Editing Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey (section)

==History==
[[File:Old Shrewsbury Township Hall.jpg|thumb|left|Original Shrewsbury Township Hall, later became the Red Bank Borough Hall, now in use by the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton]]]]
Shrewsbury was part of the Navesink Patent or [[Monmouth Tract]] granted soon after the creation of [[East Jersey]] in 1665.<ref>[http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/pdf/proprietors.pdf Middletown and Shrewsbury - Using the Records of East and West Jersey Proprietors], State of [[New Jersey]]. Accessed June 25, 2017. "Middletown & Shrewsbury, 1665 (a.k.a. Navesink or Monmouth Patent) – In April 1665, twelve men, principally from Long Island, obtained a triangular tract from Governor Nicolls extending from Sandy Hook to the mouth of the Raritan River, up the river approximately twenty-five miles, then southwest to Barnegat Bay. The area was first known as Navesink, then Middletown and Shrewsbury County, and finally in 1683 as Monmouth County. Founders were mostly Baptists and Quakers. Purchasers at Middletown and Shrewsbury subscribed £3 or £4, which entitled them to 120 acres with additional increments for wives and children, and 60 acres for each servant. As many as eighty families arrived from Long Island, Rhode Island and Massachusetts during the first years. Quaker meetings were established by 1670. Settlers understood their patent to have endowed them with a right of government."</ref>

When it was formed in 1693, Shrewsbury Township covered an area of almost {{convert|1000|sqmi|km2}}, extending to the north to the [[Navesink River]], south to include all of present-day [[Ocean County, New Jersey|Ocean County]], east to the [[Atlantic Ocean]] and west to the present-day border of Monmouth County. It retained its size and scope until 1750, when [[Stafford Township, New Jersey|Stafford Township]] was formed, taking away most of present-day Ocean County.<ref>[[Alan Karcher|Karcher, Alan J.]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=o0BmBWloogcC&pg=PA34 "New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness"], via [[Google Books]], p. 34 ff. [[Rutgers University Press]], 1998. {{ISBN|0-8135-2566-7}}. Accessed November 16, 2008.</ref> The [[Parker Homestead]], one of the [[List of the oldest buildings in New Jersey|oldest buildings in state]], was built by early settlers to the region.

What is now Shrewsbury Township was originally formed on October 31, 1693, and was created as a township by the Township Act of 1798 of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on February 21, 1798.

=== Creation of new municipalities ===
Over the centuries, portions of the township have been taken to form [[Stafford Township, New Jersey|Stafford Township]] (March 3, 1750), Dover Township (March 1, 1768, now [[Toms River, New Jersey|Toms River Township]]), [[Howell Township, New Jersey|Howell Township]] (February 23, 1801), [[Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey|Ocean Township]] (February 24, 1849), Atlantic Township (February 18, 1847, now [[Colts Neck Township, New Jersey|Colts Neck]]), [[Red Bank, New Jersey|Red Bank]] (March 17, 1870), [[Eatontown, New Jersey|Eatontown]] (April 4, 1873), [[Rumson, New Jersey|Rumson]] (May 15, 1907),<ref>Honeyman, Abraham Van Doren. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nOkkAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA257 ''Index-analysis of the Statutes of New Jersey, 1896-1909: Together with References to All Acts, and Parts of Acts, in the 'General Statutes' and Pamphlet Laws Expressly Repealed: and the Statutory Crimes of New Jersey During the Same Period''], p. 257. New Jersey Law Journal Publishing Company, 1910. Accessed October 3, 2015.</ref> [[Fair Haven, New Jersey|Fair Haven]] (March 28, 1912), [[Little Silver, New Jersey|Little Silver]] (March 19, 1923), [[Shrewsbury, New Jersey|Shrewsbury borough]] (March 22, 1926) and New Shrewsbury (April 15, 1950, now [[Tinton Falls, New Jersey|Tinton Falls]]). The township was named for [[Shrewsbury]], England.<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=29 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed October 3, 2015.</ref>

The remaining land was formerly owned by the Government and called [[Camp Vail]], a complex of 265 homes constructed for families of [[Fort Monmouth]] employees.<ref name=Glance>[https://www.townshipofshrewsbury.com/uploads/3/4/2/9/34299549/2016_township_at-a-glance.pdf Township at a Glance], Township of Shrewsbury. Accessed February 5, 2025. "After several municipalities seceded from the Township to create their own municipality (e.g. Red Bank, Eatontown, and Shrewsbury Borough), the U.S. Army, in cooperation with the Federal Public Housing Authority, bought the remaining land in Shrewsbury Township and constructed 265 homes during World War II (accommodating the influx of personnel assigned to Fort Monmouth)."</ref> After [[World War II]] the government planned to close the site but the established families, with nowhere else to go, purchased the land from the Army with the help of Ann Switek who arranged to maintain the Original Township Charter which had been abandoned. Ann Switek was then elected Town Clerk of Shrewsbury Township and maintained that post for close to 50 years. Camp Vail became [[Alfred Vail]] Mutual Association, one of New Jersey's first [[cooperative housing]] entities. Following the end of federal subsidies to Shrewsbury Township schools and services residents of the community outside the Vail Homes felt that the residents in the homes received undue benefits. They attempted to force the Vail Homes out of Shrewsbury Township but were unable to. They instead seceded from Shrewsbury to form New Shrewsbury which was later renamed Tinton Falls.<ref>Karcher, Alan J. New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness. Press, 1998.</ref><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. 185. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref>