Lawrenceville, New Jersey | |
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Census-designated place | |
Location in Mercer County and the state of New Jersey. |
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Coordinates: 40°18′10″N 74°44′17″W / 40.302787°N 74.738004°WCoordinates: 40°18′10″N 74°44′17″W / 40.302787°N 74.738004°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New Jersey |
County | Mercer |
Township | Lawrence |
Named for | Maidenhead, England |
Area | |
• Total | 1.043 sq mi (2.701 km2) |
• Land | 1.042 sq mi (2.698 km2) |
• Water | 0.001 sq mi (0.002 km2) 0.09% |
Elevation | 184 ft (56 m) |
Population (2010 Census) | |
• Total | 3,887 |
• Density | 3,731.1/sq mi (1,440.6/km2) |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4) |
ZIP code | 08648 - Lawrence Township |
Area code(s) | 609 |
FIPS code | 3439570 |
GNIS feature ID | 02390044 |
Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 3,887. Lawrenceville is located roughly halfway between Princeton and Trenton.
Lawrenceville is also known as the "village of Lawrenceville." Its core is the Main Street Historic District, which was listed in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in 1972, one of the first registered historic districts in New Jersey.
Lawrenceville was founded as Maidenhead in 1697, as part of Burlington County in the colony of West Jersey. In 1714, the village became a part of Hunterdon County. In 1798, the New Jersey Legislature legally incorporated the Township of Maidenhead.
The original name was adopted for Maidenhead, a historic English town on the Thames River, about 30 miles west from London. The Colonial Supreme Court at Burlington officially confirmed the name on February 20, 1697. "Maidenhead" derives from the Anglo Saxon word "Maidenhythe," meaning "new wharf", though it acquired a secondary meaning as a term for virginity.
The Rev. Issac V. Brown, the first full-time pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville and the founder of the Academy of Maidenhead (now the Lawrenceville School), led a movement to petition the Legislature to change the town's name. The petition said "... it must be the wish of every good citizen... to be relieved of the necessity of using a term which may offend the delicacy of modesty, or disturb the feelings of seriousness, or excite the sneers of the willing".