Our Town

A Brief History of Robbinsville Township

Robbinsville Township was officially born on March 15, 1859 by an act of the New Jersey State Legislature while it was better known as Washington Township. On November 6th, 2007 the voters of Washington Township decided to change the name of the town to Robbinsville Township, however this was not the first time that the township has seen name changes. Robbinsville was founded in 1831 where prior to that it was known as Newtown. Before that, Newtown was known as Hungry Hill, the name coming from the fact that travelers through the area found it particularly difficult to find food in the town. Going back even further, the area itself was originally settled circa 1750 by Quakers who purchased the land from the Lenni-Lenape Indians in 1677.

Robbinsville Township is comprised of three unincorporated areas: Windsor, Robbinsville, and New Sharon. Windsor was formerly called Centerville (Centreville?) and Magrilla before that. It's unknown why the name was changed from Magrilla to Centerville but the Centerville to Windsor name change was recommended by the Post Office in 1846 to avoid confusion with Hunterdon's Centerville. Ever wonder why there's a railroad track (that hasn't been used in years) running through the middle of town? That's the historic Camden and Amboy (C&A) Railroad which helped spur early growth in the town.

George R. RobbinsRobbinsville was named in honor of George R. Robbins (1808-1875) who was at one time the Post Master for the area. George Robbin's full name is actually George Robbins Robbins (no , we're not kidding -- he's so nice they named him twice). Born in Allentown, NJ Robbins was a doctor and congressman who died in 1875 in Hamilton Square, NJ. You can still visit his grave in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Hamilton Square.

Robbinsville is located about eight miles from both Trenton and Princeton, about fifty miles from both New York City and Philadelphia and is about 20.7 square miles in area with a level, rural landscape.

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