Franklin Park is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

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 count ...

(CDP) located within Franklin Township, in Somerset County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States.GCT-PH1 - Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 - County -- County Subdivision and Place from the 2010 Census Summary File 1 for Somerset County, New Jersey
,

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. Accessed February 11, 2013.New Jersey: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts - 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH-2-32)

, August 2012. Accessed February 11, 2013.Locality Search
State of

. Accessed April 18, 2015. As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

, the CDP's population was 13,295.

Route 27 Route 27, or Highway 27, may refer to: Australia * Burke Developmental Road (Queensland) * Zeehan Highway (Tasmania) Canada * Alberta Highway 27 * British Columbia Highway 27 * Manitoba Highway 27 * Prince Edward Island Route 27 * Saskatchew ...

(historically known as Old Road/King's Highway and once part of the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

system) bisects the village and serves as the dividing line between the two counties. Brahms, William B., ''Franklin Township, Somerset County, NJ: A History'', FTPL; , page 412 The adjacent sections of South Brunswick and North Brunswick, Middlesex County on the east side of Route 27 are also known as Franklin Park, but are not included within the CDP's boundaries. The area is served as

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

ZIP code 08823.

History

The original name for Franklin Park was " Six Mile Run", which was named for the tributary of the

Millstone River The Millstone River is a tributary of the Raritan River in central New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2002. The Millstone River begins in western Monmouth County and flows westward throu ...

that flows through the area and first came to importance about 1710. In that year a congregation of the

Six Mile Run Reformed Church The Six Mile Run Reformed Church is in the Six Mile Run section of Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey. It takes its name from Six Mile Run, a tributary of the Millstone River that flows through the area. History The congregatio ...

was formed making it the oldest congregation in Franklin Township and remains an important part of the community. The first building was replaced by a new building in 1766 and was later replaced in 1817 by a third structure on the same site. The current building replaced the 1817 church that was destroyed by fire in 1879. The Frelinghuysen Memorial Chapel was added in 1907 and the Fellowship Hall was dedicated in 1958. Franklin Park, then Six Mile Run, served as the first site of the Somerset County Courthouse and jail from 1714 until 1737 when a fire destroyed the building and the county seat was moved to

Millstone, New Jersey Millstone is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It was originally known as Somerset Courthouse and was the county seat. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 418,

. Occasionally Franklin Park was referred to as Somerset Courthouse during the time the courthouse was located here. A commemorative marker is located on Route 27 between Clover Place and Bennington Parkway near the original courthouse site. Several early taverns were established here and welcomed travelers using King's Highway while headed towards

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and

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going north and

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, Trenton and

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going south. Wood's Tavern was operating by 1745 and Gifford's Tavern by the 1760s. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson are known to have stopped at Gifford's Tavern. In 1874, Gifford's Tavern was replaced by the 26-room Beekman's Hotel, aka Franklin House, which operated until it was destroyed by a major fire in 1929. The building occupied by Chauncey's Restaurant (now demolished) was purportedly once a barn of the Beekman's Hotel. The first post office in Franklin Township was established here in 1826. The name of the community was formally changed from Six Mile Run to Franklin Park on June 25, 1872. Brahms, William B. ''Franklin Township, Somerset County, NJ: A History'', FTPL; page 414 In the late 19th century in addition to the Beekman's Hotel and another known as Manley's Hotel and the Six Mile Run Reformed Church, the community included a wagon factory, blacksmith, wheelwright, butcher, hay scales, ice house, a school, and a general store called Hullfish's Store, as well as residences for about 110 people. Today many of the historic commercial buildings are gone but newer commercial buildings have taken their place to serve the rapidly growing population in the surrounding area. The former Franklin Park School on Route 27, built in 1909, was a two-room building until three more rooms were added in 1931. Renamed the Phillips School in 1954 in honor of Jane E. Phillips, who had earlier invested in a school to be built by that name in honor of her late husband at Ten Mile Run (closed since 1931) and established a trust fund for graduates of the Phillips school to attend New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton (most recently known as

The College of New Jersey The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, or ...

), it ceased being used as a public school in 1976. The building was then used by Franklin Township's Recreation Department until 1993 when it was abandoned due to structural problems. After being sold and renovated, it reopened as a privately run pre-school. The current Franklin Park School section located between Hillview and Central Avenue is the original ten room building constructed in 1957. In 1998, a major expansion, accessed from Eden Road, was completed increasing enrollment capacity from about 130 to over 900 students. Franklin Park has been served by the Franklin Park Volunteer Fire Company since 1936. Originally housed in the converted South Middlebush one-room schoolhouse that had been relocated to Route 27 in Franklin Park, the company had to build a new building after an oil stove fire destroyed the first firehouse in 1946. Most of the

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letters had the address of Franklin Park.

Geography

According to the

, Franklin Park had a total area of 2.607 square miles (6.750 km²), including 2.605 square miles (6.746 km²) of land and 0.002 square miles (0.004 km²) of water (0.06%).

Demographics

Census 2010

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Franklin Park include: * Clifford P. Case (1904–1982), member of the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

for 18 years and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives before that, who spent his childhood in Franklin Park while his father served as the minister at the Reformed Church. * Bruce Williams (1932-2019), radio host and former mayor of Franklin Township.Feinberg, Andrew
"MEET BRUCE WILLIAMS, THE BUSIEST MONEYMAN ON AMERICAN RADIO"

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, January 1, 1996. Accessed February 12, 2013. "His success yields a compensation package in the low seven figures and helps explain how he can afford his new 6,000-square-foot home looking over the Gulf of Mexico and his three-bedroom colonial in Franklin Park, N.J."

References

{{Middlesex County, New Jersey Census-designated places in Somerset County, New Jersey Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey North Brunswick, New Jersey South Brunswick, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Middlesex County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Somerset County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey