The Municipality of Princeton is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...

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's ...

, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the

Borough of Princeton The Borough of Princeton was a borough of New Jersey that existed from 1813 until the end of 2012. On January 1, 2013, it merged with Princeton Township to form Princeton, New Jersey; both the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township were d ...

and Princeton Township, both of which are now defunct. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 30,681, an increase of 2,109 (+7.4%) from the 2010 census combined count of 28,572. In the 2000 census, the two communities had a total population of 30,230, with 14,203 residents in the borough and 16,027 in the township. Princeton was founded before 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 ...

. The borough is the home of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, one of the world's most acclaimed

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

universities, which bears its name and moved to the community in 1756 from the educational institution's previous location in Newark. Although its association with the university is primarily what makes Princeton a

college town A college town or university town is a town or city whose character is dominated by a college or university and their associated culture, often characterised by the student population making up 20 percent of the population of the community, bu ...

, other important institutions in the area include the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an energy source. It is know ...

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

Opinion Research Corporation Opinion Research Corporation is a demographic, health, and market research company based in Princeton, New Jersey, US. It was founded in 1938 by Claude Robinson and George Gallup, although Gallup left the firm in 1939. Opinion Research Corp wa ...

Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consist ...

, Siemens Corporate Research,

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...

FMC Corporation FMC Corporation is an American chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries. In 1941 at the beginning of US involvemen ...

Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service (ETS), founded in 1947, is the world's largest private educational testing and assessment organization. It is headquartered in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Lawrence Township, New Jersey, but has a P ...

, the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

, Amrep,

Church and Dwight Church & Dwight Co., Inc. is an American consumer goods company focusing on personal care, household products, and specialty products. The company was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Ewing, New Jersey. It is the parent company of well-kno ...

Berlitz International Berlitz Corporation is a language education and leadership training company which is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. Berlitz Corporation is o ...

, and

Dow Jones & Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (also known simply as Dow Jones) is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp, and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Barron's'', '' MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'' ...

. Princeton is roughly equidistant from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It is close to many major highways that serve both cities (e.g.,

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

and

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

), and receives major television and radio broadcasts from each. It is also close to Trenton, New Jersey's capital city,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

and Edison. The New Jersey governor's official residence has been in Princeton since 1945, when Morven (in what was then Princeton Borough) became the first governor's mansion. In 1982, it was replaced by the larger Drumthwacket, a colonial mansion located in the former township, but not all have actually lived in these houses. Morven became a museum and garden, owned and operated by the

New Jersey Historical Society The New Jersey Historical Society is a historical society and museum located in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The Historical Society is housed in the former headquarters of the Essex Club. It has two floors of exhibition spac ...

. Throughout much of its history, the community was split into two separate municipalities: a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and a

. The central borough was completely surrounded by the township. The borough seceded from the township in 1894 in a dispute over school taxes; the two municipalities later formed

Princeton Public Schools Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Princeton, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, and some other public services were conducted together before they were reunited into a single Princeton in January 2013. Princeton Borough contained Nassau Street, the main commercial street, most of the university campus, and incorporated most of the urban area until the postwar suburbanization. The borough and township had roughly equal populations. Other major streets include Harrison, Witherspoon, Nassau, Bayard, Washington, and Stockton.

History

Early history

The

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

Native Americans were the earliest identifiable inhabitants of the Princeton area. Europeans settled into the area in the late part of the 17th century, arriving from Delaware to settle

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 often ...

, and from New York to settle

East Jersey The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

, with the site destined to become Princeton being amid the wilderness between these two boroughs. The first European to find his home in the boundaries of the future municipality was Henry Greenland. He built his house in 1683 along with a tavern, where representatives of West and East Jersey met to set the boundaries between the two provinces.A Brief History of Princeton
, Princeton, New Jersey. Accessed November 29, 2019. "In 1683 a New Englander named Henry Greenland built a house on the highway which is believed to be the first by a European within the present municipal boundaries. He opened it as a 'house of accommodation' or tavern.... East Jersey and West Jersey representatives met in 1683 at Greenland's tavern to establish their common boundary." Greenland's son-in-law Daniel Brimson inhabited the area by 1690, and left property in a will dated 1696. Then, Princeton was known only as part of nearby Stony Brook. Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, a native of the town, attested in his private journal on December 28, 1758, that Princeton was named in 1724 upon the making/construction of the first house in the area by James Leonard, who first referred to the community as ''Princetown'' when describing the location of his large estate in his diary.Woodward, E.M.; Hageman, John F
''History of Burlington and Mercer counties. New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of their Pioneers and Prominent Men''
Everts & Peck, Philadelphia, 1883. The community was later known by a variety of names, including: ''Princetown'', ''Prince's Town'' and finally ''Princeton''.Hageman, John Frelinghuysen

/ref> The name Princeton was first used in 1724 and became common within the subsequent decade. Although there is no official documentary backing, the municipality is said to be named after

Prince William of Orange William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 167 ...

. Another theory suggests that the name came from a large land-owner named Henry Prince, the son-in-law of a well-known English merchant, but no evidence backs this contention. A royal prince seems a more likely eponym for the settlement, as three nearby towns had names for royalty:

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, Queenstown (in the vicinity of the intersection of Nassau and Harrison Streets) and Princessville (Lawrence Township). Princeton was described by William Edward Schenck in 1850 as having attained "no very considerable size" until the establishment of the College of New Jersey in the town. When Richard Stockton, one of the founders of the township, died in 1709 he left his estate to his sons, who helped to expand property and the population. Based on the

1880 United States census The 1880 United States census, conducted by the Census Office during June 1880, was the tenth United States census. Local population has expanded from the nineteenth century. According to the 2010 census, Princeton Borough had 12,307 inhabitants, while Princeton Township had 16,265. The numbers have become stagnant; since the arrival of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1756, the town's population spikes every year during the fall and winter and drops significantly over the course of the summer.

Revolution

In the pivotal

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 ...

in January 1777,

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 ...

forced the British to evacuate southern New Jersey. After the victory, Princeton hosted the first Legislature under the State Constitution to decide the State's seal, governor and organization of its government. In addition, two of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence— Richard Stockton and

John Witherspoon John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense real ...

—lived in Princeton. Princetonians honored their citizens' legacy by naming two streets in the downtown area after them. On January 10, 1938, Henry Ewing Hale called for a group of citizens to establish a "Historical Society of Princeton". Later the Bainbridge House, constructed in 1766 by Job Stockton, would be dedicated for this purpose. Previously the house was used once for a meeting of

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

in 1783, a general office, and as the Princeton Public Library. The House is owned by Princeton University and is leased to the Princeton Historical Society for one dollar per year. The house has kept its original staircase, flooring and paneled walls. Around 70% of the house has been unaltered. Aside from safety features such as wheelchair access and electrical work, the house has been restored to its original appearance and character.

Government history

During the most stirring events in its history, Princeton was a wide spot in the road; the boundary between Somerset County and Middlesex County ran right through Princeton, along the high road between New York and Philadelphia, now Nassau Street. When Mercer County was formed in 1838, part of West Windsor Township was added to the portion of Montgomery Township which was included in the new county, and made into Princeton Township; the area between the southern boundary of the former Borough and the

Delaware and Raritan Canal The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that connects the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and ...

was added to Princeton Township in 1853. Princeton Borough became a separate municipality in 1894. In the early nineteenth century, New Jersey boroughs had been quasi-independent subdivisions chartered within existing townships that did not have full autonomy. Princeton Borough received such a charter in 1813, as part of Montgomery and West Windsor Townships; it continued to be part of Princeton Township until the Borough Act of 1894, which required each township to form a single school district; rather than do so, Princeton Borough petitioned to be separated. (The two Princetons combined their public school systems in the decades before municipal consolidation.) Two minor boundary changes united the then site of the Princeton Hospital and of the Princeton Regional High School inside the Borough, in 1928 and 1951 respectively.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. See p. 23 and 164, which cites the Acts of the NJ Legislature 1843, p. 67; 1853, p. 361, for the changes of those years. Accessed May 30, 2024. See the section on "government and politics" for more details about the 2011 merger of borough and township.

Geography

Princeton is located just south of a long, curving ridge known as Princeton Ridge. As Princeton is in a low-lying area, there have been issues with cell phone signals. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, Princeton had a total area of 18.41 square miles (47.69 km²), including 17.95 square miles (46.48 km²) of land and 0.47 square miles (1.21 km²) of water (2.53%). Cedar Grove, Port Mercer, Princeton Basin, and Jugtown are

unincorporated communities 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 ...

that have been absorbed into Greater Princeton over the years, but still maintain their own community identity. Princeton borders the municipalities of Hopewell Township, Lawrence Township, and West Windsor Township in Mercer County; Plainsboro Township and South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County; and Franklin Township and Montgomery Township in Somerset County. United States Postal ZIP codes for Princeton include 08540, 08541 (

), 08542 (largely the old Borough), 08543 (

PO box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door-to-door delivery ...

es), and 08544 (the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Climate

Under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Princeton falls within either a

hot-summer 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 cold ...

(''Dfa'') if the isotherm is used or a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(''Cfa'') if the isotherm is used. 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 shade (shadow), 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 (s ...

values at or above . 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 acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

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

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

values below . 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 widely ...

at the Princeton Municipal Court is 6b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of .USDA Interactive Plant Hardiness Map
,

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. 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) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...

activity.

Ecology

According to the

A. W. Kuchler August William Kuchler (born ''August Wilhelm Küchler''; 26 July 1907 – 17 June 1999) was a German-born American geographer and naturalist who is noted for developing a plant association system that has become widely used in the United Sta ...

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, Princeton, New Jersey, would have an Appalachian

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

(''104'') vegetation type with an Eastern

Hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

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

Data Basin Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted formally ...

. Accessed November 26, 2019.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, the borough and township had a combined population of 28,572.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Princeton township, Mercer County, New Jersey
,

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 ...

. Accessed August 20, 2012.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 for Princeton borough, Mercer County, New Jersey
,

. Accessed November 20, 2012. According to the website Data USA, Princeton has a population of 30,168 people, of which 85% are US citizens. The ethnic composition of the population is 20,393 White residents (67.6%), 4,636 Asian residents (15.4%), 2,533 Hispanic residents (8.4%), 1,819 Black residents (6.03%), and 618 Two+ residents (2.05%). The most common foreign languages are Chinese (1,800 speakers), Spanish (1,429 speakers), and French (618 speakers), but compared to other places, Princeton has a relatively high number of speakers of Scandinavian languages (425 speakers), Italian (465 speakers), and German (1,000 speakers).

Government and politics

Local government

Princeton 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 tha ...

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 includes 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. The borough form of government used by Princeton 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" (''Fe ...

/ 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 (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

ordinances subject to an

override Override may refer to: Technology * Manual override, a function where an automated system is placed under manual control * Method overriding, a subclassing feature in object-oriented programming languages. Media * ''Override'' (film), a 1994 sci ...

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.Governing Body
, Princeton, New Jersey. Accessed January 1, 2013. The mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office, serves as Princeton's chief executive officer and nominates appointees to various boards and commissions subject to approval of the council. The mayor presides at council meetings and votes in the case of a tie or a few other specific cases. The council consists 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. The council has administrative powers and is the policy-making body for Princeton. The council approves appointments made by the mayor. Council members serve on various boards and committees and act as liaisons to certain departments, committees or boards. , the mayor of Princeton is

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Mark Freda, who is serving a four-year term expiring on December 31, 2028.Mayor Mark Freda
, Municipality of Princeton. Accessed April 23, 2023. Members of the Princeton Council are Council President Mia Sacks (D, 2026), David F. Cohen (D, 2027), Leticia Fraga (D, 2027), Michelle Pirone Lambros (D, 2026), Leighton Newlin (D, 2027) and Brian McDonald (D, 2027).Council
, Municipality of Princeton. Accessed April 23, 2023.Mercer County Elected Officials
,

, as of January 2022. Accessed February 24, 2023.General Election November 8, 2022 Results
,

Clerk, updated November 8, 2022. Accessed January 1, 2023.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. In 2018, Princeton had an average property tax bill of $19,388, the highest in the county, compared to an average bill of $8,767 statewide.

Merger of borough and township

People in the township tried unsuccessfully to merge borough and township in a struggle that lasted nearly fifty years. The first failed attempt to consolidate borough and township was made in 1953, with 63% of township voters in favor of a merger and 57% of borough voters opposed. Subsequent attempts were voted down by borough residents, in large part due to different zoning needs of the densely populated borough versus the more widely spaced properties of the township (surrounding the borough). An attempt to consolidate in 1979 passed with 70% support in the township but failed in the borough by 33 votes, a result that was upheld after a recount. Although township voters again supported a 1996 merger referendum by an almost 3–1 margin, about 57% of borough voters rejected the consolidation proposal, marking the sixth such failure. The residents of both the Borough of Princeton and the Township of Princeton voted on November 8, 2011, to merge the two municipalities into one. This was the first referendum when university student voters were encouraged and allowed to register to vote locally, and that likely contributed strongly to the measure passing, as the students were not home owners concerned with zoning matters, and they all counted as part of the borough and not the township. In Princeton Borough, 1,385 voted for and 902 voted against, while in Princeton Township 3,542 voted for and 604 voted against. Proponents of the merger asserted that when the merger is completed the new Municipality of Princeton would save $3.2 million as a result of some scaled down services including layoffs of 15 government workers including 9 police officers (however the measure itself does not mandate such layoffs). Opponents of the measure challenged the findings of a report citing a cost savings as unsubstantiated, expressed concerns about differing zoning needs between borough and township, and noted that voter representation would be reduced in a smaller government structure. The merger was the first in the state since 1997, when Pahaquarry Township voted to consolidate with Hardwick Township The consolidation took effect on January 1, 2013.

Federal, state and county representation

Princeton is located in the 12th Congressional DistrictPlan Components Report
,

New Jersey Redistricting Commission The New Jersey Redistricting Commission is a constitutional body of the government of New Jersey tasked with redrawing the state's Congressional election districts after each decade's census. Like Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington ...

, December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020. and is part of New Jersey's 16th 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 New Jersey State Council on the Arts, artistic, cultural, and New Jersey Historical Com ...

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

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

. Accessed October 30, 2019.

Politics

As of March 2011, there were a total of 18,049 registered voters in Princeton (a sum of the former borough and township's voters), of which 9,184 (50.9%) were registered as Democrats, 2,140 (11.9%) were registered as

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and 6,703 (37.1%) were registered as unaffiliated. There were 22 voters registered as

Libertarians Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

or Greens. In the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

presidential elections, the Democratic nominee received over 80% of the vote. Since at least

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, that year's and the

2024 presidential election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. *2024 United Nations Security Council election *2024 national electoral calendar *2024 local electoral ...

were the only elections where the Republican nominee earned over 15% of the vote in the borough. In the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, Democrat

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

received 75.4% of the vote (9,461 cast), ahead of Republican

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

with 23.0% (2,882 votes), and other candidates with 1.6% (205 votes), among the 14,752 ballots cast by the municipality's 20,328 registered voters (2,204 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 72.6%. 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 58.8% of the vote (4,172 cast), ahead of Republican

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...

with 39.2% (2,780 votes), and other candidates with 2.0% (145 votes), among the 7,279 ballots cast by the municipality's 18,374 registered voters (182 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 39.6%.

Education

Colleges and universities

, one of the world's most prominent

universities, is a dominant feature of the community. Established in 1746 as the College of New Jersey and relocated to Princeton ten years later, Princeton University's main campus has its historic center on Nassau Street and stretches south from there. Its James Forrestal satellite campus is located in Plainsboro Township, and some playing fields lie within adjacent West Windsor Township. Princeton University was featured at the top of '' U.S. News & World Report''s national university rankings for the ninth consecutive year in 2024, as well as topping comparable lists by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''.

, the first and oldest seminary in America of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has its main academic campus in Princeton, with residential housing located just outside of Princeton in West Windsor Township. The

maintains extensive land holdings (the "Institute Woods") there covering .

Mercer County Community College Mercer County Community College (MCCC) is a Public university, public, community college in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. More than 7,000 students enroll in one or more credit courses each year. Esta ...

, not actually in Princeton but in nearby West Windsor, is a two-year public college serving Princeton residents and all those from Mercer County.

Westminster Choir College Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a historic conservatory of music, currently operating on the campus of Rider University, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rider's College of Arts and Sciences (the college under which the historic institution has ...

, a school of music owned by

Rider University Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, United States. It consists of three academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes Westminster Choir Coll ...

since 1992, was established on a large campus in Princeton in 1932. Before relocating to Princeton, the school resided in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, and then briefly in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. In 2012, Rider proposed a parking lot expansion on the Princeton campus that required cutting old-growth trees and was strenuously opposed by neighbors. In 2019, Rider (which is located in Lawrence Township) attempted to sell the choir college campus in Princeton to a Chinese company, resulting in a public outcry and the prevention of that sale. In 2020, Rider moved all activities of Westminster Choir College from Princeton to its Lawrenceville campus; the Princeton campus is now largely unused while legal wrangling continues about the future of the campus and its academic programs.Knapp, Krystal
"NJ Appellate Court Reverses Superior Court Decision, Says Suit Blocking Rider from Closing Westminster Choir College Can Move Forward"
, Planet Princeton, July 6, 2023. Accessed July 17, 2023. As of 2023, Princeton is paying Rider $1,000 per month to lease overflow parking at the Choir College; the town then sells the parking rights for $30 per month to businesses, residents and non-residents. The Choir College parking is a few blocks' walk from downtown.

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

The

serve 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 (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...

.District Policy 9110 - Number of Members and Term of Office
, Princeton Public Schools. Accessed September 3, 2020. "The Princeton Public Schools District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of the Municipality of Princeton and receives high school students from the Cranbury Public School District.... The Princeton Board of Education shall consist of ten members, nine of which are elected for three year terms and one from the Cranbury Board of Education." Students from Cranbury Township attend the district's high school as part of a

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 3,740 students and 341.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...

of 11.0:1.District information for Princeton Public Schools
,

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

. Accessed February 15, 2022. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the

) are Community Park School with 332 students in grades K-5, Johnson Park School with 329 students in grades PreK-5, Littlebrook School with 342 students in grades K-5, Riverside School with 289 students in grades PreK-5, Princeton Middle School with 803 students in grades 6-8 and Princeton High School with 1,555 students in grades 9–12.''2021-2022 Mercer County Charter and Public Schools Directory''
,

. Accessed December 17, 2022. ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United St ...

'' magazine ranked Princeton High School as the 20th best high school in New Jersey in its 2018 rankings of the "Top Public High Schools" in New Jersey. The school was also ranked as the 33rd best school in New Jersey by '' U.S. News & World Report in 2024.''

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

ranked Princeton High School as the 147th best public high school in America in its "2025 Best Public High Schools in America" rankings. In the early 1990s, redistricting occurred between the Community Park and Johnson Park School districts, as the population within both districts had increased due to residential development. Concerns were also raised about the largely white, wealthy student population attending Johnson Park (JP) and the more racially and economically diverse population at Community Park (CP). As a result of the redistricting, portions of the affluent Western Section neighborhood were redistricted to CP, and portions of the racially and economically diverse John Witherspoon neighborhood were redistricted to JP. The Princeton Charter School (grades K–8) operates under a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

granted by the commissioner of the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

. The school is a public school that operates independently of the Princeton Regional Schools, and is funded on a per student basis by locally raised tax revenues. 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 public technical school district serving Mercer County, New Jersey. Its two campuses are located in West Windsor and Penningt ...

, 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.

Private schools

Private schools located in Princeton include

The Lewis School of Princeton The Lewis School of Princeton, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, serves students who have learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, delayed auditory and visual processing, and nonverbal learning issues). The schoo ...

Princeton Day School Princeton Day School is a private coeducational day school located in Princeton, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The largest division is the Upper School (grades 9� ...

Princeton Friends School Princeton Friends School (PFS) is an Independent school, independent Religious Society of Friends, Quaker day pre-Kindergarten-8th grade school in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, New Jersey. It is under the care of Princeton Monthly Meeting a ...

Hun School of Princeton The Hun School of Princeton is a private, coeducational, secondary boarding school located in Princeton in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students from sixth through twelfth grades. The school has been accredited ...

, and

Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science The Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science (PRISMS) is a coeducational, independent boarding and day school located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States that provides education to high school students in ninth through twelft ...

(PRISMS). St. Paul's Catholic School (pre-school to 8th grade) founded in 1878, is the oldest and only coeducational Catholic school, joining Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart (K–8, all male) and Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (coed for Pre-K, and all-female K–12), which operate under the supervision of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton The Diocese of Trenton is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in central New Jersey in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdioce ...

. Schools that are outside of Princeton but have Princeton addresses include the

Wilberforce School The Wilberforce School is a private, classical Christian school in Princeton, New Jersey, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Founded in 2005, the school is named in honor of abolitionist William Wilberforce. The Head of S ...

Chapin School Chapin School is an single-sex education, all-girls independent day school on Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood in New York City. History Maria Bowen Chapin opened "Miss Chapin's School for Girls and Kindergarten for Boys and Girls" ...

in Lawrence Township, Princeton Junior School in Lawrence Township, the French-American School of Princeton, the Laurel School of Princeton, the Waldorf School of Princeton, YingHua International School, Princeton Latin Academy in Hopewell, Princeton Montessori School in Montgomery Township, Eden Institute in West Windsor Township, and the now-defunct

American Boychoir School The American Boychoir School was a boarding/day middle school located in Princeton, New Jersey, and the home of the American Boychoir. The school originated as the Columbus Boychoir in Columbus, Ohio. In 1950, the school relocated after receivin ...

in Plainsboro Township.

Public libraries

The

Princeton Public Library The Princeton Public Library serves the town of Princeton, New Jersey. It is the most visited municipal public library in New Jersey with over 860,000 annual visitors who borrow 550,000 items, ask more than 83,000 reference questions, log onto ...

's current facility on Witherspoon Street was opened in April 2004 as part of the ongoing downtown redevelopment project and replaced a building dating from 1966. The library itself was founded in 1909.

Miscellaneous education

The Princeton Community Japanese Language School teaches weekend Japanese classes for Japanese citizen children abroad to the standard of the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...

(MEXT), and it also has classes for people with Japanese as a second language. The main office of the school is in Princeton although the office used on Sundays is in Memorial Hall at

in Lawrence Township in Mercer County.Home

Archive
. Princeton Community Japanese Language School. Accessed May 9, 2014. "PCJLS Office 14 Moore Street, Princeton, NJ 08542" and "Sunday Office Rider University, Memorial Hall, Rm301" Courses are taught at Memorial Hall at Rider University. The Princeton Learning Cooperative provides support for student-directed learning as "a hybrid of homeschooling and school" for teens.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the borough had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Mercer County, and by the

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transport ...

. Several major roads pass through Princeton.

U.S. Route 206 U.S. Route 206 (US 206) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the states of New Jersey, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. Only about a half a mile (800 m) of its length is in Pennsylvania; the Milford–Monta ...

and Route 27 pass through, along with County Routes 583,

526 __NOTOC__ Year 526 ( DXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1279 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomina ...

571 __NOTOC__ Year 571 (Roman numerals, DLXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 571 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent ...

(commonly known as Washington Road) and

533 __NOTOC__ Year 533 ( DXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iustinianus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1286 ''Ab urbe condita''). The den ...

. Other major roads that are accessible outside the municipality include

(in Lawrence Township, West Windsor and South Brunswick),

Interstate 287 Interstate 287 (I-287) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. It is a partial beltway around New York City, serving northern New Jersey and the counties of Rockland County, New York ...

(in Franklin Township), Interstate 295 (in Lawrence Township), and the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although ma ...

(in South Brunswick). The closest Turnpike exits are Interchange 8A in Monroe Township, Interchange 8 in East Windsor, and Interchange 7A in Robbinsville Township. A number of proposed highways around Princeton have been canceled. The Somerset Freeway (I-95) was to pass just outside the municipality before ending in Hopewell (to the south) and Franklin (to the north). This project was canceled in 1980. Route 92 was supposed to remedy the lack of limited-access highways to the greater Princeton area. The road would have started at Route 1 near Ridge Road in South Brunswick and ended at Exit 8A of the Turnpike. However, that project was cancelled in 2006.

Public transportation

Princeton is roughly equidistant from

and

. Since the 19th century, it has been connected by rail to both of these cities by the

Princeton Branch The Princeton Branch, also known as the Dinky, or the Princeton Junction and Back (PJ&B), is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line is a short branch of the Northe ...

rail line to the nearby

Princeton Junction station Princeton Junction station (signed as Princeton Junction at West Windsor) is a railroad station in Princeton Junction, a section of West Windsor Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. The station services both New Jersey Transit's Northeast Cor ...

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

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 ...

.''Princeton Companion'', by Alexander Leitch: "Harper, George MacLean" The Princeton train station was moved from under Blair Hall to a more southerly location on University Place in 1918, and was moved further southeast in 2013. Commuting to New York from Princeton became commonplace after the Second World War. While the Amtrak ride time is similar to New York and to Philadelphia, the commuter-train ride to New York—via

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. I ...

Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...

—is generally much faster than the equivalent train ride to Philadelphia, which involves a transfer to

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

trains in Trenton. NJ Transit provides shuttle service between the Princeton and Princeton Junction stations; the train is locally called the "Dinky",Train Travel
,

. Accessed August 29, 2014. and has also been known as the "PJ&B" (for "Princeton Junction and Back"). Two train cars, or sometimes just one, are used. NJ Transit provides bus service to Trenton on the

606 __NOTOC__ Year 606 ( DCVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 606 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...

route and local service on route

605 Year 605 ( DCV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 605 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming yea ...

. Coach USA

Suburban Transit Suburban Transit is a bus operator in central New Jersey owned by Coach USA, which in turn is owned by the private equity firm, Variant Equity Advisors, and provides commuter bus service from Mercer, Somerset, and Middlesex County to New York ...

operates frequent daily service to midtown NYC on the 100 route, and weekday rush-hour service to downtown NYC on the 600 route. Princeton and Princeton University provide the FreeB and Tiger Transit local bus services.

Air

Princeton Airport is a public airport located north of Downtown Princeton in Montgomery Township. The private Forrestal Airport was located on Princeton University property, east of the main campus, from the early 1950s through the early 1990s. The closest commercial airport is Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing Township, about from the center of Princeton, which is served by

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines, Inc. is a major American ultra low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and employs more than 5,000 staff. ...

nonstop to and from 17 cities. Other nearby major airports are

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

and

Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia International Airport is the primary international airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It served 30.8 million passengers annually in 2024, making it the busiest airport in Pennsylvania and the 21st-busies ...

, located and away, respectively.

Healthcare

Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center (commonly abbreviated as "PMC") is a regional hospital and healthcare network located in neighboring Plainsboro Township. The hospital serves the greater Princeton region in

Central Jersey Central Jersey, or Central New Jersey, is the middle region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation Central Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. While New Jersey is often divided into North Jersey and South Jersey, many resi ...

. It is owned by the Penn Medicine Health System and is the only hospital of such in the state of New Jersey. PMC is a 355-bed

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

, and

academic medical center The Academic Medical Center (Dutch: ''Academisch Medisch Centrum''), or AMC, was the university hospital affiliated with the University of Amsterdam. After merging with the VU University Medical Center, it now operates as the Amsterdam Universi ...

. It is a major university hospital of the

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is a medical school of Rutgers University. It is one of the two graduate medical schools of Rutgers Health, together with New Jersey Medical School, and is closely aligned with Robert Wood Johnson University ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

and has a helipad to handle transport critical patients from and to other hospitals via PennStar. The hospital was previously located in Princeton on Witherspoon Street until May 2012, when the new location opened off of

in Plainsboro. The new hospital was designed by a joint venture between HOK and RMJM Hiller. Other nearby regional hospitals and healthcare networks that are accessible to Princeton include the Hamilton Township division and the

division of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), along with Saint Peter's University Hospital, also in New Brunswick.

's Frist Campus Center was used for the aerial views of the fictional Princeton‑Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, as seen in the television series ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

''.

Sister cities

Colmar Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...

, France *

Pettoranello del Molise Pettoranello del Molise is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Isernia in the Italian region Molise, located about west of Campobasso and about southeast of Isernia. Pettoranello del Molise borders the following municipalities: Carpin ...

, Italy

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Princeton include: ''Note: this list does not include people whose only time in Princeton was as a student. Only selected faculty are shown, whose notability extends beyond their field into popular culture. See Faculty and Alumni lists above.'' * Matthew Abelson,

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

player *

Robert Adrain Robert Adrain (30 September 1775 – 10 August 1843) was an Irish political exile who won renown as a mathematician in the United States. He left Ireland after leading republican insurgents in the Rebellion of 1798, and settled in New Jersey ...

(1775–1843), Irish-born mathematician known for his formulation of the

method of least squares The method of least squares is a mathematical optimization technique that aims to determine the best fit function by minimizing the sum of the squares of the differences between the observed values and the predicted values of the model. The me ...

George Akerlof George Arthur Akerlof (born June 17, 1940) is an American economist and a university professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. ...

(born 1940), economist who shared the 2001

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

Archibald Alexander Archibald Alexander (April 17, 1772 – October 22, 1851) was an American Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He served for 9 years as the President of Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia and for 39 year ...

(1772–1851), Presbyterian theologian and first professor at the

James Waddel Alexander James Waddel Alexander (March 13, 1804 – July 31, 1859) was an American Presbyterian minister and theologian who followed in the footsteps of his father, the Rev. Archibald Alexander. Early life Alexander was born in 1804 in Louisa County ...

(1804–1859), Presbyterian minister and theologian * Joseph Addison Alexander (1809–1860), biblical scholar *

William Cowper Alexander William Cowper Alexander (May 20, 1806 – August 23, 1874) was an American lawyer, politician, and insurance executive. He served as President of the New Jersey State Senate and as President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. Early ...

(1806–1874), lawyer, politician and insurance executive, who served as President of the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate is the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232,225 (2020 figure ...

and as President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society *

Svetlana Alliluyeva Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva (née Stalina; 28 February 1926 – 22 November 2011), later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only daughter of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. In 1967, she bec ...

(1926–2011), daughter of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, defected to United States and lived in Princeton * Lylah M. Alphonse (born 1972), journalist *

Saul Amarel Saul Amarel (1928 – December 18, 2002) was a professor of computer science at Rutgers University, and best known for his pioneering work in artificial intelligence (AI). He also had a career as a scientist, engineer, and teacher. He was a contri ...

(1928–2002), professor of computer science at

, best known for his pioneering work in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 ...

(born 1964), of the band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

, lived in Princeton with his family and attended

* Rose Allen (1885–1977), actress * William H. Angoff (–1993), research scientist who worked for the

, where he helped improve the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

* James Isbell Armstrong (1919–2013), academic who was President of

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

from 1963 to 1975 *

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He was a Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, recognized for his serial and electronic music. Biography ...

(1916–2011), composer and Princeton University professor *

William Bainbridge Commodore William Bainbridge (May 7, 1774July 27, 1833) was a United States Navy officer. During his long career in the young American navy he served under six presidents beginning with John Adams and is notable for his many victories at sea. ...

(1774–1833),

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Molly Bang Molly Garrett Bang (born December 29, 1943) is an American illustrator. For her illustration of children's books she has been a runner-up for the American Caldecott Medal three times and for the British Greenaway Medal once. Announced June 2015, ...

(born 1943), children's book illustrator *

George Barna George Barna (born 1954) is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture. From 2013–2018 he served as the exec ...

(born 1954), founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans *

Chris Barron Christopher Barron Gross, best known as Chris Barron (born February 5, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of Spin Doctors. Biography Barron was born February 5, 1968, in Honolulu, where his father Ken G ...

(born 1968), lead singer of the

Spin Doctors Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and N ...

* Charles Clinton Beatty (1800–1880), Presbyterian minister, seminary founder and academic philanthropist *

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

(1915–2005), author and Princeton University professor Schmitt, Eric
"Upton Sinclair's Princeton Hideway"
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', July 21, 1985. Accessed August 22, 2013. "They now know that Upton Sinclair, the muckraking author of ''The Jungle'' and other novels, built the cabin and lived there more than 80 years ago.... Ultimately, Mrs. Bowers would like to restore the cabin and have either Princeton Township or Princeton University maintain it, an idea suggested by John McPhee, the author, who lives in Princeton.... Alfred Bush, a curator in the rare books department of the Princeton University Library, said: 'Thomas Mann, T. S. Eliot and Saul Bellow all lived and wrote here. *

Paul Benacerraf Paul Joseph Salomon Benacerraf (; 26 March 1930 – 13 January 2025) was a French-born American philosopher working in the field of the philosophy of mathematics who taught at Princeton University his entire career, from 1960 until his retirement ...

(1930–2025), philosopher and Princeton University professor *

Peter Benchley Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both ...

(1940–2006), author and screenwriter, '' Jaws'', '' The Island'', lived and died in Princeton * Wendy Benchley (born 1941), marine and environmental conservation advocate and former Princeton Borough councilwoman who was the wife of author

Ed Berger Edward Morris Berger (March 5, 1949 – January 22, 2017) was an American librarian, discographer, author, editor, historian, photographer, educator, jazz producer, and record label owner. For more than forty years, Berger was affiliated ...

(1949–2017), librarian, discographer, author, editor, historian, photographer, educator, jazz producer and record label owner *

Stanley S. Bergen Jr. Stanley Silvers Bergen Jr. (May 2, 1929 – April 24, 2019) was an American physician, healthcare educator and administrator, and university president. In 1971, he became the founding president of the incipient College of Medicine and Dentistry ...

(1929–2019),

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

university president A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth na ...

, and professor, who was President of the

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was a state-run health sciences institution with six locations in New Jersey. It was founded as the Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry in 1954, and by the 1980s was both a ...

from 1971 to 1998 *

Laurie Berkner Laurie Berkner (born March 15, 1969) is a French-American musician and singer best known for her work as a children's musical artist and as a teacher. She plays guitar and sings lead vocals in The Laurie Berkner Band, along with pianist Susie ...

(born 1969), musician best known for her work as a

children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

al artist *

Geoffrey Berman Geoffrey Steven Berman (born September 12, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. He is the Global Chair of the litigation department at the law firm Fried, ...

(born 1959), lawyer currently serving as the Interim

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the United States Attorney, chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties: the counties (coextensive boroughs of New York City) of New York County, ...

Garrett Birkhoff Garrett Birkhoff (January 19, 1911 – November 22, 1996) was an American mathematician. He is best known for his work in lattice theory. The mathematician George Birkhoff (1884–1944) was his father. Life The son of the mathematician Ge ...

(1911–1996),

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

best known for his work in

lattice theory A lattice is an abstract structure studied in the mathematical subdisciplines of order theory and abstract algebra. It consists of a partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a unique supremum (also called a least upper bou ...

Cyril Edwin Black Cyril Edwin Black (September 10, 1915, Bryson City, North Carolina – July 18, 1989, Princeton, New Jersey) was a professor of history and international affairs, specializing in the modern history of Eastern Europe and, in particular, Russian his ...

(1915–1989), professor of history and international affairs, specializing in the modern history of Eastern Europe and, in particular, Russian history since 1700 * Michael Bradley (born 1987), soccer player *

Avery Brooks Avery Franklin Brooks (born October 2, 1948) is a retired American actor, director, singer, narrator and educator. He is best known for his television roles as Captain Benjamin Sisko on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', as Hawk on '' Spenser: Fo ...

(born 1948), actor, singer and educator * George Harold Brown (1908–1987), research engineer at RCA, lived in Princeton *

Cameron Brink Cameron Lee Brink (born December 31, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball at Stanford Cardinal women's basketball, Sta ...

(born 2001), WNBA player for the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

(1756–1836), third Vice President of the United States (under

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

); killed

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 ...

in a duel, grew up in Princeton and is buried there *

Aaron Burr Sr. Aaron Burr Sr. (January 4, 1716 – September 24, 1757) was a Presbyterian minister and college educator in colonial America. He was a founder of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and the father of Aaron Burr (1756–1836), t ...

(1715–1757), co-founder of

and its second president *

Lesley Bush Lesley Leigh Bush (born September 17, 1947) is an American diver and 1964 Olympic champion in the 10-meter platform who competed for Indiana University. Bush was born in Orange, New Jersey, on September 17, 1947. After a move, by the age of 1 ...

