Mercerville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) located within Hamilton Township, in Mercer County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. As of the 2020 census, the CDP's population was 13,447. Until after the 2000 census, the area was part of the

Mercerville-Hamilton Square Mercerville-Hamilton Square is a census-designated place and Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities, unincorporated community located within Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Hamilton Township, in Mercer County, Ne ...

CDP. For the 2010 Census it was split into two CDPs, Mercerville and

Hamilton Square Hamilton Square is a town square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. The Georgian square, which was designed by Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, has the most Grade I listed buildings outside London (after Trafalgar Square). It is named ...

History

Many historical markers in Mercerville detail the path of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

under the command of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

through the area during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Several are related to their night march from the

Second Battle of Trenton The Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, was a battle between American and British troops that took place in and around Trenton, New Jersey, on January 2, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, ...

to the

Battle of Princeton The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777, and ending in a small victory for the Colonials. General Lord Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the comma ...

. Originally called "Sandtown", Mercerville is named after General

Hugh Mercer Hugh Mercer (January 16, 1726 – January 12, 1777) was a Scottish brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He fought in the New York and New Jersey campaign and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Pri ...

, who died on January 12, 1777, due to wounds incurred at the Battle of Princeton. Hamilton Square was renamed after

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

, during a wave of anti-British sentiment at the time of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. It previously had been called

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

after the British town.

Geography

Mercerville is in southern Mercer County, built around a major intersection known as Five Points. It is bordered to the east by

, and the center of Trenton, the state capital, is to the west. Five Points is the junction of (starting north and heading clockwise): Quaker Bridge Road ( County Route 533), Edinburg Road ( CR 535), Nottingham Way ( CR 618),

White Horse A white horse is born predominantly white and stays white throughout its life. A white horse has mostly pink skin under its hair coat, and may have brown, blue, or hazel eyes. "True white" horses, especially those that carry one of the dominant w ...

-Mercerville Road (CR 533), and Nottingham Way (CR 535).

New Jersey Route 33 Route 33 is a List of state highways in New Jersey, state highway in the central part of the US state of New Jersey. The highway extends , from an interchange with U.S. Route 1 in New Jersey, U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Trenton, New Jer ...

runs east and west to the south of this intersection. Except for Nottingham Way east of Five Points, the preceding roads contain most of Mercerville's commercial businesses. Interstate 295 passes through the west side of Mercerville, with access to NJ 33 from Exit 63 and partial access to East State Street from Exit 64. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Mercerville CDP has a total area of , including of land and of water (0.86%). The community drains north toward Miry Run and south toward Pond Run, both west-flowing tributaries of

Assunpink Creek Assunpink Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in western New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden S ...

and part of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

watershed.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 13,230 people, 5,028 households, and 3,605 families in the CDP. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 5,246 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 88.81% (11,749)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.98% (527) Black or African American, 0.22% (29) Native American, 3.67% (486) Asian, 0.04% (5)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.90% (252) from other races, and 1.38% (182) from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 6.86% (907) of the population.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data for Mercerville CDP, New Jersey

. Accessed November 21, 2012. Of the 5,028 households, 28.9% had children under the age of 18; 57.8% were married couples living together; 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present and 28.3% were non-families. Of all households, 22.9% were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.06. 20.7% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 29.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.1 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 90.1 males.

Education

All of Hamilton Township, including Mercerville, is served by the Hamilton Township School District. Most high school students in Mercerville attend

Nottingham High School Nottingham High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private fee-charging day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, England, with an infant and junior school (ages 4–11) and senior school (ages 11–18). There were 1177 stu ...

.School Finder
Hamilton Township School District. Accessed September 24, 2024.

References

{{Mercer County, New Jersey Census-designated places in Mercer County, New Jersey Census-designated places in New Jersey Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey