Bordentown Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 11,791, The township, and all of Burlington County, is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.

Bordentown was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 8, 1852, from portions of Chesterfield Township and Mansfield Township, based on the results of a referendum held that same day. Bordentown city separated from the township in 1877 and Fieldsboro became fully independent in 1894 The township was named for founder Joseph Borden.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 9.28 square miles (24.02&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), including 8.66 square miles (22.44&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 0.61 square miles (1.58&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of water (6.59%).

Crosswicks Creek and its juncture with the Delaware River, otherwise known as the Trenton-Hamilton Marsh, is a significant ecosystem and, with the peninsula of land and waterways to the northwest of Bordentown Township known, respectively, as Duck Island, Duck Creek and the Delaware and Raritan Canal, it is protected by the State of New Jersey as the Duck Island Recreation Area.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Bossert Estates, Dunns Mill and Newbold Island.

The former Parklands dump brownfield site is being transformed to a solar array by PSE&G as part of a project that began in 2014.

Demographics

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As of March 2011, there were a total of 6,378 registered voters in Bordentown Township, of which 1,793 (28.1% vs. 33.3% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 1,263 (19.8% vs. 23.9%) were registered as Republicans and 3,321 (52.1% vs. 42.8%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There was one voter registered to another party. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 56.1% (vs. 61.7% in Burlington County) were registered to vote, including 75.8% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 80.3% countywide).

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In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 2,949 votes (57.8% vs. 58.1% countywide), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 2,034 votes (39.9% vs. 40.2%) and other candidates with 74 votes (1.5% vs. 1.0%), among the 5,102 ballots cast by the township's 6,794 registered voters, for a turnout of 75.1% (vs. 74.5% in Burlington County). In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 2,812 votes (54.7% vs. 58.4% countywide), ahead of Republican John McCain with 2,232 votes (43.4% vs. 39.9%) and other candidates with 62 votes (1.2% vs. 1.0%), among the 5,144 ballots cast by the township's 6,374 registered voters, for a turnout of 80.7% (vs. 80.0% in Burlington County). In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 2,320 votes (49.4% vs. 52.9% countywide), ahead of Republican George W. Bush with 2,305 votes (49.1% vs. 46.0%) and other candidates with 33 votes (0.7% vs. 0.8%), among the 4,694 ballots cast by the township's 5,903 registered voters, for a turnout of 79.5% (vs. 78.8% in the whole county).

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 2,029 votes (60.9% vs. 61.4% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 1,194 votes (35.9% vs. 35.8%) and other candidates with 53 votes (1.6% vs. 1.2%), among the 3,330 ballots cast by the township's 6,840 registered voters, yielding a 48.7% turnout (vs. 44.5% in the county). In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 1,733 votes (49.1% vs. 47.7% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 1,464 votes (41.5% vs. 44.5%), Independent Chris Daggett with 182 votes (5.2% vs. 4.8%) and other candidates with 113 votes (3.2% vs. 1.2%), among the 3,530 ballots cast by the township's 6,435 registered voters, yielding a 54.9% turnout (vs. 44.9% in the county).

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Education

Public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade attend the schools of the Bordentown Regional School District, which serves students from Bordentown City, Bordentown Township and Fieldsboro Borough. As of the 2023–24 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 2,232 students and 190.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.8:1. Schools in the district (with 2023–24 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are

Clara Barton Elementary School with 215 students in grades K–2 (generally serves Bordentown City and the Holloway Meadows section of Bordentown Township),

Peter Muschal Elementary School with 480 students in grades PreK–5 (generally serves remainder of Bordentown Township and the Borough of Fieldsboro),

MacFarland Intermediate School with 247 students in grades 3–5,

Bordentown Regional Middle School with 505 students in grades 6–8 and

Bordentown Regional High School with 762 students in grades 9–12. The district's board of education is comprised of nine members, who are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year. The board's nine seats are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with five seats assigned to Bordentown Township.

The New Hanover Township School District, consisting of New Hanover Township (including its Cookstown area) and Wrightstown Borough, sends students to Bordentown Regional High School on a tuition basis for ninth through twelfth grades as part of a sending/receiving relationship that has been in place since the 1960s, with about 50 students from the New Hanover district being sent to the high school. As of 2011, the New Hanover district was considering expansion of its relationship to send students to Bordentown for middle school for grades 6–8.

Students from Bordentown Township, and from all of Burlington County, are eligible to attend the Burlington County Institute of Technology, a countywide public school district that serves the vocational and technical education needs of students at the high school and post-secondary level at its campuses in Medford and Westampton Township.

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the township had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Burlington County, by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

Interstate 95 and Interstate 295 are the two limited-access highways traversing the township. I-95 follows the New Jersey Turnpike through Bordentown Township, stretching along a southwest to northeast alignment for from Mansfield Township in the south to Chesterfield Township on the township's eastern border. Interstate 295 follows a similar alignment to the northwest of I-95, extending from Mansfield Township on the southwest to Hamilton Township in the north.

U.S. Route 130 and U.S. Route 206 are the primary surface highways traversing the township. US 206 has an interchange with I-95 (NJ Turnpike Exit 7), while US 130 has an interchange with I-295 (Exit 57). The two U.S. Highways also share a brief concurrency within the township boundaries where they intersect.

Public transportation

NJ Transit offers light rail service at the Bordentown station at Park Street on the River Line between the Trenton Rail Station and the Walter Rand Transportation Center (and other stops) in Camden.

NJ Transit provides bus service in the township between Trenton and Philadelphia on the 409 route.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Bordentown Township include:

  • Andy Kim (born 1982), politician and former diplomat serving as the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 3rd congressional district
  • Julia Reichert (1946–2022), Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and feminist

References

  • Bordentown Township website