(born 1947), diver who represented the United States at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

in Tokyo, where she received a gold medal in the 10 meter platform *

Sim Cain Rollins Band was an American rock band formed in Van Nuys, California. The band was active from 1987 to 2006 and was led by former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins. They are best known for the songs " Low Self Opinion" and " Liar", both of wh ...

(born 1963), drummer for

Rollins Band Rollins Band was an American rock band formed in Van Nuys, California. The band was active from 1987 to 2006 and was led by former Black Flag (band), Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins. They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "L ...

, grew up in Princeton *

Marsha Campbell Marsha Campbell (born February 13, 1946) is a former American Democratic politician who served in the Missouri House of Representatives. Born in Princeton, New Jersey, she graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in busi ...

(born 1946), politician who served in the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

Melisa Can __NOTOC__ Michelle Marie Campbell (born May 12, 1984, in Iowa), aka Melisa Can, is retired female basketball player who played power forward. Can grew up in Princeton, New Jersey and graduated from Notre Dame High School. She joined Rutgers in t ...

(born 1984 as Michelle Marie Campbell), professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

position who plays for Adana ASKİ *

Mary Chapin Carpenter Mary Chapin Carpenter (born February 21, 1958) is an American country and folk music singer-songwriter. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C.-area clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records. Carpenter's firs ...

(born 1958), country/folk singer, born and grew up in Princeton * William Ashburner Cattell (1863–1920), civil engineer and railroad company president; born in Princeton *

Damien Chazelle Damien Sayre Chazelle (; born January 19, 1985) is an American filmmaker. He directed the psychological drama ''Whiplash (2014 film), Whiplash'' (2014), the musical romance ''La La Land'' (2016), the biographical drama ''First Man (film), First ...

(born 1985), film director, producer, and writer. Youngest winner of the

Academy Award for Best Director The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibit ...

* Blair Clark (1917–2000), journalist and political activist who was general manager / vice president of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

and Senator

Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...

's national campaign manager for the 1968 presidential nomination * Patrick Clark (1955–1998), chef *

Frances Folsom Cleveland Frances Clara Cleveland Preston (, christened Frank Clara; July 21, 1864 – October 29, 1947) was the first lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889 and again from 1893 until 1897, as the wife of President Grover Cleveland. She was the ...

(1864–1947), First Lady, died in and is buried in Princeton *

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

(1837–1908), 22nd and 24th President of the United States, retired to, died in, and buried in Princeton *

Ruth Cleveland Ruth Eva Cleveland (October 3, 1891 – January 7, 1904), popularly known as Baby Ruth or Babe Ruth, was the eldest of five children born to United States President Grover Cleveland and First Lady Frances Cleveland. She is the purported namesa ...

(1891–1904), daughter of Grover and Frances Cleveland born between Cleveland's two terms in office, died at age 12 and is buried at

Princeton Cemetery Princeton Cemetery is located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is owned by the Nassau Presbyterian Church. In his 1878 history of Princeton, New Jersey, John F. Hageman refers to the cemetery as "The Westminster Abbey of the United S ...

Chris Conley Chris Conley may refer to: * Chris Conley (musician) (born 1980), American singer and guitarist with the rock band Saves the Day * Chris Conley (American football) (born 1992), American football wide receiver See also * Chris Connelly (disambig ...

(born 1980), lead singer of Saves the Day, born and grew up in Princeton *

Archibald Crossley Archibald Maddock Crossley (December 7, 1896 – May 1, 1985) was an American pollster, statistician, and pioneer in public opinion research. Along with friends-cum-rivals Elmo Roper and George Gallup, Crossley has been described as one of the f ...

(1896–1985), pollster, statistician and pioneer in public opinion research * John Crowley (born 1967), biotechnology executive and entrepreneur and the chairman and CEO of

Amicus Therapeutics Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. is a public American biopharmaceutical company based in Philadelphia, PA. The company went public in 2007 under the NASDAQ trading symbol FOLD. This followed a 2006 planned offering and subsequent withdrawal, which wou ...

* Whitney Darrow Jr. (1909–1999), cartoonist at ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' *

Jon Drezner Jon Drezner is an American architect and designer. He worked with Frank Gehry and Gehry Partners in the 1990s on projects including the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Gehry House. He founded his own architecture firm, Drezner Architecture, i ...

, architect and designer * Howard Duffield (1854–1941),

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister *

Freeman Dyson Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was a British-American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrix, random matrices, math ...

(1923–2020), theoretical physicist and fellow at the

Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to: Musicians *Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford *Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician **Jonathan Edwards (album), ''Jonathan Edward ...

(1703–1758),

Congregationalist Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

theologian, Princeton University's third president *

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

(1879–1955), physicist, fellow at the

* Maria (Maja) Einstein (1881–1951), German Romanist and the younger sister of Albert Einstein * Kate Elderkin (1897–1962), art historian and archaeologist *

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

(1888–1965), author *

Elmer William Engstrom Elmer William Engstrom (August 25, 1901 – October 30, 1984) was an American electrical engineer and corporate executive prominent for his role in the development of television. Biography Youth and early career Engstrom was born in Minne ...

(1901–1984), President and CEO of

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

* Daniel Errico, children's book author and children's media content creator who is the creator and executive producer of Hulu's kids TV series ''

The Bravest Knight ''The Bravest Knight'' is a Canadian animated television series, produced by Big Bad Boo Studios and a Hulu original, which became the first kids original on the streaming service. The first episodes were added to the streaming service on June ...

'' * Katherine Ettl (–1993), sculptor best known for her monumental bronzes *

Charles Evered Charles Evered (born November 12, 1964) is an American-born playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Evered grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, the fifth child of Marie (née Cole) and Charles J. Evered.Stratton, J ...

(born 1964), playwright, screenwriter and director, resident of Princeton * Henry B. Eyring (born 1933), Second Counselor in the

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

and president of

Ricks College Ricks may refer to: People * Andre Ricks (born 1996), American basketball player * Bob Ricks (21st century), American police chief * Christopher Ricks (born 1933), British literary critic and scholar * Desmond Ricks, American football player * ...

, born in Princeton *

Robert Fagles Robert Fagles (; September 11, 1933 – March 26, 2008) was an American translator, poet, and academic. He was best known for his many translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the epic poems o ...

(1933–2008), professor, poet, and academic, best known for his many translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics, especially his translations of the epic poems of Homer * Mervin Field (1921–2015), public opinion pollster whose career in polling began with a poll of Princeton High School students in a class election * Abner S. Flagg (1851–1923), businessman and politicians, served in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

and as Mayor of

Edgerton, Wisconsin Edgerton is a city in Rock and Dane counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,945 at the 2020 census, of which 5,799 were in Rock County and 146 were in Dane County. Edgerton was historically known as "Tobacco City U.S.A." ...

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe. Ford's first collection of short stories, ''Rock Springs (short stories), Rock Springs ...

(born 1944), writer, taught at Princeton University, wrote several books set in a fictionalized Haddam, New Jersey, based in part on PrincetonMcGrath, Charles
"A New Jersey State of Mind"
, ''

'', October 25, 2006. Accessed August 29, 2014. "Mr. Ford, who was born and reared in Mississippi, discovered the Jersey Shore in the late 1970s, when he and his wife were living in Princeton, where he had a teaching job.... "In ''Independence Day,'' which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996, Frank sold real estate — made a bundle, in fact — in the prosperous, leafy town of Haddam, N.J., a fictional composite of Princeton, Hopewell and Pennington." * Colette Fu, photographer, book artist and paper engineer * N. Howell Furman (1892–1965), professor of

analytical chemistry Analytical skill, Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to Separation process, separate, identify, and Quantification (science), quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute t ...

who helped develop the electrochemical

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

separation process as part of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

George Gallup George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a statistics, statistically-based survey sampling, survey sampled measure of opinion polls, public ...

(1901–1984), statistician and creator of the

Gallup poll Gallup, Inc. is an American multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Gallup provides analytics and man ...

, lived and is buried in Princeton * George Gallup Jr. (1930–2011), pollster and author *

Evan Gershkovich Evan Gershkovich (born October26, 1991) is an American journalist and reporter at ''The Wall Street Journal'' covering Russia. Gershkovich graduated from Bowdoin College, majoring in philosophy and English and writing in student newspapers. He m ...

(born 1991), journalist for ''

'' who was detained by Russia as a spy *

Donald Gips Donald Henry Gips (born February 1, 1960) is the CEO of the Skoll Foundation. He is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa from 2009 to 2013. Ambassador Gips was appointed by President Barack Obama on June 4 and confirmed by the ...

(born 1960), Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore and appointed

United States Ambassador to South Africa Before 1902, the southern part of Africa that is now South Africa was under the hegemony of Great Britain. There also were two self-proclaimed independent states: Transvaal (also known as the South African Republic), and the Orange Free State. T ...

by Barack Obama *

Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( ; ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel profoundly ...

(1906–1978), Austrian-American logician, mathematician and philosopher, fellow at the

Caroline Gordon Caroline Ferguson Gordon (October 6, 1895 – April 11, 1981) was an American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and an O. Henry Award in 1934. Biography Gordon was bor ...

(1895–1981), novelist, lived in Princeton from 1956 to 1975 *

Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, and principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Group and ...

(1934–2015), architect, lived and worked in Princeton *

Fred Greenstein Fred Irwin Greenstein (September 1, 1930 – December 3, 2018) was an American political scientist, known for his work on political leadership and the US presidency. Born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1930, Greenstein completed a bachelor's degr ...

(1930–2018),

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Ariela Gross Ariela Julie Gross (born 1965) is an American historian. Previously the John B. and Alice R. Sharp Professor of Law and History at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law (USC), she is now a Distinguished Professor of Law at UCL ...

(born 1965), historian who is the John B. and Alice R. Sharp Professor of Law and History at the

University of Southern California Gould School of Law The University of Southern California Gould School of Law located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 18 ...

Chris Harford Chris Harford is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter. Career ''The New Yorker'' described him as "...A singer, guitarist, and songwriter who rose through the local club scene in the nineteen-eighties, Harford operates in the free ...

, self-taught singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter *

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 ...

(born 1970), actor *

Sarah Hay Sarah Hay (born September 16, 1987) is an American actress and ballerina. She is best known for her role as Claire Robbins in the Starz mini-series '' Flesh and Bone'', she was nominated for a Golden Globe, a Satellite Award and a Critics' Ch ...

(born 1987), actress and

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

with the

Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the Th ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Seth Herzog Seth G. Herzog (aka The Zog) is an American comedian. Herzog is active in New York City performing comedy and is a warm-up comedian for ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''. He was the subject of the short film ''Zog's Place''. He has also had small ...

(born 1970), comedian *

Joseph Hewes Joseph Hewes (July 9, 1730– November 10, 1779) was an American Founding Father and a signer of the Continental Association and U.S. Declaration of Independence. Hewes was a native of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. His paren ...

(1730–1779), signer of the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, born in Princeton *

Charles Hodge Charles Hodge (December 27, 1797 – June 19, 1878) was a Reformed Presbyterian theologian and principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He was a leading exponent of the Princeton Theology, an orthodox Calvinist theo ...

(1797–1878), theologian and Principal of

* Herbert Huffman (1905–1968), musician and choir director, founder of the

* Harold L. Humes (1926–1992), novelist who was the originator of ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'' literary magazine *

Guy Hutchinson Guy Hutchinson (February 7, 1884 – December 9, 1941) was an American businessman and college football player. Hutchinson was born in New York City, and later moved to New Jersey. He was a graduate of Yale University in 1906. While attending th ...

(born 1974), author, broadcaster, theme park historian and comedian * Micky James (born 1993), singer, songwriter and musician *

Barbara Piasecka Johnson Barbara "Basia" Piasecka Johnson (born Barbara Piasecka; February 25, 1937 – April 1, 2013) was a Polish humanitarian, philanthropist, art connoisseur and art collector, collector. Early life Piasecka Johnson was born in Staniewicze near Grodno ...

(1937–2013), Polish-born American humanitarian, philanthropist, art connoisseur and collector * Hallett Johnson (1888–1968), career diplomat who served as the

United States Ambassador to Costa Rica The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to Costa Rica. See also * Costa Rica – United States relations *Foreign relations of Costa Rica *Ambassadors of the United States References * United Stat ...

Robert Wood Johnson II Robert Wood "General" Johnson II (April 4, 1893 – January 30, 1968) was an American businessman. He was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. He turned the family business into one of the world's ...

(1893–1968), Chairman of

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

lived in Morven *

John Katzenbach John Katzenbach (born June 23, 1950) is an American author of popular fiction. Son of Nicholas Katzenbach, former United States Attorney General, Katzenbach worked as a criminal court reporter for the ''Miami Herald ''and ''Miami News'' and as ...

(born 1950), author of popular fiction * Nick Kovalakides (born 1939/1940),

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er *

George F. Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

(1904–2005), diplomat, historian, fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study *

Gina Kolata Gina Bari Kolata (born February 25, 1948) is an American science journalist, writing for ''The New York Times''. Life and career Kolata was born Gina Bari in Baltimore, Maryland. Her mother, mathematician Ruth Aaronson Bari (1917–2005), was ...

(born 1948), reporter for ''

'' *

Barbara Krauthamer Barbara Krauthamer (born 1967) is an American historian specializing in African-American history. She has been the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University since 2023. Prior to this, Krauthamer was the dean of the College of H ...

(born 1967), historian and author *

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American New Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He ...

(born 1953), Nobel Prize winner, economist, professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University * Matt Lalli (born 1986), professional lacrosse player for the

Boston Cannons The Boston Cannons are a professional field lacrosse team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that competes in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The team plays its home games at Harvard Stadium. The team competed in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) fro ...

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001 Major League Lacrosse season, 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This w ...

Chang-Rae Lee Chang-rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a Korean-American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Stanford University. He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of Princeton University's Program in Creative ...

(born 1965), writer, Princeton University professor *

Arthur Lithgow Arthur Washington Lithgow III (September 9, 1915 – March 24, 2004) was a Dominican-American actor and director. He helped pioneer the regional theater movement in the United States and founded two Shakespeare festivals. Early life Lithgow w ...

(1915–2004), actor, director, educator, and managing director of Princeton's

McCarter Theatre McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1963. A two-time Tony Award winner, the McCarter’s legacy traces back to ...

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his John Lithgow filmography, diverse work on stage and screen. He has rece ...

(born 1945), actor, lived in Princeton in his late teens * Emily Mann (born 1952), artistic director of Princeton's

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

(1875–1955), author * Jumana Manna (born 1987),

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

visual artist * Henry Martin (1925 2020), cartoonist at ''

'', lived and worked in Princeton * Alpheus T. Mason (1899–1989), legal scholar and biographer *

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American author. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourt ...

(born 1931), writer, lives in Princeton *

Brad Mays Brad Mays (born May 30, 1955) is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California. Background and education Mays was raised in the Edinburg section of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, attending the ...

(born 1955), screenwriter, award-winning stage and film director. *

Rachel Lambert Mellon Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon (August 9, 1910 – March 17, 2014) was an American horticulture, horticulturalist, gardener, philanthropist, and art collector. She designed and planted a number of significant gardens, including the White Hous ...

(1910–2014), horticulturalist, gardener, philanthropist and art collector *

Lyle and Erik Menendez Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970), commonly referred to as the Menendez brothers, are American brothers convicted of Parricide, killing their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Me ...

(born 1968 and born 1970), two brothers convicted of murdering their parents in 1989 * Steve "Buddy" Miller (born 1952), Nashville session musician, grew up in Princeton and attended Princeton High School * E. Spencer Miller (1817–1879), Dean of the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

Jeannette Mirsky Jeannette Mirsky Ginsburg (September 3, 1903 – March 10, 1987) was an American writer who was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947 for her biographical writings on the history of exploration. Early life and education Jeannette R. Mirsky ...

(1903–1987), author who was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1947 for her biographical writings on the history of exploration *

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

(1931–2019), author, Nobel Laureate, Princeton University professor *

Paul Muldoon Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he has been both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humani ...

(born 1951), Irish poet * Jeanette Mundt (born 1982), painter, best known for her works in the 2019

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

* James Murray (born 1976), improvisational comedian, author and actor who has starred on ''

Impractical Jokers ''Impractical Jokers'' is an American hidden camera comedy and reality show with improvisational elements. Produced by NorthSouth Productions, ''Impractical Jokers'' premiered on truTV on December 15, 2011, starring the members of The Tenderlo ...

'' *

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 ...

(1928–2015), mathematician, Nobel Prize winner, subject of '' A Beautiful Mind,'' Princeton University professor * Charles Neider (1915–2001), author, Twain scholar; resided on Southern Way *

John von Neumann John von Neumann ( ; ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and engineer. Von Neumann had perhaps the widest coverage of any mathematician of his time, in ...

(1903−1957), Hungarian-American mathematician at

and

Bebe Neuwirth Beatrice "Bebe" Jane Neuwirth ( ; born December 31, 1958) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her roles on stage and screen, she has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and two Drama Desk Awards. ...

(born 1958), actress, grew up in Princeton *

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

(born 1938), writer, Princeton University professor *

John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was an American writer. He was one of America's most prolific writers of Short story, short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'H ...

(1905–1970), author, lived in and is buried in Princeton *

Charles Smith Olden Charles Smith Olden (February 19, 1799April 7, 1876) was an American merchant, banker, and politician who served as the 19th governor of New Jersey from 1860 to 1863 during the first part of the American Civil War. As Governor, Olden supported Pre ...

(1799–1876), Governor of New Jersey during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

* A. Dayton Oliphant (1887–1963), Associate Justice of the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

from 1945 to 1946, and from 1948 to 1957 *

Gregory Olsen Gregory Hammond Olsen (born April 20, 1945) is an American entrepreneur, engineer and scientist who, in October 2005, became the third private citizen to make a self-funded trip to the International Space Station with the company Space Adventu ...

(born 1945), entrepreneur, engineer and scientist who, in October 2005, became the third private citizen to make a self-funded trip to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World ...

