Lawrence Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the southwest and the Raritan Valley region to the northeast, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, while also directly bordering the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area.
The home of the prestigious Lawrenceville School, Rider University, and the site of the Quaker Bridge Mall, the township is a regional commercial and cultural hub of central New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 33,077,
History
What is now Lawrence Township was originally formed as Maidenhead Township on February 20, 1697, while the area was still part of Burlington County in West Jersey on the eastern boundary of the Province Line (on the other side of which was East Jersey). The township was named by the early Quaker settlers after Maidenhead, a Thames River village west of London.
In 1698, Puritan settlers from Long Island and Connecticut came to Maidenhead and were granted land and established a Presbyterian church. A meetinghouse was erected on the site of the present Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville in the early 1700s. A record from 1709 indicates that it was used both for a meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia and for a session of the Hunterdon County Court. The present structure was built in 1764.
thumb|left|The [[Baker–Brearley House, one of many colonials located in the historic village of Lawrenceville]]
The township became part of the newly created Hunterdon County on March 11, 1714. Maidenhead Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798.
In 1810, the seventh minister of the church, Isaac V. Brown, began the Maidenhead Academy to prepare young men for college. This school is now the Lawrenceville School.
On January 24, 1816, the municipality was renamed Lawrence Township, in honor of Captain James Lawrence—commander of the frigate , one of the naval heroes of the War of 1812, and a native of relatively nearby Burlington, New Jersey—best known for his dying command of "Don't give up the ship". Lawrence Township became part of Mercer County at its creation on February 22, 1838. Portions of the township were taken to form Millham Township on February 10, 1882, which was annexed six years later by Trenton.
Violent crime in Lawrence Township is notably rare. A fatal shooting at an Applebee's restaurant on November 14, 2017, was the first murder in the township in 16 years.
Geography
thumb|left|The [[Shabakunk Creek, below Colonial Lake, flowing in the southern portion of the township towards Trenton.]]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 21.98 square miles (56.94 km<sup>2</sup>), including 21.73 square miles (56.27 km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 0.26 square miles (0.67 km<sup>2</sup>) of water (1.17%).
thumb|left|The [[Stony Brook (Millstone River tributary)|Stony Brook flowing through the northern portion of the township towards Princeton.]]
Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include: Bakersville, Clarksville, Colonial Lakelands, Coxs Corner, Eldridge Park, Franklin Corner, Harneys Corner, Lawrence Station, Lewisville, Louisville, Port Mercer, Princessville, Quaker Bridge, Rosedale, Slackwood and Sturwood Hamlet.
Many area residents often refer to all of Lawrence Township as Lawrenceville, as a significant majority of township residents use a Lawrenceville mailing address as specified by the United States Postal Service, while other residents have mailing addresses in either Princeton or Trenton. The township was notified by the Postal Service in 2007 that the preferred designation for the ZIP code 08648 would be changed to "Lawrence Township".
The township borders the Mercer County municipalities of Ewing Township, Hamilton Township, Hopewell Township, Princeton, Trenton and West Windsor.