Piscataway () is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Lurie, Maxine N.; Siegel, Michael; Mappen, Marc. Encyclopedia of New Jersey, p. 640. Rutgers University Press, 2004, . Accessed June 22, 2019. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan Valley. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 60,804,QuickFacts Piscataway township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed January 15, 2023.Total Population: Census 2010 - Census 2020 New Jersey Municipalities, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Accessed December 1, 2022. an increase of 4,760 (+8.5%) from the 2010 census count of 56,044,DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Piscataway township, Middlesex County, New Jersey , United States Census Bureau. Accessed October 2, 2012.Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2010 for Piscataway township , New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Accessed October 2, 2012. which in turn reflected an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) from 50,482 at the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.
The name may be derived from the area's earliest European settlers who came from near the Piscataqua River, a landmark defining the coastal border between New Hampshire and Maine, whose name derives from (branch) and (tidal river),The Meaning of Piscataqua, seacoastnh.com. Accessed October 1, 2012. or alternatively from (meaning "dark night") and ("place of")The Origin of New Jersey Place Names: P, GetNJ.com. Accessed June 28, 2007.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, 1938. Accessed September 18, 2015. or from a Lenape language word meaning "great deer". The area was appropriated in 1666 by Quakers and Baptists who had left the Puritan colony in New Hampshire.Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living in: Piscataway", The New York Times, June 28, 1992. Accessed October 3, 2012. "What is now the township was settled in 1666 by Quakers and Baptists and fleeing the intolerant Puritan colony in New Hampshire. While Piscataway is a derivative of the Leni Lenape word for "great deer," the township is believed to have been named after the settlers' former home on the Piscataqua River."
Piscataway Township was formed on December 17, 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.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 172. Accessed May 30, 2024. The community, the fifth-oldest municipality in New Jersey,About Piscataway Township , Piscataway, New Jersey. Accessed June 24, 2019. "Piscataway was founded in 1666 and officially incorporated in 1798. As the fifth-oldest municipality in New Jersey, Piscataway has grown from Native American territory through a colonial period and is one of the links in the earliest settlement of the Atlantic seacoast that ultimately led to the formation of the United States." 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).
Rutgers University's main campus spills into the township. SHI Stadium, home field for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, is in PiscatawayStaff. "Rutgers officially announces naming rights partnership with High Point Solutions for Rutgers Stadium", The Star-Ledger, June 21, 2011. Accessed October 3, 2012. "Rutgers officially announced today that High Point Solutions, a Sussex County-based technology supplier, has bought the naming rights to Rutgers Stadium. The 52,454-seat bowl will be renamed High Point Solutions Stadium..... The deal will last 10 years and Rutgers will be paid a reported $6.5 million." as well as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
History
The earliest recorded settlers of the area were the Lenape Native Americans; who lived for generations in what they called Lenapehoking, a region spanning present-day New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and parts of New York. In 1666, European settlers from New England obtained deeds for approximately 40,000 acres of land from Lenape leaders. These transactions were recorded by colonial authorities as land purchases under English law. However, historians note that Lenape concepts of land use emphasized communal stewardship rather than permanent private ownership, differing significantly from European legal traditions. As European settlement expanded, these differing interpretations and power imbalances contributed to the gradual dispossession and displacement of the Lenape from their ancestral lands.Brennan, Ray. "History of Rutgers University" , Rutgers Rarities. Accessed December 20, 2019. "The town of Piscataway, in which the modern campuses of Busch and Livingston exist today, was settled in 1666 (not such a lucky number), when four pioneers by the names of John Martin, Charles Gilman, Hugh Dunn, and Hopewell Hull paid the sum of 30 pounds for the 40,000 acres of land. This was the purchase of land already occupied by thousands of Native Americans. According to Meuly's History of Piscataway, 'The Indians who inhabited the area numbered only a few thousand; they belonged to the Lenni Lenape, a tribe of the Algonkian group, who lived along the Middle Atlantic and were far less hostile to the whites than the warlike Iroquois of upper New York.'"
