Editing Princeton, New Jersey (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Map of the Battle of Princeton, NJ January 2-3, 1777.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A battlefield map for the [[Battle of Princeton]], 1777]]
[[File:Nassau-hall-princeton.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Nassau Hall]], which briefly served as the U.S. capitol in 1783<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/Nine_Capitals_of_the_United_States.htm The Nine Capitals of the United States] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320084755/https://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/Nine_Capitals_of_the_United_States.htm |date=March 20, 2016 }}. United States Senate Historical Office. Accessed June 9, 2005. Based on Fortenbaugh, Robert, ''The Nine Capitals of the United States'', York, PA: Maple Press, 1948.</ref>
]]
[[File:Princeton VII.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Princeton University]]'s campus, December 2016]]
[[File:Princeton X.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Nassau Street at night, 2016]]
[[File:Princeton I.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Princeton University]]'s campus was used as one of the sets for the 2004 film ''[[Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle]]''.]]
The [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were the earliest identifiable inhabitants of the Princeton area.

Europeans settled into the area in the late part of the 17th century, arriving from Delaware to settle [[West Jersey]], and from New York to settle [[East Jersey]], with the site destined to become Princeton being amid the wilderness between these two boroughs.<ref name=schenck>{{cite book  |title=An historical account of the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, N.J. : being a sermon preached on Thanksgiving Day, December 12, 1850  |date=1850  |last=Schenck  |first=William Edward  |publisher=Printed by John T. Robinson, Princeton, N.J. |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalaccoun00sche/page/6/mode/2up  }}</ref> The first European to find his home in the boundaries of the future municipality was Henry Greenland. He built his house in 1683 along with a tavern, where representatives of West and East Jersey met to set the boundaries between the two provinces.<ref name=BriefHistory>[https://www.princetonnj.gov/resources/historic-princeton A Brief History of Princeton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806132609/https://www.princetonnj.gov/resources/historic-princeton |date=August 6, 2020 }}, Princeton, New Jersey. Accessed November 29, 2019. "In 1683 a New Englander named Henry Greenland built a house on the highway which is believed to be the first by a European within the present municipal boundaries. He opened it as a 'house of accommodation' or tavern.... East Jersey and West Jersey representatives met in 1683 at Greenland's tavern to establish their common boundary."</ref> Greenland's son-in-law Daniel Brimson inhabited the area by 1690, and left property in a will dated 1696.<ref name=schenck />

Then, Princeton was known only as part of nearby [[Stony Brook (Millstone River)|Stony Brook]].<ref>{{cite book  |title=History of Princeton and its institutions, etc. Vol. I  |date=1879  |last=Hageman  |first=John Frelinghuysen  |publisher=J.B. Lippincott & co., Philadelphia  |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofprincet01hage  }}</ref><ref>{{cite book  |title=History of Princeton and its institutions, etc. Vol. II  |date=1879   |last=Hageman  |first=John Frelinghuysen  |publisher=J.B. Lippincott & co., Philadelphia  |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofprincet01hage  }}</ref> Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, a native of the town, attested in his private journal on December 28, 1758, that Princeton was named in 1724 upon the making/construction of the first house in the area by James Leonard,<ref name="Hageman" /> who first referred to the community as ''Princetown'' when describing the location of his large estate in his diary.<ref name="Woodward">Woodward, E.M.; Hageman, John F. [https://archive.org/details/historyofburling02wood ''History of Burlington and Mercer counties. New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of their Pioneers and Prominent Men''], Everts & Peck, Philadelphia, 1883.</ref> The community was  later known by a variety of names, including: ''Princetown'', ''Prince's Town'' and finally ''Princeton''.<ref name="Hageman">Hageman, John Frelinghuysen. [https://books.google.com/books/about/History_of_Princeton_and_Its_Institution.html?id=ADwVAAAAYAAJ ''History of Princeton and its Institutions, vol. 1 of 2'', J.B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1879.]</ref> The name Princeton was first used in 1724 and became common within the subsequent decade.<ref name=BriefHistory/> Although there is no official documentary backing, the municipality is said to be named after [[William III of England|Prince William of Orange]].<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=27 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151115082401/http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=27 |date=November 15, 2015 }}, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 21, 2015.</ref> Another theory suggests that the name came from a large land-owner named Henry Prince, the son-in-law of a well-known English merchant, but no evidence backs this contention.<ref name="Hageman" /> A royal prince seems a more likely eponym for the settlement, as three nearby towns had names for royalty: [[Kingston, New Jersey|Kingston]], Queenstown (in the vicinity of the intersection of Nassau and Harrison Streets) and Princessville (Lawrence Township).<ref name="Woodward" />

