Hopewell is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

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 sove ...

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 Delawa ...

. This historical settlement is located within the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, the borough's population was 1,918, a decrease of 4 (−0.2%) from the 2010 census count of 1,922, which in turn reflected a decline of 113 (−5.6%) from the 2,035 counted in the 2000 census. Hopewell was incorporated as by the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

on April 14, 1891, from portions of Hopewell Township, based on the results of a referendum held on March 21, 1891. Additional portions of Hopewell Township were annexed in 1915 and the borough was reincorporated in 1924.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 162. Accessed October 26, 2012.

History

Colonial era

The

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

Native Americans were the original inhabitants of the area that would later become Hopewell.History and Historic Sites
Hopewell Borough. Accessed November 27, 2019. The first

Colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

influence in Hopewell by European settlers was the purchase of a tract of land by

Daniel Coxe Daniel Coxe III ( – January 19, 1730) was an English physician and governor of West Jersey from 1687 to 1688 and 1689 to 1692. Biography The Coxe family traced their lineage to a Daniel Coxe who lived in Somersetshire, England, in the 13th ...

a Royal

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

governor of

West Jersey West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was ofte ...

, in the latter half of the 17th century. All land in Hopewell can be traced back to this purchase. In 1691 Coxe, transferred his land to a company called The West Jersey Society of England, who intended to sell the land. The society appointed an agent,

Thomas Revell Thomas Revell (died 1752) was a British victualler and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1752. Revell’s origins are unknown but in 1716 he was a victualling agent at Lisbon. He became a Commissioner of Victualling in 1 ...

, to preside over the land and sell it to prospective buyers. Revell then attracted settlers from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

, and New Jersey falsely claiming that the land was fertile, and tame. However, the families that arrived in Hopewell only found vast stretches of wilderness. The first settler in Hopewell Valley was Thomas Tindall who on November 10, 1699, bought a tract of land from The West Jersey Society of England through Revell, for "ten pounds per hundred acres". Other early settlers in Hopewell are said to be the Stouts, who immigrated from

Holmdel Holmdel Township (usually shortened to Holmdel) is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, being within the regional and cultural influence of the Raritan Bays ...

to Hopewell in 1706, including Jonathan Stout, who had hunted in the area together with the Lenape. Perhaps the first conflict between colonists in Hopewell was the dispute between Revell and the early inhabitants of Hopewell, who realized that their deeds were worthless due to Revell's false claims. Fifty settlers then organized a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit against Revell and the West Jersey Society. A lengthy trial was held in Burlington and the court ultimately ruled against the settlers, who were forced to repurchase their land or relocate. Many settlers weren't able to repay and moved north into

North Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrati ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. On April 23, 1715, the settlers who stayed in Hopewell, most notably the Stout family, organized the Old School Baptist Church, and what is now known as Hopewell was then referred to as "Baptist Meetinghouse". One of the most valued members of the meeting house was Declaration of Independence signer John Hart who in 1740 purchased of land in the north of current day Hopewell, and in 1747 as a sign of Hart's devotion to the Church, donated a plot of his land to the Baptists. The next year the Baptists made good use of this land and in 1748 erected their Old School Baptist Church

meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Ch ...

on West Broad Street. The

brought in

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...

from miles around to Hopewell and encouraged Hopewell's early growth. HOPEWELL ACADEMY SIGN IN HOPEWELL BOROUGH, MERCER NJ

Numerous lumber mills were established in and around Hopewell at this time to process the

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

that was generated from the clearing of forests for farms. In 1756, Isaac Eaton the first pastor of the Old School Baptist Church established the Hopewell Academy. One of his students, James Manning, would go on to establish

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1765.Capuzzo, Jill P
"It's in New Jersey, but It Screams Vermont"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', November 18, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2015. "In 1756, the country's first Baptist secondary school, Hopewell Baptist Academy, was started here. Its graduates went on to found what became Brown University in Rhode Island."

Frog war

The first railroad to reach Hopewell was the Mercer and Somerset Railway, which was backed by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

. It was created largely to protect the monopoly the Pennsylvania Railroad had on New Jersey, by cutting off the first separately owned railroad in New Jersey, the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad, by being built in the way of it. It was completed in 1874. The Delaware and Bound Brook reached Hopewell in 1876, but the railroad had to cross the Mercer and Somerset's track just to the northwest of Hopewell. A dispute occurred at the crossing, known as a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

, and escalated into each company parking locomotives over the crossing to prevent the other company from moving trains over it. Eventually, militia had to be called in to keep the peace, and the Delaware and Bound Brook prevailed. Soon after the Frog War the Mercer and Somerset was liquidated having failed at its purpose. Some of the abandoned right of way for the Mercer and Somerset in Hopewell became Model Avenue. The Delaware and Bound Brook was leased by the Philadelphia and Reading in 1879 for 999 years, and has become the

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

Trenton Line and is still in use today. The Frog is also what gives Hopewell Elementary school its mascot, "Freddy the Frog" in honor of the Hopewell frog war.