In 1666, the first proprietary Governor of the Province of New Jersey, Philip Carteret, granted 12 new settlers from Massachusetts a 100 square mile allotment of land that was later founded as the townships of Piscataway and Woodbridge.Governors of New Jersey , New Jersey State Library. Accessed August 7, 2014. Similar types of settlements established by religious dissenters fleeing Puritan colonies in New England were being formed in other parts of New Jersey, notably the Elizabethtown Tract in Northern New Jersey near the mouth of the Raritan River and extending upwards into modern day Essex County, and the Monmouth Tract in Central New Jersey near the Raritan Bay and extending southward along the Jersey Shore to the Barnegat Inlet.
Additional settlers from the Piscataqua River area of New Hampshire moved to Piscataway, bringing the name. Coming from a lumbering, shipbuilding and fishing background, these settlers, consisting of mostly Baptists and Quakers, were comfortable with their new surroundings, and looking forward to starting a new life away from political and religious persecution in the north. They were also enterprising and pioneering families who were already experienced in wilderness settlement. Before the original settlers, there were pioneer scouts who surveyed these new lands and waterways. The town name of Piscataway came from these early pioneers who originally came from the town of Piscataqua. During the original land purchase, the pioneers had signed 12 Articles of Agreement with Governor Carteret, which served as the legal basis for the government of Piscataway and Woodbridge and which shaped the democratic development of self-government. In short, these articles were mainly designed to provide liberty and land ownership for new families and to allow them to establish their own government representatives and religious freedoms.
After a few line and boundary changes, Piscataway and its outer plantations were reported to total 40,000 acres, with 66 square miles of land in 1685. The Lenape Native Americans occupied the entire Piscataway area, but were dispelled as the encroachment of European settlers increased. Across multiple generations, the Lenape established defined trails that European settlers appropriated in order to traverse through the wilderness area and partition new lands. Over time, many of these primitive trails became the main routes of travel between communities and became the basis of roads that still exist today. The trails along the Raritan River were named after a local population of Native Americans called the Raritangs. Piscataway Township is the fifth-oldest municipality in New Jersey and among the fifty oldest municipalities in the United States.About Us, Metlar–Bodine House Museum. Accessed December 20, 2019. "Piscataway is distinct in that it is one of the 50 oldest towns in America and the fifth oldest community in New Jersey. The town was founded in 1666. The original land grant was more than 300 square miles and included areas from the eastern edge of the Sourland Mountains, most of Somerset County, and now the towns of: Bound Brook, Middlesex, Dunellen, South Plainfield, Edison, Metuchen, Highland Park, New Brunswick, North and South Brunswick to the Princeton border."
On February 8, 1777, the Battle of Quibbletown, a running battle took place between approximately 2,000 British and Hessian troops under the command of British General Charles Lord Cornwallis and the local patriot militia led by Colonel Charles Scott and a separate militia commanded by Brigadier General Nathaniel Warner.Simmons, Kenneth. "Cannon Dedication Ceremony Commemorates Piscataway's 350th Anniversary (With Video)", TAP into Piscataway, July 27, 2016. Accessed December 20, 2019. "The Battle of Quibbletown occurred February 8, 1777 when the British came under heavy fire by the local militia after one such foray, forcing them to make an escape out of the area after doing battle."
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 18.96 square miles (49.11 km2), including 18.79 square miles (48.68 km2) of land and 0.17 square miles (0.43 km2) of water (0.88%).2019 Census Gazetteer Files: New Jersey Places, United States Census Bureau. Accessed July 1, 2020.US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990, United States Census Bureau. Accessed September 4, 2014.
The township lies on the south side of the Raritan Valley, a line of cities in Central Jersey, along with New Brunswick, Highland Park and South Plainfield. Piscataway is 45 minutes southwest of New York City and 53 minutes northeast of Philadelphia.
Piscataway is bordered by nine municipalities: Dunellen, Edison, Highland Park, Middlesex, New Brunswick and South Plainfield in Middlesex County; Franklin Township and South Bound Brook in Somerset County; and Plainfield in Union County.Areas touching Piscataway Township, MapIt. Accessed March 3, 2020.Municipalities, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Accessed December 1, 2019.New Jersey Municipal Boundaries, New Jersey Department of Transportation. Accessed November 15, 2019.