Princeton was described by William Edward Schenck in 1850 as having attained "no very considerable size" until the establishment of the College of New Jersey in the town.<ref name="schenck" /> When Richard Stockton, one of the founders of the township, died in 1709 he left his estate to his sons, who helped to expand property and the population. Based on the [[1880 United States census]], the population of Princeton comprised 3,209 persons (not including students).<ref name="Woodward" /> Local population has expanded from the nineteenth century. According to the [[2010 United States census|2010 census]], Princeton Borough had 12,307 inhabitants, while Princeton Township had 16,265.<ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/1600000US3460900 DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 from the 2010 Demographic Profile Data for Princeton Borough, New Jersey] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200213090204/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/1600000US3460900 |date=February 13, 2020 }}, [[United States Census Bureau]]. Accessed September 21, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0600000US3402160915 DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 from the 2010 Demographic Profile Data for Princeton Township, New Jersey] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200212101957/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0600000US3402160915 |date=February 12, 2020 }}, [[United States Census Bureau]]. Accessed September 21, 2015.</ref> The numbers have become stagnant; since the arrival of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1756, the town's population spikes every year during the fall and winter and drops significantly over the course of the summer.<ref name="Woodward" />

===Revolution===
In the pivotal [[Battle of Princeton]] in January 1777, [[George Washington]] forced the British to evacuate southern New Jersey.<ref name=BriefHistory/> After the victory, Princeton hosted the first Legislature under the State Constitution to decide the State's seal, governor and organization of its government. In addition, two of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence—[[Richard Stockton (Continental Congressman)|Richard Stockton]] and [[John Witherspoon]]—lived in Princeton.<ref name="Woodward" /> Princetonians honored their citizens' legacy by naming two streets in the downtown area after them.

On January 10, 1938, Henry Ewing Hale called for a group of citizens to establish a "Historical Society of Princeton". Later the Bainbridge House, constructed in 1766 by Job Stockton, would be dedicated for this purpose. Previously the house was used once for a meeting of [[Continental Congress]] in 1783, a general office, and as the Princeton Public Library. The House is owned by Princeton University and is leased to the Princeton Historical Society for one dollar per year.<ref>[https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/story/new-life-historic-bainbridge-house "New Life for Historic Bainbridge House"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805201812/https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/story/new-life-historic-bainbridge-house |date=August 5, 2020 }}, [[Princeton University Art Museum]], June 2019. Accessed November 29, 2019. "The origins of Bainbridge House date to 1766, when Job Stockton (1734–1771)—a wealthy tanner, grandson of an early English settler to the area, and cousin to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton—built it along the primary thoroughfare of the young village."</ref> The house has kept its original staircase, flooring and paneled walls. Around 70% of the house has been unaltered. Aside from safety features such as wheelchair access and electrical work, the house has been restored to its original appearance and character.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

===Government history===
During the most stirring events in its history, Princeton was a wide spot in the road; the boundary between [[Somerset County, New Jersey|Somerset County]] and [[Middlesex County, New Jersey|Middlesex County]] ran right through Princeton, along the high road between New York and Philadelphia, now Nassau Street. When Mercer County was formed in 1838, part of [[West Windsor Township, New Jersey|West Windsor Township]] was added to the portion of [[Montgomery Township, New Jersey|Montgomery Township]] which was included in the new county, and made into Princeton Township; the area between the southern boundary of the former Borough and the [[Delaware and Raritan Canal]] was added to Princeton Township in 1853. Princeton Borough became a separate municipality in 1894.<ref name=Story/>

In the early nineteenth century, [[Borough (New Jersey)|New Jersey boroughs]] had been quasi-independent subdivisions chartered within existing townships that did not have full autonomy. Princeton Borough received such a charter in 1813, as part of Montgomery and West Windsor Townships; it continued to be part of Princeton Township until the Borough Act of 1894, which required each township to form a single school district; rather than do so, Princeton Borough petitioned to be separated. (The two Princetons combined their public school systems in the decades before municipal consolidation.) Two minor boundary changes united the then site of the Princeton Hospital and of the Princeton Regional High School inside the Borough, in 1928 and 1951 respectively.<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. See p. 23 and 164, which cites the Acts of the NJ Legislature 1843, p. 67; 1853, p. 361, for the changes of those years. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref> See the [[Princeton, New Jersey#Government and politics|section on "government and politics"]] for more details about the 2011 merger of borough and township.