(1904–1967), theoretical physicist, director of the Institute for Advanced Study *

Alicia Ostriker Alicia Suskin Ostriker (born November 11, 1937) is an American poet and scholar who writes Jewish feminist poetry.Powell C.S. (1994) ''Profile: Jeremiah and Alicia Ostriker – A Marriage of Science and Art'', Scientific American 271(3), 28- ...

(born 1937), poet and scholar who writes Jewish

feminist poetry Feminist poetry is inspired by, promotes, or elaborates on feminist principles and ideas. It might be written with the conscious aim of expressing feminist principles, although sometimes it is identified as feminist by critics in a later era. Some ...

* Jeremiah P. Ostriker (born 1937), astronomer *

Unity Phelan Unity Sickles Phelan (born February 1995) is an American ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2013 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021. Outside of the company, she had also danced in the films '' John Wick: Chapter 3 – ...

(born 1994 or 1995), ballet dancer who joined the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

in 2013 and was promoted to soloist in 2017 *

John Popper John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter, known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and frontman of the rock band Blues Traveler. Early life Popper was born on March 29, 1967, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a ...

(born 1967), lead singer of the band

Blues Traveler Blues Traveler is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1987. They are known for their extensive use of segues in live performances, and could be considered a key part of the re-emerging jam band scene of the 1990s, sp ...

* Andy Potts (born 1976), triathlete who represented the United States in

triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the triathlon events were held at the Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre. Fifty triathletes contested the female event on 25 August, and the same number contested the male event on 26 August, making up a total of 100 compet ...

Pete Raymond Peter Harlow Raymond (born January 21, 1947) is a beekeeper, and an American former rower who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics and in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey and attended South Kent School and Princ ...

(born 1947), former

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

who competed in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

and in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, activist, director, and author. He amassed Christopher Reeve on stage and screen, several stage and screen credits in his 34-year career, including playin ...

(1952–2004), actor, grew up in Princeton, attended

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

(1898–1976), singer, actor, athlete, civil rights activist, born and raised in Princeton *

Arnold Roth Arnold Roth (born February 25, 1929) is an American cartoonist and illustrator for advertisements, album covers, books, magazines, and newspapers. Novelist John Updike wrote, "All cartoonists are geniuses, but Arnold Roth is especially so." Care ...

(born 1929), cartoonist, longtime Princeton resident * William E. Schluter (1927–2018), politician who served in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

and the

Ralph Schoenstein Ralph Schoenstein (1933 – August 24, 2006) was an American writer and humorist. He was a frequent commentator to NPR's ''All Things Considered''. Schoenstein grew up in Manhattan, and graduated from Columbia University in 1953. He began writing ...

(1933–2006), writer, lived in Princeton up to his death * John Schneider (born 1980),

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

* Bill Schroeder (born 1958),

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

and

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

, Brewers commentator for

Fox Sports Wisconsin FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin is an American regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. Operating as the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Spor ...

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher, and writer on music. He had started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved towards complex harmonies and postromanticism, a ...

(1896–1985), composer, Princeton University professor *

Tsutomu Shimomura is a Japanese-born physicist and computer security expert. He is known for helping the FBI track and arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick. ''Takedown'', his 1996 book on the subject with journalist John Markoff, was later adapted for the screen in '' ...

(born 1964), Japanese-American scientist and computer security expert *

Andrew Shue Andrew Shue (born February 20, 1967) is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series ''Melrose Place'' (1992–1999). Shue played soccer professionally for several years. He co-founded and served on the board ...

(born 1967), actor and professional soccer player, grew up in northern New Jersey with sister, actress

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She has starred in films such as '' The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' Back to the Future P ...

, lives in Princeton *

Michael Showalter Michael Showalter (born June 17, 1970) is an American director, writer, and producer. He first achieved recognition as a cast member on MTV's ''The State'', which aired from 1993 to 1995. He and David Wain created the ''Wet Hot American Summer ...

(born 1970), comedian, actor, writer, and director, born in Princeton, attended Princeton High School * Barbara Boggs Sigmund (1939–1990), mayor of Princeton *

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher who is Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Singer's work specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secu ...

(born 1946), moral philosopher, bioethicist and Princeton University professor * Shelley Smith (1952–2023), actress *

Tom Snow Thomas Righter Snow (born 1947 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American songwriter. Biography Snow has written songs for Gayle McCormick "( Even a Fool Would Let Go" with Kerry Chater – a song covered by a number of artists including Kenn ...

(born 1947), musician * Gennady Spirin (born 1948), artist *

Doreen Canaday Spitzer Doreen Damaris Spitzer (née Canaday; December 5, 1914 – September 6, 2010) was an American archaeologist. Early life Spitzer was born in 1914 in New Castle, Indiana. She was the only child of Toledo industrialist and car manufacturer Ward ...

(1914–2010), archaeologist *

Betsey Stockton Betsey Stockton (c. 1798–1865), sometimes spelled Betsy Stockton, was an American educator and missionary. In her early life, she was an enslaved person, but was emancipated and became a Christian missionary in Hawaii. Early life Betsey was b ...

(–1865), educator and missionary, manumitted from slavery and later retired to and died in Princeton *

John P. Stockton John Potter Stockton (August 2, 1826January 22, 1900) was a New Jersey politician who served in the United States Senate as a Democrat. He was New Jersey Attorney General for twenty years (1877 to 1897), and served as United States Minister to ...

(1826–1900), U.S. senator from New Jersey, lived in Princeton * Richard Stockton (1730–1781), signer of the

, lived in and is buried in Princeton * Richard Stockton (1764–1828), U.S. senator from New Jersey, lived in Princeton *

Robert F. Stockton Robert Field Stockton (August 20, 1795 – October 7, 1866) was a United States Navy commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican–American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam- ...

(1795–1866),

commodore, U.S. Military

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

, lived in Princeton * Janet Sorg Stoltzfus, (1931–2004), educator, who established the Ta'iz Cooperative School, the first non-religious school in north Yemen * Robert Stone (born 1958, class of 1976), director and

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

maker *

Jon Tenney Jonathan Frederick Tenney (born December 16, 1961) is an American actor. He played Special Agent Fritz Howard in TNT's '' The Closer'' and continued in its spin-off '' Major Crimes''. Early life Tenney was born in Princeton, New Jersey. His mot ...

(born 1961), actor, born and raised in Princeton *

Paul Tulane Paul Tulane (May 10, 1801 – March 27, 1887) was an American philanthropist and donor. Born in Cherry Valley, near Princeton, New Jersey, to a prominent French merchant family, Tulane made his fortune from a retail and dry goods company. Lat ...

(1801–1887), benefactor and namesake of

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

Immanuel Velikovsky Immanuel Velikovsky (; rus, Иммануи́л Велико́вский, p=ɪmənʊˈil vʲɪlʲɪˈkofskʲɪj; 17 November 1979) was a Russian-American psychoanalyst, writer, and catastrophist. He is the author of several books offering Pseudohi ...

(1895–1979), controversial theorist and acquaintance of Albert Einstein *

Brandon Wagner Brandon Wagner (born April 3, 1987) is an American racing driver from Lafayette, Indiana. He is a graduate of Lafayette Central Catholic Jr/Sr High School, Central Catholic High School and is currently enrolled at Purdue University. Beginning in ...

(born 1995), professional baseball player * Susie Ione Brown Waxwood (1902–2006), clubwoman and

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

official in Princeton *

Andrew Wiles Sir Andrew John Wiles (born 11 April 1953) is an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, specialising in number theory. He is best known for Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, proving Ferma ...

(born 1953), mathematician who proved

Fermat's Last Theorem In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive number, positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than . The cases ...

, Princeton University professor *

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

(1856–1924), 28th President of the United States, 13th president of Princeton University,

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

(1723–1794), signer of the

, president of Princeton University *

Edward Witten Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the sc ...

(born 1951), mathematician and physicist, fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study * Richard L. Wright (born 1943), political leader who held a number of positions at both the state and national level *

Sarah Zelenka Sarah McIlduff (née Zelenka; born June 8, 1987) is an American rower. She was a member of the 2012 US Summer Olympic team, having competed in the women's pair race. Biography Zelenka was born in Park Ridge, Illinois on June 8, 1987. She wa ...

(born 1987), rower at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Vladimir K. Zworykin Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (1888/1889July 29, 1982) was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television technology. Zworykin invented a television transmitting and receiving system employing cathode-ray tubes. He played a role in t ...

(1888–1982), Russian-American engineer, inventor and television pioneer

Princeton in popular culture

Film

Princeton was the setting of the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning '' A Beautiful Mind'' about the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash. It was largely filmed in central New Jersey, including some Princeton locations. However, many scenes of "Princeton" were actually filmed at Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. The 1994 film '' I.Q.'', featuring

Meg Ryan Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra (born November 19, 1961), known by her stage name Meg Ryan, is an American actress. Known for her leading roles as quirky, charismatic women since the late 1980s, Ryan is particularly recognized for her work in ...

Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and Jacob Singer in '' Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), as well as winning an Academy ...

, and

Walter Matthau Walter John Matthau ( Matthow; ; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, known for his "hangdog face" and for playing world-weary characters. He starred in 10 films alongside his real-life friend Jack Lemmon, including '' The Od ...

