Flagtown, New Jersey
| Flagtown, New Jersey | |
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| Unincorporated community | |
Welcome sign
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 Flagtown, New Jersey
Flagtown, New Jersey
Flagtown, New Jersey
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| Coordinates: 40°31′01″N 74°41′04″W / 40.51694°N 74.68444°WCoordinates: 40°31′01″N 74°41′04″W / 40.51694°N 74.68444°W | |
| Country |
 United States
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| State |
 New Jersey
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| County | Somerset |
| Township | Hillsborough |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4) |
Flagtown is an unincorporated community located within Hillsborough Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.
The area was originally called Flagtown Station when the Lehigh Valley Railroad came through, after the nearby Flagtown, which had been corrupted from Flaggtown. The original Flaggtown (later renamed Frankfurt, when Flagtown Station became Flagtown) was named for Jacob Flagg, who purchased a tract in 1700. Some years later, J. Flagg, a descendant and proprietor of a local tavern had it used as headquarters for the Hillsborough Company in the American Revolutionary War. At election time, the tavern served as a voting place. The first school was built there about 1725 on a knoll near the future site of the railroad station and it is said that William Parrish taught there. When the building was replaced in 1795, it was painted red and white and called "The Old Red School House."
Flagtown has its own post office (ZIP code 08821) but no house-to-house mailbox delivery, therefore residents have no other option than to have a P.O. box address. Some residents (on the main streets, not the side streets) have the option to have home delivery if they accept Hillsborough as their postal address. Prior to the Hillsborough post office's existence, Neshanic previously had covered partial Flagtown home delivery. The Flagtown post office is especially small (despite some expansion work done within the last 10 years), and usually manned by one or two workers at any given time, who take care of all jobs themselves. It can be uncomfortably crowded in the p.o. box foyer/window area if a mere 4-5 customers are in line, or retrieving mail from their boxes. There's very limited parking, as the post office is part of an apartment/storefront, sharing the building with a small local deli and two residential apartments. A gas station/car repair shop, a separate building, shares the parking lot.
During the 4th of July and Flag Day, the Flagtown post office has an inordinate amount of extra mail than normal because there is no "Flagtown" in any other states, therefore people come from afar to drop off their outgoing postcards and letters to be hand-canceled by Flagtown on days relating to the flag, making the cancellation name and date a unique souvenir.
Despite the small size of Flagtown, they have their own volunteer fire department, the Hillsborough Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1. They have been known for years for having green fire trucks rather than the typical red, often referred to as "Mean and Green." They were originally pine green, but the more modern trucks are a fluorescent lime green, almost yellow, making them instantly stand out and recognizable.
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Wikipedia