Editing Rahway, New Jersey (section)

==History==
[[File:Rahway lib.jpg|thumb|The old Rahway library. Built in 1869, the building is now home to an art gallery, The Gallery Space.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.galleryspacerahway.com/|title=Art Gallery &#124; Gallery Space Rahway &#124; United States|website=Gallery Space}}</ref>]]

===Indigenous presence===
Rahway and the surrounding area were once the home of the [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], and tradition states that the city was named after Rahwack (or Ra-wa-rah), a local tribal chief.<ref name=EB11>"Rahway" from the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]] of 1911, accessed January 3, 2007.</ref><ref>[[Henry Gannett|Gannett, Henry]]. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n24 <!-- pg=25 --> ''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''], p. 25. [[United States Government Printing Office]], 1905. Accessed September 21, 2015.</ref><ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=27 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 21, 2015.</ref>

===English colonization===
Formal European colonization began in 1664 with the purchase by the English from the Lenape of the [[Elizabethtown Tract]], which encompassed lands from the mouth of the [[Raritan River]] and included all of present-day [[Union County, New Jersey|Union County]] as well as parts of [[Somerset County, New Jersey|Somerset]], [[Middlesex County, New Jersey|Middlesex]], [[Morris County, New Jersey|Morris]] and [[Essex County, New Jersey|Essex]] counties. The early settlers of Elizabethtown and Woodbridge were the founders of Rahway which began as outlying acreage and plantations.<ref name=HoR>[https://www.cityofrahway.org/about-rahway/the-history-of-rahway/ "The History of Rahway"], The City of Rahway, accessed 29 July 2020.</ref> The [[Robinson Plantation House|Seventeenth Century Clark House]] is one of the [[List of the oldest buildings in New Jersey|oldest buildings in the state]].<ref>[http://www.drrobinsonmuseum.org/History.html History], Dr. Wm. Robinson Plantation Museum. Accessed May 22, 2013.</ref>

By the 18th century, Rahway consisted of four distinct communities: Upper Rahway, Bridge Town (or Lower Rahway), Leesville, and Milton.<ref name=HoR />

===Revolutionary War and the Battle of Spanktown===
Rahway saw action during the [[American Revolutionary War]] because of its proximity to [[Staten Island]], [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabethtown]] and [[Perth Amboy, New Jersey|Perth Amboy]]. In January 1777, rebels were victorious against the British in the [[Battle of Spanktown]], which resulted in the death of some 100 British troops.<ref>[https://www.cityofrahway.org/203/About-Rahway History], City of Rahway. Accessed May 20, 2022. "In January 1777, the Battle of Spanktown was fought on St. Georges Avenue in the vicinity of Robinson's Branch and the North Branch of the Rahway River. The battle lasted twelve hours with the rebels getting the best of the British, who lost almost one hundred men."</ref> The battle was named this after Rahway's original name given to it by the first settlers, Spanktown,<ref name=EB11/> which is said to have been chosen "because an early settler publicly took his spouse across his knee and chastised her".<ref>Staff. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1897/02/21/117897889.pdf "The Battle of Spanktown; Early History of Rahway and Its Environs"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 21, 1897. Accessed November 20, 2012. "The Rahway of to-day is what was known in the last century as Spanktown, the name having been given because an early settler publicly took his spouse across his knee and chastised her."</ref> Spanktown was mentioned in Revolutionary War military dispatches from January 5, 1777, through March 14, 1782.<ref>[https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/battles.pdf ''Battles and Skirmishes in New Jersey of the American Revolution.''] By David C. Munn, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976. pp. 99-100. Accessed 29 July 2020.</ref>

The [[Merchants and Drovers Tavern]] is located at the corner of St. Georges and Westfield Avenues. The earliest buildings at the site date to 1795 and the property remains one of Rahway's most prominent historical landmarks.<ref>[http://www.merchantsanddrovers.org/about-us/ About Us], The Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum. Accessed May 20, 2022.</ref> [[George Washington]] visited Rahway during his travel to [[New York City]] prior to his presidential inauguration in 1789. A marker across the street from the tavern reads:<ref>[http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=811 Tavern - Merchants & Drovers Tavern, Rahway] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723205840/http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=811 |date=2013-07-23 }}, Art & Architecture of New Jersey, [[Stockton University]]. Accessed May 20, 2012.</ref>

:''Here, on April 23, 1789, on his way to New York City, Washington was received by troops from Elizabethtown and Newark. He was entertained at the inn kept by Samuel Smith by gentlemen of the town.''

