Piscataway, New Jersey | |
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Township | |
Township of Piscataway | |
John Onderdonk house
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Motto: A Proud Diversified Community | |
Location of Piscataway Township highlighted in Middlesex County. |
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Census Bureau map of Piscataway Township, New Jersey |
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Coordinates: 40°32′44″N 74°27′39″W / 40.54564°N 74.460817°WCoordinates: 40°32′44″N 74°27′39″W / 40.54564°N 74.460817°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New Jersey |
County | Middlesex |
Formed | October 31, 1693 |
Incorporated | February 21, 1798 |
Government | |
• Type | Faulkner Act Mayor-Council |
• Body | Township Council |
• Mayor | Brian C. Wahler (term ends December 31, 2016) |
• Clerk | Melissa A. Seader |
Area | |
• Total | 19.029 sq mi (49.286 km2) |
• Land | 18.835 sq mi (48.782 km2) |
• Water | 0.194 sq mi (0.504 km2) 1.02% |
Area rank | 149th of 566 in state 7th of 25 in county |
Elevation | 52 ft (16 m) |
Population (2010 Census) | |
• Total | 56,044 |
• Estimate (2015) | 58,069 |
• Rank | 26th of 566 in state 4th of 25 in county |
• Density | 2,975.5/sq mi (1,148.8/km2) |
• Density rank | 216th of 566 in state 16th of 25 in county |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4) |
ZIP codes | 08854, 08855 |
Area code(s) | 732 and 908 |
FIPS code | 3402359010 |
GNIS feature ID | 0882167 |
Website | www |
Piscataway /pɪsˈkætəˌweɪ/ is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 56,044, reflecting an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) from the 50,482 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 3,393 (+7.2%) from the 47,089 counted in 1990.
The name Piscataway may be derived from the area's original Native American residents, transplants from near the Piscataqua River defining the coastal border between New Hampshire and Maine, whose name derives from peske (branch) and tegwe (tidal river), or alternatively from pisgeu (meaning "dark night") and awa ("place of") or from a Lenape language word meaning "great deer" or from words meaning "place of dark night". The area was first settled in 1666 by Quakers and Baptists who had left the Puritan colony in New Hampshire.
Piscataway Township was formed on December 18, 1666, and officially incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, as part of the state's initial group of 104 townships. The community, the fifth-oldest municipality in New Jersey, has grown from Native American territory, through a colonial period and is one of the links in the earliest settlement of the Atlantic Ocean seacoast that ultimately led to the formation of the United States. Over the years, portions of Piscataway were taken to form Raritan Township (March 17, 1870, now Edison), Dunellen (October 28, 1887), Middlesex (April 9, 1913) and South Plainfield (March 10, 1926).