The Hopewell Herald

The main source of news for Hopewell Township prior to the 1960s was the Hopewell Herald. The Hopewell Herald was owned, operated, and published by the Savidge family of Hopewell.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the borough had a total area of 0.72 square miles (1.87 km²), all of which was land. The borough is an independent municipality surrounded entirely by Hopewell Township, making it part one of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds another.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Hopewell Borough, New Jersey has a hot-summer, wet all year,

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(''Dfa''). Dfa climates are characterized by at least one month having an average mean temperature ≤ 32.0 °F (≤ 0.0 °C), at least four months with an average mean temperature ≥ 50.0 °F (≥ 10.0 °C), at least one month with an average mean temperature ≥ 71.6 °F (≥ 22.0 °C), and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. During the summer months, episodes of extreme heat and humidity can occur with

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the shade. The result is al ...

values ≥ 100 °F (≥ 38 °C). On average, the wettest month of the year is July which corresponds with the annual peak in

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

activity. During the winter months, episodes of extreme cold and wind can occur with

wind chill Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...

values < 0 °F (< −18 °C). The

plant hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

at the Hopewell Borough Municipal Court is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of −1.2 °F (−18.4 °C).USDA Interactive Plant Hardiness Map

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

. Accessed November 26, 2019. The average seasonal (November–April) snowfall total is , and the average snowiest month is February which corresponds with the annual peak in

nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...

activity.

Ecology

According to the

A. W. Kuchler August William Kuchler (born ''August Wilhelm Küchler''; 1907–1999) was a German-born American geographer and naturalist who is noted for developing a plant association system in widespread use in the United States. Some of this database has bec ...

U.S.

potential natural vegetation In ecology, potential natural vegetation (PNV), also known as Kuchler potential vegetation, is the vegetation that would be expected given environmental constraints (climate, geomorphology, geology) without human intervention or a hazard event ...

types, Hopewell Borough, New Jersey would have an Appalachian Oak (''104'') vegetation type with an Eastern

Hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

Forest (''25'') vegetation form.U.S. Potential Natural Vegetation, Original Kuchler Types, v2.0 (Spatially Adjusted to Correct Geometric Distortions)
Data Basin, Accessed November 26, 2019.

Demographics

2010 census

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...

showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars)

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways ...

was $105,417 (with a margin of error of +/− $8,866) and the median family income was $125,066 (+/− $15,420). Males had a median income of $91,375 (+/− $14,302) versus $55,357 (+/− $11,473) for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the borough was $50,910 (+/− $5,465). About none of families and 0.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including none of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the

2000 United States census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 c ...

there were 2,035 people, 813 households, and 561 families residing in the borough. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 2,963.7 people per square mile (1,138.7/km²). There were 836 housing units at an average density of 1,217.5 per square mile (467.8/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 95.43%

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

, 1.08%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.49% Native American, 0.98% Asian, 1.23% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 2.31% of the population.Census 2000 Profiles of Demographic / Social / Economic / Housing Characteristics for Hopewell borough, New Jersey
,

. Accessed November 19, 2012.DP-1: Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000 - Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data for Hopewell borough, Mercer County, New Jersey
,

. Accessed November 19, 2012. There were 813 households, out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were non-families. 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.01. In the borough, the population was spread out, with 26.1% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 27.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $77,270, and the median income for a family was $91,205. Males had a median income of $52,656 versus $47,315 for females. The

for the borough was $38,413. None of the families and 2.1% of the population were living below the

, including no under eighteens and 5.2% of those over 64.

Government

Local government

Hopewell is governed under the

form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey. The governing body is comprised of the mayor and the borough council, with all positions elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. The mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The borough council is comprised of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle.''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'',

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, March 2013, p. 73. The Borough form of government used by Hopewell is a "

weak mayor Weak may refer to: Songs * "Weak" (AJR song), 2016 * "Weak" (Melanie C song), 2011 * "Weak" (SWV song), 1993 * "Weak" (Skunk Anansie song), 1995 * "Weak", a song by Seether from '' Seether: 2002-2013'' Television episodes * "Weak" (''Fear t ...

/ strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. All legislative powers of the Borough of Hopewell are exercised by the borough council in the form of a resolution, ordinance or proclamation. , the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Hopewell is Democrat Paul Anzano, whose term expires December 31, 2023. Members of the borough council are Council President Charles Schuyler "Sky" Morehouse ( R, 2023), Chris M. Fossell (D, 2022), Ryan Kennedy (D, 2023), David Mackie (D, 2022), Samara McAuliffe (D, 2024) and Debra Stuhler (D, 2024). Mayor and Borough Council
Hopewell Borough. Accessed May 5, 2022. "Hopewell Borough operates under the Borough form of government and has done so since 1891. The major components to this system of government are the Mayor/Council and a Borough Administrator. The Borough Council is the legislative body, establishing town policies, while the Borough Administrator is designated to carry out the directives of the Mayor and Council. Our Borough Council consists six at large Council members who serve 3 year terms. The Mayor is separately elected and serves a 4 year term."Mercer County Elected Officials

Mercer County, New Jersey Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Trenton, also the state capital, but also directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is included within the Federal Communications Commission ...

, as of January 6, 2021. Accessed April 28, 2022.General Election November 2, 2021 Official Results

, updated November 20, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022.General Election November 3, 2020 Official Results

, updated November 20, 2020. Accessed January 1, 2021.General Election November 2019 Official Results (Amended November 25, 2019)

, updated December 9, 2019. Accessed January 1, 2020.

Public library

The Hopewell Public Library was founded March 14, 1914, and was originally located at Broad and Mercer Streets in an old harness shop. The Hopewell Post Office had replaced the old bank building in 1915 and the Hopewell Public Library moved to its current location in the old Hopewell National Bank building in 1965.Johnson, Kelley
"Hopewell library looks for a more compliant work space as it celebrates 100th birthday"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', March 18, 2014, updated March 29, 2019. Accessed November 27, 2019. "The current red building was erected in 1890 and served as a home for the Hopewell National Bank. The library was founded inside an old harness shop on March 14, 1914, moved into a museum building in the 1920s and later moved to the current location in the old bank building." In 2014, the library began looking for a new space, citing the lack of a parking lot and non-ADA compliant steps an issue with serving the general public. The library estimated that it needed to raise $1.2 million to cover the cost of the new building.

Federal, state and county representation

Hopewell Borough is located in the 12th Congressional DistrictPlan Components Report
New Jersey Redistricting Commission, December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020. and is part of New Jersey's 15th state legislative district.Municipalities Sorted by 2011-2020 Legislative District

New Jersey Department of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as ...

. Accessed February 1, 2020.''2019 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government''
New Jersey

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

. Accessed October 30, 2019.

Politics

As of March 2011, there were a total of 1,473 registered voters in Hopewell Borough, of which 664 (45.1%) were registered as Democrats, 264 (17.9%) were registered as Republicans and 544 (36.9%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There was one voter registered to the Green Party. In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

received 71.4% of the vote (815 cast), ahead of Republican

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts ...

with 27.4% (313 votes), and other candidates with 1.1% (13 votes), among the 1,256 ballots cast by the borough's 1,530 registered voters (115 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 82.1%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 71.7% of the vote (841 cast), ahead of Republican

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two te ...

with 26.0% (305 votes) and other candidates with 1.3% (15 votes), among the 1,173 ballots cast by the borough's 1,493 registered voters, for a turnout of 78.6%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

received 65.0% of the vote (789 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush with 32.6% (395 votes) and other candidates with 0.6% (9 votes), among the 1,213 ballots cast by the borough's 1,437 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 84.4. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat

Barbara Buono Barbara A. Buono (born July 28, 1953) is an American politician who served in the New Jersey Senate from 2002 to 2014, where she represented the 18th Legislative District. She served from 2010 to 2012 as the Majority Leader in the Senate, succ ...

received 53.3% of the vote (416 cast), ahead of Republican

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

with 44.0% (344 votes), and other candidates with 2.7% (21 votes), among the 792 ballots cast by the borough's 1,518 registered voters (11 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 52.2%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

received 56.7% of the vote (511 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 32.3% (291 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 10.0% (90 votes) and other candidates with 0.6% (5 votes), among the 902 ballots cast by the borough's 1,466 registered voters, yielding a 61.5% turnout.

Education

Public school students in

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

attend the

Hopewell Valley Regional School District The Hopewell Valley Regional School District is a comprehensive regional public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from three communities in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.

.''2017-2018 Mercer County Charter and Public Schools Directory''

. Accessed November 15, 2019. The comprehensive regional public

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, w ...

serves students from Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township and Pennington Borough. As of the 2019–20 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 3,467 students and 351.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...

of 9.9:1.District information for Hopewell Valley Regional School District

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district financ ...