Following the Revolution, Rahway became the home of the first national mint to create a coin bearing the inscription ''[[E pluribus unum]]''.<ref>Hill, Raven. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130723201925/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/mycentraljersey/access/1831862381.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+13%2C+2003&author=RAVEN+HILL&pub=Home+News+Tribune&desc=Colonial+coin+found+at+old+home+in+Franklin&pqatl=google "Colonial coin found at old home in Franklin"], ''[[Home News Tribune]]'', April 13, 2003. Accessed May 20, 2012. "It turned out to be a New Jersey Copper, minted in Rahway or Morristown between 1786 and 1790, the first coins to bear the national motto, 'E Pluribus Unum.'"</ref> A [[United States Post Office]] established in Rahway was one of only six in the entire state in 1791.

Various historical place markers in town document Rahway Revolutionary War history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/rahway_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm|title=Rahway, New Jersey Revolutionary War Sites &#124; Rahway Historic Sites|website=www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com}}</ref>

===Stagecoach era and corporate growth===
[[File:Wheatena plant.jpg|thumb|The [[Wheatena]] breakfast cereal plant in 1923, with the [[Rahway River]] at left. The brand promoted a popular radio series starring [[Raymond Knight (radio)|Raymond Knight]]: "Wheatenaville, the Rahway factory complex, transformed into ''Wheatenaville,'' the 1930s radio serial about a perfect family in a perfect town that ate Wheatena for strength and prosperity."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wheatena-the-new-jersey-cereal-so-popular-it-had-its-own-radio-serial|title=Wheatena: The New Jersey Cereal So Popular It Had Its Own Radio Serial|first=Kat|last=Long|date=January 18, 2016|website=Atlas Obscura}}</ref>]]
[[File:Nat world frontispiece.jpg|thumb|The [[title page]] of a work by [[Henry Drummond (evangelist)|Henry Drummond]] and published by the Mershon Company of Rahway, which began as bookbinder W. L. Mershon & Co. in 1877 and became a book publisher in the 1890s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/publishers/mershon/MERSHON.HTM|title=The LUCILE Project - Mershon Company editions of LUCILE|website=sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu}}</ref>]]
Rahway grew due to its location along the major stagecoach and railroad lines between [[New York City]] and [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]. The navigable [[Rahway River]], which flows through the city, also aided the city's commercial growth.

As immigrants from [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], [[Ireland]] and [[Germany]] streamed into what was then Rahway Township in the 1850s, Rahway became incorporated as a city by an act of the State Legislature on April 19, 1858, from portions of [[Rahway Township, New Jersey|Rahway Township]] in Union and [[Woodbridge Township, New Jersey|Woodbridge Township]] in [[Middlesex County, New Jersey|Middlesex County]]. In 1860, the portion of Rahway that had been part of Middlesex County was transferred to Union. On March 13, 1861, the remainder of Rahway Township became part of Rahway City. [[Clark, New Jersey|Clark Township]] was formed from portions of the city on March 23, 1864.<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. 194. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref>

The first municipal elections for the mayor and council were conducted on April 19, 1858, and the council held its first meeting on May 3, 1858. The city's police department and its initial group of four constables were created at that first council meeting.<ref>[http://www.rahwaypolice.com/history.htm History] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130615234633/http://www.rahwaypolice.com/history.htm |date=2013-06-15 }}, Rahway Police. Accessed May 22, 2013. "The Rahway Police Department was officially established on May 3, 1858, at the first meeting of the city council."</ref>

The city became home to dozens of major manufacturers, including the [[Regina Company|Regina Music Box Company]], [[Wheatena]], Mershon Bros. and, most importantly, [[Merck & Co.]], which was established in Rahway in 1903, when [[George W. Merck]] moved his small chemical company to Rahway from New York City.<ref>Staff. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RTBDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Va0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=1637,1962739&dq=merck+rahway+1903&hl=en "Suitable Site: Albany Merck Plant Targeted for Growth"], ''[[The Albany Herald]]'', June 14, 1987. "The company launched a manufacturing operation in Rahway, in 1903 where the company headquarters is located today."</ref>

===Postwar era===
The national decline in industry after [[World War II]] led to the closure of most of Rahway's major manufacturing facilities (except for Merck) and a general deterioration of the city's central business district.<ref name=IJ2022>Hennelly, Bob. [https://www.insidernj.com/could-rahway-upswing-malinowskis-lifeline/ "Could Rahway on the Upswing be Malinowski’s Lifeline?"], Insider NJ, April 4, 2022. Accessed April 6, 2022.</ref>

===Revitalization===
[[File:Regina Music Box Company in Rahway.jpg|thumb|The [[Regina Company|Regina Music Box Company]] at 54 Cherry Street Rahway in 1895. The former factory building has been converted to the Heritage Square condos.]]
Beginning in the late 1990s, the city launched a plan to revitalize the downtown area and authorized the construction of hundreds of new market-rate housing units, a hotel, art galleries and additional retail space.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/dr-downtown-curing-what-ails-new-jersey-main-streets/|title=In Rahway, Dr. Downtown Cures What Ails New Jersey Main Streets &#124; WNYC &#124; New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News|website=WNYC}}</ref>