Trenton History Facts and Timeline

(Trenton, New Jersey - NJ, USA)

The history of New Jersey really begins just under 20,000 years ago, when the Ice Age brought glaciers as far as this state. When the weather finally began to warm up, they left behind Lake Passaic (now the Passaic Meadows), located roughly 60 miles / 97 km to the northeast of Trenton.

The original settlers of New Jersey were Native American Indians (the Lenape peoples), who had a number of tribes spread around the territory, particularly along the banks of the Delaware River.

Towards the end of the 17th century, Dutch explorers reached New Jersey, met the natives and began to trade fur. The earliest settlement in the location that would one day become the state capital, Trenton, was established by a small group of Quakers. At this time in history, the settlement was named 'Falls of the Delaware'.

Trent Towne

By the second decade of the 18th century, the Falls of the Delaware settlement had grown into a small community, complete with cabins and basic amenities.

Wealthy trader William Trent was one of the most influential landholders living here and he was responsible for much of the town's planning and design. It was soon decided to rename the settlement in his honor, this time calling it 'Trent Towne'. It was not long until this name shortened and simply became 'Trenton'. In 1766, Queen's College came into being, growing into today's famed State University of New Jersey, which boasts a student base of more than 55,000 and remains America's eighth-oldest university.

American Revolutionary War

Soon after the American Revolutionary War reared its ugly head in history (1775 to 1783), the town was taken by German soldiers, working for the British Empire. There were more than 1,000 soldiers in total and they quickly built simple fortifications under the command of one Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall.

It was not long until the town became the setting for the extremely important Battle of Trenton (December 1776). General George Washington chose to cross the Delaware River, just a short distance to the north of present-day Trenton, in spite of adverse weather conditions.

His army, numbering more than 2,000 soldiers, attacked the resident German soldiers. This surprise attack caught the Germans completely off guard and they were soon captured, with few losses for the Americans. The victory was seen as a triumph, restoring morale to the forces and inspiring soldiers to continue their service, whilst attracting more to join them.

New Jersey Becomes a State

At the end of 1787, New Jersey was the third territory to join the Union of the United States. Trenton became a temporary capital for the state in the 1780s, partly due to its fairly central situation in the state, becoming the permanent state capital in the year 1790 and incorporated just two years later.

With the New Jersey Legislature now located at Trenton, it was apparent that a state house would be needed. Plans were quickly drawn up and construction of the H-shaped New Jersey State House commenced in 1790, being fully completed just over 20 years later and topped with a rather decadent golden dome. However, in 1798, a yellow fever epidemic swept through the town, causing a temporary mass evacuation.

Important Dates in Trenton History

Over the decades that followed Trenton gaining its capital status, many noteworthy events stand out in the city's history. A population boom followed the arrival of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad in 1834, with this route now being contained within the Northeast Corridor of Amtrak.

In 1848, the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum (now the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital) was founded and was New Jersey's earliest hospital dedicated to mental health. For many years, teeth and body parts were removed from patients, since the hospital superintendent believed that they would become 'infected' with the mental illness.

The New Jersey State Museum opened in 1895, while in 1907, the county owned Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN) began its life as little more than a field with a runway. A period of national depression came in the 1930s, in between the two World Wars. More recently in history, the State College was established in 1972 and named after New Jersey local Thomas Edison, who famously invented the light bulb in 1879. With tourism and visitor numbers picking up, baseball fans were catered for in 1994, when the Mercer County Waterfront Park (now the Arm and Hammer Park) opened its doors for the first time.

Built at the cost of more than US$50 million, the Sovereign Bank Arena (an indoor arena seating 8,500 spectators) opened in 1999. In 2011, Trenton and the entire state of New Jersey suffered some extreme weather in the form of both Hurricane Irene and heavy levels of snowfall.