Middletown Township, New Jersey

Middletown Township is a township in northern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the state's 20th-most-populous municipality and the largest in the county, with a population of 67,106,

Middletown is a bedroom community of New York City, located alongside of the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region in the New York metropolitan area. Due to its affluence, low crime, access to cultural activities, public school system, location at the Jersey Shore and Raritan Bayshore, and central commuting location, Middletown was ranked in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2014 in the Top 100 in CNNMoney.com's Best Places to Live. Time magazine listed Middletown on its list of "Best Places to Live 2014".

In 2016, SafeWise named Middletown Township as the fifth-safest city in America to raise a child; the township was the highest ranked of the 12 communities in New Jersey included on the list.

History

Small communities of the Lenape Navesink tribe were common throughout the area when the first known European landing in what would become Middletown Township occurred in 1609. Sea captain and explorer Henry Hudson, in search of the mythical Northwest Passage in the service of the Dutch West India Company, anchored along the shores of Sandy Hook Bay in 1609, describing the area "a very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to see.") who arrived here as early as 1664, around the time of the English takeover of New Netherland as a prelude of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Shortly after the Dutch surrender of the New Netherland to the English in 1664 a large tract of land known as the Navesink Patent or Monmouth Tract was granted to Baptist and Quaker settlers from Long Island, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. In 1693 the triangular tract became three townships – Middletown Township, Shrewsbury Township and Freehold Township.

During the American Revolutionary War, Middletown and much of the rest of Eastern Monmouth County was held by the British. After the Battle of Monmouth, the British retreat from Freehold Township carried them down King's Highway through Middletown to their embarkation points at Sandy Hook in the bay, heading back to New York City.

Middletown Township was originally formed on October 31, 1693, and was incorporated as a township by the Township Act of 1798 of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken to form Atlantic Township (February 8, 1847, now Colts Neck Township), Raritan Township (February 25, 1848, now Hazlet), Atlantic Highlands (February 28, 1887), Highlands (March 22, 1900) and Keansburg (March 22, 1917).

Upon the completion of a railroad junction in 1875, the town grew more rapidly, eventually changing from a group of small and loosely connected fishing and agricultural villages into a fast-growing suburb at the turn of the 20th century. If Middletown ever had a recognizable town center or town square, it was lost in that rapid growth soon after World War II.

In May 1958, several Nike Ajax missiles exploded at Battery NY-53 in Chapel Hill, killing ten Army and civilian personnel. The accident was one of the worst missile-related disasters of the Cold War.

During the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Middletown lost 37 of its residents at the World Trade Center, which was the second-most 9/11 deaths of any municipality, behind New York City itself. The World Trade Center Memorial Gardens were opened to the public on September 11, 2003, the second anniversary of the attacks.

The "Evil Clown of Middletown" is a towering sign along Route 35 painted to resemble a circus clown, that currently advertises a liquor store. The sign is a remnant of an old supermarket that used to be at that location called "Food Circus". The clown and recent successful attempts from residents to save it from demolition have been featured in the pages of Weird NJ magazine, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the Kevin Smith-directed film Clerks II.

The Indian Trails 15K road race was held each year in April to benefit the Monmouth Conservation Foundation and included a 5K walk/run event for fun. The race, run on a combination on paved and dirt roads, included many relatively steep hills and had been described as "the most challenging race in the state".

The Middletown Township Historical Society is a non-profit formed in 1968 to preserve and promote the history of Middletown.

Gallery

File:Seabrook-Wilson_House_with_an_evening_backdrop.jpg | The Seabrook-Wilson House was built in 1663 and is one of the oldest surviving structures in New Jersey

File:MARLPIT, MIDDLETOWN, MONMOUTH COUNTY NJ.jpg|Marlpit Hall was built in 1686 and is an example of New England-influenced saltbox architecture

File:Sandy_Hook_Lighthouse,_Spring_2021.jpg|Sandy Hook Light was built in 1764. It is the oldest operating lighthouse in the United States

File:New_Monmouth_Baptist_Church.jpg|Middletown was settled as a place of refuge for Baptists from Long Island and New England. Pictured is the New Monmouth Baptist Church, established in 1855

File:Thomas Lloyd House, Brookdale Farm, NJ.jpg|The Thomas Lloyd House at Brookdale Farm

File:Tatum Park.jpg|The Holland Activity Center at Tatum Park, the former homestead of the prestigious Tatum family

File:Union Schoolhouse.JPG|The Union Schoolhouse was built in 1842 and was used for education until 1909. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 23, 1976, for its significance in education

File:Water Witch Club Casino, east view.jpg|Built in 1905, the Water Witch Club Casino was a gathering hall for the New York financial elite. Located near Highlands, it is currently utilized as an elegant banquet hall

File:Deep_Cut_Gardens_rose_garden.jpg|The rose parterre at Deep Cut Gardens, a public botanical gardens in Middletown which was formerly the estate of mobster Vito Genovese

File:World Trade Center Memorial - Middletown, NJ (50064361).jpg|World Trade Center Memorial Gardens in Middletown, which had the second-highest number of residents killed at 37 during the September 11th attacks, behind New York City]]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 58.72 square miles (152.09 km2), including 40.95 square miles (106.06 km2) of land and 17.78 square miles (46.04 km2) of water (30.27%).

Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Browns Dock, Chapel Hill, East Keansburg, Everett, Fort Hancock, Harmony, Headdons Corner, Hendrickson Corners, Highland Park, Highlands Beach, Highlands of Navesink, Holland, Leonardville, Locust, Locust Point, Monmouth Hills, New Monmouth, Normandie, Oak Hill, Philips Mills, Red Hill, River Plaza, Stone Church, Tiltons Corner, Town Brook, Waterwitch Park and Wilmont Park.

thumb|[[Sandy Hook barrier spit as seen from an airplane (looking west) on its approach to JFK International Airport in Queens, New York]]

The Sandy Hook peninsula is also within Middletown Township, though it is not connected to the rest of the township by land. However, one could sail along Raritan Bay from the mainland to Sandy Hook and remain within Middletown Township.

The township borders the Monmouth County communities of Atlantic Highlands, Colts Neck, Fair Haven, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Red Bank, Rumson, Sea Bright and Tinton Falls.

Poricy Creek (Poricy Park, Oak Hill Road) is locally well known for its deposits of Cretaceous marine fossils, including belemnites. Deep Cut Gardens, a public botanical garden and the former estate of mobster Vito Genovese is located in Middletown,

Demographics

thumb|Autumn foliage in Middletown