. Accessed April 1, 2021. Schools in the district (with 2019–20 enrollment data from the

) are Bear Tavern Elementary School with 397 students in grades Pre-K–5, Hopewell Elementary School with 400 students in grades Pre-K–5, Stony Brook Elementary School with 378 students in grades K–5, Toll Gate Grammar School with 306 students in grades K–5, Timberlane Middle School with 820 students in grades 6–8 and

Hopewell Valley Central High School Hopewell Valley Central High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school operating as part of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Townshi ...

with 1,097 students in grades 9–12. Elementary school students from Hopewell Borough attend Hopewell Elementary School. The district's board of education is composed of nine members allocated to each of the three municipalities based on population, with Hopewell assigned a single seat. Eighth grade students from all of Mercer County are eligible to apply to attend the high school programs offered by the

Mercer County Technical Schools Mercer County Technical Schools (MCTS), also known as the Area Vocational Technical Schools of Mercer County, is a countywide vocational public school district based in Trenton, serving the high school-aged population of Mercer County, New J ...

, a county-wide vocational school district that offers full-time career and technical education at its Health Sciences Academy, STEM Academy and Academy of Culinary Arts, with no tuition charged to students for attendance.

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the borough had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality and by Mercer County. Hopewell has four major roads that travel through it. * County Route 518 enters Hopewell from due west having come from Lambertville and then turns slightly northward, joining West Broad Street. Route 518 then runs through Hopewell and exits Hopewell in the East and heads towards Rocky Hill. *Pennington Hopewell Road (County Route 654) enters Hopewell from roughly the southwest, and immediately becomes West Broad Street when it enters Hopewell. It connects Hopewell with Pennington to the south. *Princeton Avenue, County Route 569 starts at Broad Street and continues south and becomes Hopewell-Princeton Road, and connects Hopewell with

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

. *Greenwood Avenue runs north out of Hopewell and connects Hopewell with East Amwell Township. Route 31 is accessible via Route 518 and Route 654.

Rail

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

is planning to restore passenger commuter rail service to Hopewell on the West Trenton Line. NJ Transit plans to use the existing one-track right of way that

owns through Hopewell, the former four-track

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

Trenton Line. The proposed plan includes double tracking most of the CSX line to increase capacity and construction of a new rail station on Somerset Street. The use of the historic Hopewell Station is not under consideration in this current proposal. The line would connect Hopewell with

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as well as

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

via a

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five c ...

connection in West Trenton and restore service to Hopewell, which ended in 1982.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Hopewell include: *

Danielia Cotton Danielia Cotton (born Danielia Brooks on September 24, 1967) is an American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist. Early life Cotton grew up in the small western New Jersey town of Hopewell, New Jersey, population 2,010. She was one of four si ...

(born 1967), singer-songwriter * John Hart (–1779), signer of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

. His grave is located in the First Baptist Church graveyard on Broad Street * Amy Locane (born 1971), television and film actress who appeared in

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

' 1990 musical comedy ''

Cry-Baby ''Cry-Baby'' is a 1990 American teen musical romantic comedy film written and directed by John Waters. It was the only film of Waters's over which studios were in a bidding war, coming off the heels of the successful '' Hairspray''. The film s ...

'' and in the first season of the prime time soap opera ''

Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, i ...

'' * Josiah Lincoln Lowe (1905–1997),

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as ...

who served as president of the

Mycological Society of America The Mycological Society of America (MSA) is a learned society that serves as the professional organization of mycologists in the U.S. and Canada. It was founded in 1932. The Society's constitution states that "The purpose of the Society is to prom ...

* Leo Halpin Mahony (born 1931), architect of Mahony & Zvosec * James W. Marshall (1810–1885),

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

operator, whose 1848 find of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

in the

American River , name_etymology = , image = American River CA.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = The American River at Folsom , map = Americanrivermap.png , map_size = 300 , map_caption ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

was the impetus for the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

Richard Preston Richard Preston (born August 5, 1954) is a writer for ''The New Yorker'' and bestselling author who has written books about infectious disease, bioterrorism, redwoods and other subjects, as well as fiction. Biography Preston was born in Cambri ...

(born 1954), author of ''

The Hot Zone ''The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story'' is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book ...

'' * Keith Robertson (1914–1991), author of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

via

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

"Keith Robertson, author"
''

Bangor Daily News The ''Bangor Daily News'' is an American newspaper covering a large portion of central and eastern Maine, published six days per week in Bangor, Maine. The ''Bangor Daily News'' was founded on June 18, 1889; it merged with the ''Bangor Whig an ...

'', October 1, 1991. Accessed February 15, 2011. "Keith Carlton Robertson, who wrote the Henry Reed series of children's books, has died of cancer. He was 77. He died Sept. 23 at his home in Hopewell."

References

External links

Hopewell Borough web site

Hopewell Valley School District
*
School Data for the Hopewell Valley Regional School District

{{authority control 1891 establishments in New Jersey Borough form of New Jersey government Boroughs in Mercer County, New Jersey Populated places established in 1891