West Windsor History Overview

Below is a brief summary of West Windsor's history, with links. For more in-depth history, explore the Historic Sites & Hamlets and Special Historic Topics pages and buy our West Windsor History Book!​

The Lenape (~10,000 BCE - 1600s)

Around 12,000 years ago, following the end of the last ice age, this area was settled by our area's first recorded inhabitants: the Indigenous Lenape. Populating an area including the entirety of New Jersey and much of the surrounding states, the Lenape had a rich and unique culture were composed of numerous sub-tribes. The ones who lived in the West Windsor area were the "Assanpinks."

The Lenape have had a rich and vibrant history, but unfortunately notable tensions with European colonists. Most were driven out of New Jersey. However, there are still records of their local influence.

Click for more on the Lenape.

Acquisition (1600s-1700s)

In the early 1600s, Europeans began to settle in present-day New Jersey. First there were the Dutch (and some Swedes/Finnish) colonies. However, colonization accelerated after the English annexed the Dutch "New Netherland" colony in 1664, formally giving rise to "New Jersey."

Unfortunately, colonial and Indigenous cultures clashed, resulting in most Lenape being driven out of New Jersey by the early 1800s (and West Windsor more specifically by the early 1700s).

Around the 1690s, wealthy colonists such as William Penn (famed Quaker founder of Pennsylvania), David Lyell, and others began to purchase immense estates in the present-day West Windsor area. Although a few of them lived here, most did not, and it would take several more decades for the area to experience its first "wave" of colonial settlement.
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Land owners, 1690s-mid 1730s. Click for more.

Colonial Settlement (1700s)

In the 1730s, a new wave of colonial settlement came to West Windsor as the previously-mentioned landowners sold their land to families who settled here. They transformed meadows and woodlands into a vast farming landscape, dotted by historic hamlets and cut through by a burgeoning road network. Sadly, they also brought slavery to the area.
 
In 1730/31, “New Windsor” township was informally created, encompassing all of present-day West Windsor and much of the surrounding towns. It officially incorporated in 1751 as “Windsor Township” and flourished as a farming community with fertile soil, flowing waterways, and access to larger cities.

Schenck-Covenhoven Cemetery. Click for more.

Revolution & Division (1770s-1797)

During the American Revolution, dozens of Windsor Township residents enlisted (although there were some loyalists, too). The conflict hit home in late 1776 and early 1777, as George Washington marched through town, his men captured British troops at a local farm, and the British and Hessians pillaged local properties.
 
After the war, life in Windsor resumed. However, by the 1790s, a movement grew to split the town in half. Thus, on February 7, 1797, Windsor Township officially split into East Windsor (including present-day Robbinsville) and West Windsor (including all land up to Nassau Street). ​

The first town meetings were held here. Click for more!

Development (1800s)

In the 1800s, major transportation routes linking West Windsor more strongly to cities throughout NJ. This included the Trenton-New Brunswick Turnpike (1804), Delaware & Raritan Canal (1834), and Camden & Amboy Railroad (1839).  This also resulted in the establishment of a few more hamlets: Princeton Basin, Port Mercer, and Princeton Junction.

In the mid-1800s, our border with Princeton shifted to the canal. Then, in 1863, the Camden & Amboy Railroad relocated eastward, to the present-day Northeast Corridor. 

PJ train station, ca. 1868-70. Click to enlarge.

Transition (1900-1950s)

In 1917, Dutch Neck and Penns Neck Schools replaced the small schoolhouses that had served local youth for centuries. Berrien City, our town’s first planned neighborhood, formed around the same time, as did our two volunteer fire companies.
 
Over a few decades, the population grew slowly: from around 1,400 residents in 1920 to 2,500 three decades later. Zoning and Planning Boards were established, a Master Plan was adopted, and the first mayor took office as leader of the old Township Committee. And in 1938, the local "Grovers Mill" hamlet was thrust onto the national stage as the site of a fake "Martian invasion" during Orson Welles’ infamous “War of the Worlds” broadcast.
 

The Schenck Farmstead's school house. Click for more.

Transformation (1950s-Present)

After World War II, several suburban developments rose among the farmland and population grew. In 1969, the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District formed, replacing an older West Windsor school district from the 1820s. Maurice Hawk and High School South opened in 1964 and 1973, and in 1977 the old Town Hall in Dutch Neck was replaced by the current Municipal Center.
 
But the most dramatic change was yet to come. Between 1980 and 2000, West Windsor’s population surged, from 8,500 to 22,000 residents. The town’s old farmland disappeared as a new suburban identity took hold. Its government rechartered in 1993, and arguably most dramatic of all was its demographic diversification.

West Windsor's suburbs, 2022. Click for more.

​West Windsor Today​

Unfortunately, a byproduct of this suburban growth was the loss of historic farmland and historical dwellings. Yet still hidden among all this recent growth are hundreds of sites and most of the old hamlets. While West Windsor today is a thriving suburban municipality of tens of thousands of residents with a dramatically altered identity, its unique history and rich heritage are still visible, evoking the stories of centuries past.

Want to help preserve and promote this history? Volunteer with us, donate, visit our museum, and attend our community events!

The farmhouse at our museum. Click for more.