Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey

Hopewell Township, New Jersey
Township
The Delaware and Raritan Canal at Washington Crossing in Hopewell Township
Seal
Location of Hopewell Township in Mercer County highlighted in red (right). Inset map: Location of Mercer County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (left).
Census Bureau map of Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Interactive map of Hopewell Township, New Jersey
Hopewell Township Location in Mercer County Show map of Mercer County, New Jersey Hopewell Township Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Hopewell Township Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 40°21′23″N 74°48′43″W / 40.356362°N 74.812002°W / 40.356362; -74.812002[1][2]
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Mercer
Founded	February 20, 1700
Royal charter	March 1, 1755
Incorporated	February 21, 1798
Government [7]
• Type	Township
• Body	Township Committee
• Mayor	Courtney Peters-Manning (D, term ends December 31, 2024)[3][4]
• Administrator	George Snyder[5]
• Municipal clerk	Katherine Fenton-Newman[6]
Area [1]
• Total	58.95 sq mi (152.67 km2)
• Land	58.07 sq mi (150.40 km2)
• Water	0.87 sq mi (2.26 km2)  1.48%
• Rank	22nd of 565 in state 1st of 12 in county[1]
Elevation [8]	217 ft (66 m)
Population  (2020)[9][10]
• Total	17,491
• Estimate  (2023)[9][11]	17,383
• Rank	152nd of 565 in state 8th of 12 in county[12]
• Density	301.2/sq mi (116.3/km2)
• Rank	473rd of 565 in state 12th of 12 in county[12]
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
ZIP Code	08560 – Titusville[13][14]
Area code(s)	609 exchanges: 730, 737, 18[15]
FIPS code	3402133180[1][16][17]
GNIS feature ID	0882129[1][18]
Website	www.hopewelltwp.org

Hopewell Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the southwest and the Raritan Valley region to the northeast, the township considered an exurb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area as defined by the United States Census Bureau,^[19] while also directly bordering the Philadelphia metropolitan area, being a part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area.^[20] As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 17,491,^[9][10] its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 187 (+1.1%) from the 2010 census count of 17,304,^[21][22] which in turn reflected an increase of 1,199 (+7.4%) from the 16,105 counted in the 2000 census.^[23]

The township dates back to February 20, 1700, when the area was still part of Burlington County. One of the earliest European settlers before 1710 was George Woolsey, formerly of Jamaica, Queens (in present-day New York City), whose father was one of the earliest pre-1650 settlers of what was New Amsterdam. His descendants maintained the family farm for over 200 years.^[24]

The township was formerly the name for one of two portions of 800 acres (3.2 km²) of land purchased in 1714 by William Trent, and was formally set off to Hunterdon County, when that county was created on March 11, 1714. Trenton Township was formed out of this estate on June 3, 1719, later to become the City of Trenton. Hopewell Township was incorporated by Royal charter on March 1, 1755, and was re-incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, as one of the state's initial group of 104 townships. Hopewell Township became part of Mercer County at its creation on February 22, 1838. Portions of the township were taken to form Marion Township (February 22, 1838, reverted to Hopewell Township on February 14, 1839), the Borough of Pennington (January 31, 1890) and Hopewell Borough (April 14, 1891), with additional portions of the township transferred to both Pennington and Hopewell Borough in 1915.^[25]