors relocated to a marketplace in [[Willingboro Township, New Jersey|Willingboro Township]].<ref>Strauss, Robert. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/nyregion/final-days-for-the-pennsauken-mart.html "Final Days for the Pennsauken Mart"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 8, 2006. Accessed August 28, 2023. "But at the end of the month, Mr. Kramer will be moving his stool, along with the polyester and cotton, the jeans and the shirts, out of Pennsauken for good. The Mart, a downscale 50-year-old shopping barn -- a precursor and perhaps progenitor of the mall culture that came just after it -- is closing, the victim of redevelopment."</ref> A luxury apartment complex was completed on the site in 2018.