Trenton
Capital of New Jersey, in Mercer County, on the Delaware River, 50 km/31 km northeast of Philadelphia; population (2000 est) 85,400. Trenton is the head of navigation on the Delaware, which forms the New Jersey–Philadelphia state border. Industries include metalworking, food-processing, and the manufacture of car parts, steel cable, rubber, and ceramics. It was incorporated in 1792.
History
Settled by Quakers in 1679, the original community developed around a grain mill, and was known as the Falls; it was laid out and renamed after William Trent in 1721. George Washington defeated the British at Trenton in 1776, and it became the state capital in 1790. Trenton was connected to the railway in 1839. A steel cable factory was opened in 1849 and the first open-hearth steel furnace in the USA was opened in the city in 1868.
Features Trenton's 39 entries on the national register of historic places include Trent House (1719), home of Chief Justice William Trent; the Friends Meeting House (1739), the Old Masonic Lodge (1793), and the State House (1792). Educational and cultural institutions include the Old Barracks Museum, the only surviving colonial barracks in the USA, dating from 1756; New Jersey State Museum (1895), Trenton State College (1855), and Thomas Edison State College (1972). |
