Mount Holly Township, New Jersey Totally Explained

Everything about Mount Holly Township New Jersey totally explained

Mount Holly is in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 10,728. It is the county seat of Burlington County.
What is now Mount Holly was originally formed as Northampton on November 6, 1688. Northampton was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial 104 townships by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken to form Little Egg Harbor (February 13, 1740, now part of Ocean County), Washington (November 19, 1802), Pemberton (December 15, 1826), Coaxen (March 10, 1845, now known as Southampton), Pemberton (March 10, 1846), Westampton (March 6, 1850) and Lumberton (March 14, 1860). The town was renamed Mount Holly as of November 6, 1931, based on the results of a referendum held three days earlier.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 2.9 square miles, of which, 2.9 square miles of it's land and .04 square miles of it (.69%) is water.
Mount Holly borders Westampton, Eastampton, Lumberton, and Hainesport.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 10,728 people, 3,903 households, and 2,583 families residing in the town. The population density was 3,750.8 people per square mile. There were 4,248 housing units at an average density of 1,485.2/sq mi. The racial makeup of the township was 68.68% White, 21.57% African American, 0.42% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 4.77% from other races, and 3.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.78% of the population.
   There were 3,903 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were married couples living together, 17.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.20.
   In the township the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.6 males.
   The median income for a household in the township was $43,284, and the median income for a family was $52,000. Males had a median income of $38,186 versus $27,425 for females. The per capita income for the township was $19,672. About 6.8% of families and 9.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

Mount Holly Township operates under the Faulkner Act (Council-Manager) form of municipal government.
Members of the Mount Holly Town Council are Mayor Brooke Tidswell, III, Joan Boas, Jules Theissen, Thomas Gibson, and one vacancy. 12-year Councilmember Gladys Danser submitted her resignation as of October 8, 2007.

Federal, state and county representation

Mount Holly is in the Third Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 7th Legislative District.

Education

For Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade, students attend the Mount Holly Township Public Schools. John Brainerd School

is an elementary school that includes pre-Kindergarten to 4th grade and serves 309 students. Gertrude C. Folwell School

is an elementary school that includes pre-K to 4th grade and has 330 students. F. W. Holbein Middle School

includes grades 5 through 8 and has 469 students.
For grades 9 - 12, public school students attend the Rancocas Valley Regional High School, a comprehensive regional public high school serving students in grades 9 through 12 from five communities encompassing approximately 40 square miles and comprised of the communities of Eastampton, Hainesport, Lumberton, Mount Holly and Westampton. The current population of the school is approximately 2,250 students. The school is located in Mount Holly and is part of the Rancocas Valley Regional High School District.

History

The history of Mount Holly predates the American Revolution by nearly 60 years. The town essentially began after a dam was built on the Rancocas. This allowed water to flow into a mill race that was built connecting two loops of the meandering creek. The race initially powered a grist mill and saw mill. Edward Gaskill and his sons hand dug the mill race on their property between 1720 and 1723. No mills remain on the raceway that still flows in its original course from the Rancocas just above the dam. The land where the mills once stood is now the Mill Dam Park. After the mills were established, houses and commercial buildings were built on High, Church, White, Mill, and Pine Streets so that by 1800, over 250 dwellings had been built.

Mount Holly in the Revolutionary War

On December 17, 1776, Colonel Samuel Griffin crossed the Delaware River with 600 men — mostly untrained men and boys, and with little equipment — and marched to Mount Holly, where he set up a few "3-pounder" artillery pieces on Iron Works Hill. Hessian commanders von Block and Carl von Donop, were told that there were 3,000 American troops at Mount Holly.
By December 23, 1776, 2,000 Hessians were moved from Bordentown and positioned at The Mount in Mount Holly, where they engaged in a three day-long artillery battle with the Americans on Iron Works Hill. The Americans slipped away that night.
After George Washington crossed the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, the fact that thousands of Hessian troops had been drawn to Mount Holly aided in the Continental Army's success in the Battle of Trenton the next day, a surprising American victory that helped turn the Army's fading morale after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington just weeks before and the ignominious retreat through New Jersey.

19th century

The 1793 state legislature approved the relocation of the Burlington County seat from Burlington City to Mount Holly. Several important municipal buildings were constructed including the courthouse built in 1796 and the County prison (now a museum) built circa 1819. The prison was designed by nationally known architect Robert Mills. There remains an abundance of 18th and 19th century buildings in town, most of which are included in the Mount Holly Historic District that's listed in the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places. Commercial buildings were constructed primarily along High Street. In 1849, the Burlington and Mount Holly Railroad was established and twenty years later, the Camden and Mount Holly Railroad had constructed a station near the intersection of Washington and King Streets.

Mount Holly in the 20th century

A trolley station was built in 1904 for the passengers making connections to Burlington City and Moorestown. New municipal buildings were constructed during the 1900s including the town hall on Washington Street (1930) and the U.S. Post Office building located across the street (1935).
In the late 1950s, Mount Holly began experiencing economic difficulties stemming from the loss of its industrial base. In the post-WWII period, Mount Holly saw a large number of blue collar, family wage jobs disappear as the community's traditional employers, mills and dye factories, were shut down. Initially the impact of the loss of jobs was masked by increased employment with Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base, especially during the period of the Vietnam War. In 1970, the residential vacancy rate in Mount Holly was 4.3%. By 1980, the vacancy rate had climbed to 8.7% as a result of the nearby military installations' downsizing after the end of the Vietnam conflict. During this same period, 1970-1980, shopping malls proliferated in the Philadelphia area and retail business in Mount Holly suffered. Mount Holly received Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) status in 1995, which has considerably helped the local economy by providing tax incentives and other assistance programs to local businesses, including lowering the sales tax rate to 3½, half of the prevailing rate charges statewide.

Transportation

Mount Holly is accessible at exit 5 of the New Jersey Turnpike via County Route 541. New Jersey Transit provides bus service to Philadelphia on the 317, 409 and 413 bus routes.

Points of interest

Mount Holly Cemetery
Shinn Curtis Log Cabin
Burlington County Historic Prison
Old Courthouse Complex
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
Friends Meeting House
Brainerd School
Relief Fire Company No. 1
Thomas Budd House
Stephen Girard House
John Woolman House
National Weather Service office and radar tower

Walking tour (External Link

)

Notable residents

James William Abert (1820-1897), born in Mount Holly, noted soldier, explorer, ornithologist, and topographical artist.

Samuel A. Dobbins (1814-1905), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1873-1877.

Samuel C. Forker (1821-1900), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1871-1873.

Irving Fryar (1962-), Former Philadelphia Eagles football player.

John F. Gerry (1926-1995), was chief United States district judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Stephen Girard (1750-1831), Merchant, Banker, Philanthropist, Humanitarian.

Franco Harris - Former Pittsburgh Steelers football player. Ranked #3 on the Sports Illustrated list of The 50 Greatest New Jersey Sports Figures.

Norbert Basil MacLean III (1971-) is a dual American-Australian citizen, and United States Navy veteran, who pioneered equal access to the Supreme Court of the United States for members of the United States Armed Forces.

Barbara Park (1949-), author of children's literature best known for her series of books starring the character Junie B. Jones.

Charles Sreeve Peterson (1818-1889), Founder of Morgan Valley, Utah, and co-founder of Mormon colonies in Mexico.

Dave Robinson (1941-), NFL Linebacker who played for the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.

Barclay White (1821-1906) was Superintendent of Indian Affairs during the administration of president Ulysses S. Grant.

John Woolman (1720-1772), noted Quaker essayist and early anti-slavery advocate.Further Information

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