Ewing Township
Mercer County, New Jersey
Villages and Hamlets.
EWINGVILLE located in the northeast part of the township at the crossing of the Hopewell and Ewing turnpike and the highway which crosses the township in an east and west course, about midway between the centre and the northern boundary, and contains a hotel, a schoolhouse, a blacksmith-shop, and seven dwellings.
EWING. started as a small village on the road from Ewingville and Birmingham at its intersection with the Scotch road. Formerly known as Carleton
GREENSBURG (now Wilburtha) located in the west part of the township, south of the center, on the canal feeder, and on the line of the Belvidere Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which traverses Ewing.
BIRMINGHAM (Now West Trenton) situated at the crossing of the old river turnpike and the road which traverses the township east and west, north of the center.
BROOKVILLE. the village located on the canal-feeder, near Asylum Station, in the southwestern part of the township.
History:
pre-Colonial times the earliest inhabitants were the Lenni Lenape Indians.
What became Ewing Township was settled by Daniel Howell, John Davis, William Reed, Robert Lanning, Charles Clark, Ebenezer Prout, Nathaniel Moore, Abiel Davis, Simon Sacket, Jacob Reeder, John Deane, John Burroughs, Jonathan Davis, Richard Scudder, Thomas Hutchinson, and others from Long Island and elsewhere.
At that time the territory was part of Hopewell Township.
1670 John Hendrickson from Switzerland came to Ewing.
1678 Charles Reed from England settled in Burlington.
1687 or 1689 Englishman Thomas Hutchinson settled in what is now Ewing township. He build a manor house (where the lunatic asylum was later built) on 5,000 acres of land.
1695 Jonathan Eldridge owned land in Ewing.
1700 John Reeder from England via Long Island came to Ewing, accompanied by his son Isaac, and purchased six hundred acres of land in "Rose Hill."
soon after 1700 William Reed settled in Ewing and became one of the first trustees of the Ewing Church.
1703 John Hutchinson, only heir of Thomas Hutchinson, gave a lot for a cemetery. On this lot was built the first church (Episcopalian) ever constructed within the limits of present Mercer County.
1704 Englishman Richard Scudder from Long Island settled on a farm in Ewing on the bank of the Delaware near Greensburg.
1708 Andrew Lockart deeded land on Scotch Road for the establishment of a Presbyterian Church.
1719 the City of Trenton established.
1719-1834 the area was named Trenton Township.
As early as 1725 John and David Lanning settled at Ewingville.
1754 Richard Scudder died at the age of eighty-three.
1768 George Green removed to Lawrence. One of his grandsons, Hon. Henry W. Green, deceased, became in time a member of the State Constitutional Convention, chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Chancellor of the State of New Jersey.
At various times the Presbyterian congregation had been led by supply ministers, the most famous being the Rev. John Witherspoon, president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
1775-1782 the American Revolutionary War.
As early as 1790 Daniel Howell was known in Ewing.
1797 Richard Hunt of Hopewell settled into the northeast part of Ewing, on the road leading from Ewingville to Lawrenceville.
1800 in Birmingham, a public-house was kept here. It was later purchased by John W. Scudder and converted into a dwelling.
As early as 1800 in Birmingham, John Guild ran a silversmiths trade.
about 1801 in Ewingville the first blacksmith was Joseph Tindall
prior to 1823 the Rev. Eli Field Cooley became the first full time pastor of the Presbyterian church.
about 1832 to 1838 Ewing was the seat of a female seminary which was under the management of Mrs. Emoline Kemper.
1832 -- death of Charles Ewing LL.D., chief justice of New Jersey.
1834 Ewing Township organized and named in honor of Charles Ewing.
1844 historians Barber and Howe described the Township as having some of the richest soil in New Jersey.
1847 in Ewingville J. S. Phillips built a shoe-shop.
1851 in Ewingville the Park House (formerly called the "Cross-Keys Tavern") was purchased by Lott Howell.
1857 in Ewingville the post-office established with Lott Howell as postmaster.
1860 in Ewingville William H. Howell became the postmaster.
1860 in Ewingville William H. Howell became proprietor of the Park House.
1875 the Ewingville Driving Park Association incorporated for the purpose of horse racing. Its members included Thomas F. Howell, Israel Hendrickson, Edward Maguire, S. H. Phillips, and William Howell.
1877 in Ewingville William H. Howell remodeled and improved the Park House.
1877 in Birmingham, the black smith shop established by John Reeder purchased by James Deane, blacksmith and wheelwright.
1878 in Greensburg, merchant John W. McCalvin began business and proved successful against much competition form Trenton merchants.
By the early 20th century due to the growth of Trention, Ewing Township began to change from an agricultural to a residential community.
by 1920 the Township stood at 3500.
1938 construction of the General Motors plant led to the creation of new communities such as the Glendale and Fernwood.
By 1940 -- the Township's population had almost tripled to 10,146.
just prior to World War II Ewing changed from being predominantly rural to
one characterized by new industries growing and developing. Some of these
companies (attracted to the area by the proximity of the Reading Railroad0 were
Homasote, Roller Bearing, Winner Manufacturing, Nassau China, and Heath Lumber.
1941 - 1945 World War II.
During World War II General Motors became Eastern Aircraft and produced the Navy Avenger Torpedo Bomber.
After World War II Ewing Township grew rapidly.
1960 the Townships population was 26,828.
1990 the populatiln was 34,185.
Sources:
Major E. M. Woodward & John F. Hageman. 1883. "History of Burlington and Mercer Counties, New Jersey, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Their Pioneers and Prominent Men." http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmercer/Mun/EwingHis.htm#situation
Township of Ewing: About Ewing: Early History. http://www.ewingtwp.net/about_ewing.htm