Bordentown

City in west-central New Jersey, on the Delaware River, 8 km/5 mi southeast of Trenton; population (1990) 4,300. It is a residential city, and manufactures bricks, wine, and printing machinery. Bordentown Military Institute was founded here in 1881. The US health worker Clara Barton's school, America's first free public school, and the English left-wing political writer Thomas Paine's house are in the historic district.

Bordentown township (population (1990) 3,600) is home to a reformatory and a centre for the retarded.

History Settled in 1682 by English Quakers, Bordentown was bombarded and partially destroyed by the British during the American Revolution. It became a major 19th-century canal and railway centre. Bordentown was home (1816–39) to Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, part of whose estate remains as Bonaparte Park.