Berrien City, also known simply as Berrien, 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 ...

located within West Windsor 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 ...

. The neighborhood is located within the Princeton Junction

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 ...

centered about the intersection of Alexander Road and Scott Avenue, located within walking distance of the Princeton Junction train station and Princeton-Hightstown Road (County Route 571). Berrien City was West Windsor's first planned development. Historically, it expanded in three major stages in the 1910s-20s. First was Scott Montgomery Berrien's "Berrien Heights" starting in 1916, consisting of 72 lots of uniform size surrounding Berrien Avenue and Montgomery Street. In 1924, his son - Alexander Lawrence Berrien - presented plans for an additional 42 lots, which, along with the 72 original lots, was called "Berrien City." These plans also introduced more roads: Lillie Street, Scott Avenue, and Emil Street, which were, respectively, named after his sister, father, and brother-in-law. Finally, in 1926, Michael McLaughlin, a real-estate developer, introduced "Princeton Gardens," consisting of 201 lots on both sides of the nearby

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...

railroad tracks. Only a portion of these lots were developed, all on the southeast side of the tracks. Princeton Gardens also incorporated a final street: Borosko Place, named after a local Hungarian family. Over time, all three developments - Berrien Heights, Berrien City, and Princeton Gardens - became collectively known as "Berrien City." In 1926, the community incorporated the "Berrien City Fire Company" - now the Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Co. Its firehouse opened in 1931 at 952 Alexander Road. During World War II this building served as a civil defense station, and - briefly - a post office. In 2010, the building became the West Windsor Arts Center, managed by the West Windsor Arts Council. BERRIEN CITY MAP

Early homeowners in Berrien City often bought empty lots and constructed houses of their own, often with the help of neighbors and sometimes with kits provided by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

, Roebuck, and Weyerhauser. Some homes still incorporate leftover materials from the Pennsylvania Railroad. A number of families operated businesses out of their homes. "Howard's Luncheonette" set up shop at 948 Alexander Road in the 1950s, replacing an older general store. From the 1940s-1970s, the Princeton Junction post office was in this building as well. It was later replaced by an Italian eatery called Galletta's Galley, then Brother's Pizza in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Next door is Sal's Shoe Repair Shop, a longtime cobbler. From the 1970s until 2015,

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

and Abel Prize laureate

John Forbes Nash Jr. John Forbes Nash Jr. (June 13, 1928 – May 23, 2015), known and published as John Nash, was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differentia ...

lived in Berrien City. Actor

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

also lived here for some time in the 1980s while attending

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (known locally as WW-P South or South) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Princeton Junction section of West Windsor in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, ser ...

. In 2019, the Historical Society of West Windsor published a website documenting West Windsor Township's history, including that of Berrien City.

References

West Windsor, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Mercer County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey {{MercerCountyNJ-geo-stub