, was also set in Princeton and was filmed in the area. It includes some geographic stretches, including Matthau looking through a telescope from the roof of "Princeton Hospital" to see Ryan and Robbins' characters kissing on the

Princeton Battlefield The Princeton Battlefield in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, is where American and British troops fought each other on January 3, 1777, in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War. The battle ended w ...

. Historical films which used Princeton as a setting but were not filmed there include '' Wilson'', a 1944 biographical film about Woodrow Wilson. In his 1989 independent feature film ''

Stage Fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia that may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

,'' independent filmmaker

shot a drama class scene in the Princeton High School auditorium, using PHS students as extras. On October 18, 2013, Mays' feature documentary '' I Grew Up in Princeton'' had its premiere showing at Princeton High School. The film, described in one Princeton newspaper as a "deeply personal 'coming-of-age story' that yields perspective on the role of perception in a town that was split racially, economically and sociologically", is a portrayal of life in the venerable university town during the tumultuous period of the late sixties through the early seventies. Scenes from the beginning of ''

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our W ...

'' (2007) were filmed on the Princeton University campus. Parts of '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' were filmed in Princeton. Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf were filming on Princeton University campus for two days during the summer of 2008. Scenes from the 2008 movie '' The Happening'' were filmed in Princeton.

TV and radio

The 1938

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

radio broadcast of ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'', is set partly in nearby Grover's Mill, and includes a fictional professor from Princeton University as a main character, but the action never moves directly into Princeton. The 1980 television miniseries ''

Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often ...

'' is partly set in Princeton.

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

's ''

Young Indiana Jones ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' (sometimes referred to as ''Young Indy'') is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. Filming took place in various locations around the world, with "Old Indy" b ...

'' television series, a spin-off of the ''

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

'' film franchise, showcases Princeton in three episodes. Princeton is the hometown of the main character,

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and adventurer

, whose father,

Henry Jones, Sr. Professor Henry Walton Jones Sr. is a fictional character in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise. He is the British father of Indiana Jones and is a professor of medieval studies at Princeton University. Alongside his academic teachings, Jones Sr. is ...

is a university professor. Princeton features prominently in the episodes "Spring Break Adventure" and "Winds of Change," though the Princeton scenes were actually filmed in Wilmington and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The TV show ''

'' was set in Princeton, at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and establishing shots for the hospital display the Frist Campus Center of

. The actual University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro opened on May 22, 2012, exactly one day after the finale of ''House'' aired.

Literature

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and exces ...

's literary debut, ''

This Side of Paradise ''This Side of Paradise'' is the 1920 debut novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. It examines the lives and morality of carefree American youth at the dawn of the Jazz Age. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is a handsome middle-class stu ...

'', is a loosely autobiographical story of his years at Princeton University. Princeton University's Creative Writing program includes several nationally and internationally prominent writers, making the community a hub of contemporary literature. Many of

's novels are set in Haddam, New Jersey, a fictionalized Princeton.

' 2004 novel ''Take Me, Take Me With You'' (written pseudonymously as Lauren Kelly) is set in Princeton. New Jersey author

Judy Blume Judith Blume (née Sussman; born February 12, 1938) is an American writer of children's, young adult, and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 26 novels. Among her best-known works are '' Are You There God? It's ...

set her novel ''

Superfudge ''Superfudge'' is a children's novel by Judy Blume, published in 1980. It is the sequel to '' Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' and '' Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great'' and is the third in the Fudge series. Plot At the beginning of this ...

'' in Princeton.

Music

All of the members of

, as well as

, lead singer of the

, are from Princeton and were high school friends.

Points of interest

Churches

* Nassau Christian Center *

Nassau Presbyterian Church The Nassau Presbyterian Church is a historic congregation located at 61 Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It has been the home of many important figures in the history of Presbyterianism in the United States as a result of its ...

* Princeton United Methodist Church *

Princeton University Chapel The Princeton University Chapel is a Collegiate Gothic chapel located on that university's main campus in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It replaces an older chapel that burned down in 1920. Designed in 1921 by Ralph Adams Cram in his signa ...

* St Paul's Roman Catholic Church *

Stone Hill Church of Princeton Stone Hill Church of Princeton is a gospel-centered, nondenominational church in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The church was founded in 1956 as Westerly Road Church at the intersection of Westerly and Wilson Roads. In 2013, it construc ...

Stony Brook Meeting House and Cemetery Stony Brook Meeting House and Cemetery are historic Quaker sites located at the Stony Brook Settlement at the intersection of Princeton Pike/Mercer Road and Quaker Road in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The first Europeans to settle in the ...

Trinity Church, Princeton Trinity Church is a historic Episcopal congregation located at 33 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey. It is the largest Episcopal church in New Jersey. History Trinity was a relative latecomer in mainly Calvinistic central New Jersey. Prin ...

* Princeton Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Educational institutions

and Institute Woods *

Museums

* Morven *

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

Historic sites

Albert Einstein House The Albert Einstein House at 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, was the home of Albert Einstein from 1935 until his death in 1955. His second wife, Elsa Einstein, died in 1936 while living in this house. ...

, located at 112 Mercer Street, was the home of Albert Einstein from 1936 until his death in 1955. * Drumthwacket, the

official residence An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

of the

governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

, is one of only four official governor's residences in the country that is not located within its state capital. * Jasna Polana *

Jugtown Historic District The Jugtown Historic District consists of a cluster of historic buildings surrounding the intersection of Harrison Street and Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey. The settlement dates to colonial times and is sometimes known as Queenston. ...

is a cluster of historic buildings around the intersection of Harrison and Nassau Street that dates to colonial times. * King's Highway Historic District * Kingston Mill Historic District * Maybury Hill is the boyhood home of

, who later moved to North Carolina and was a signer of the

for that state. * Mountain Avenue Historic District * Nassau Club *

Nassau Hall Nassau Hall, colloquially known as Old Nassau, is the oldest building at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. In 1783 it served as the United States Capitol building for four months. ...

Nassau Inn The Nassau Inn is a full-service hotel in downtown Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It first opened at 52 Nassau Street in 1769 in a home built in 1756. The Inn experienced British occupation during the American Revolution and played host ...

Princeton Battlefield State Park The Princeton Battlefield in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, is where American and British troops fought each other on January 3, 1777, in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War. The battle ended w ...

Princeton Battle Monument The Princeton Battle Monument is located in Princeton, New Jersey, adjacent to Morven and Princeton's borough hall. The monument commemorates the January 3, 1777 Battle of Princeton and depicts General George Washington leading his troops to ...

* Princeton Historic District *

Princeton Ice Company The Princeton Ice Company built a dam in 1884 on former farmland so as to allow for the production of ice for sale to residents and businesses in Princeton, New Jersey. This company was the primary supplier of ice to the town during the era of t ...

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

* Updike Farmstead * The Washington Oak *

Westland Mansion Westland Mansion was the home of Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, from his retirement in 1897 until his death in 1908. The house is located in the historic district of Princeton, New Jersey, and is a National Hi ...

Witherspoon Street School for Colored Children The Witherspoon Street School for Colored Children educated the African-American children of Princeton, New Jersey from 1858 until the Princeton Public Schools were integrated in 1948. The school was originally located at the building still sta ...

Parks

* The

Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park is a New Jersey state park along the Delaware and Raritan Canal. History In 1974, most of the canal system was declared a New Jersey state park. It remains one today, and is used for canoeing, kayaking, a ...

including the Turning Basin Park and miles of level biking/hiking trails along its towpath * Herrontown Woods Arboretum *

Lake Carnegie Lake Carnegie is a reservoir that straddles the borders of the towns of Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, West Windsor, New Jersey, West Windsor, Plainsboro, New Jersey, Plainsboro and South Brunswick, New Jersey, South Brunswick in Mercer County ...

* Marquand Park * Mountain Lakes Preserve *

Palmer Square Palmer Square is a public square and planned development in the heart of Princeton, New Jersey across from Nassau Street and Princeton University that today forms a collection of shops, restaurants, offices and residential spaces. Originally bu ...

* Small "pocket parks" in the downtown area: ** Barbara Boggs Sigmund Garden - Hamilton Avenue at Chestnut Strett ** David Bradford Park - 53 Pine Strett ** Harrison Street Park - at Nassau and Harrison Street ** Mary Moss Park - John Street ** Potts Park - 1 Erdman Avenue

Restaurants

* Elements * Peacock Inn * Whole Earth Center

Local media

* ''

Princeton Packet The ''Princeton Packet'' is a weekly newspaper serving the Princeton, New Jersey area. The company traces its lineage to 1786. Packet Media, LLC. is the publisher of 5 community newspapers, a weekly arts and entertainment supplement and a series ...

'' * ''

Princeton Town Topics ''Town Topics'' is a free weekly newspaper distributed to households of the New Jersey municipalities of Princeton and parts of Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township, West Windsor Township, Lawrence Township, Pennington, Montgomery Township ...

'' * ''Planet Princeton''

References

Sources

* Clark, Ronald W. (1971). ''Einstein: The Life and Times''. . * Gambee, Robert (1987). ''Princeton''. .

External links

*
Princeton Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau
* {{Authority control 2013 establishments in New Jersey Borough form of New Jersey government Boroughs in New Jersey Boroughs in Mercer County, New Jersey Former capitals of the United States

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 ...

Populated places established in 2013 Mergers of administrative divisions in the United States