History of Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the New Jersey|State of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey|Mercer County. As of 2005, the City (New Jersey)|City of Trenton had a population of 84,639.
Trenton dates back to June 3, 1719, when mention was made of a constable being appointed for Trenton, while the area was still part of Hunterdon County, New Jersey|Hunterdon County. Boundaries were recorded for Trenton Township as of June 3, 1719. Trenton became New Jersey's capital as of November 25, 1790, and the City of Trenton was formed within Trenton Township on November 13, 1792. Trenton Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken on February 22, 1834, to form Ewing Township, New Jersey|Ewing Township. A series of annexations took place over a fifty-year period, with the city absorbing South Trenton|South Trenton borough (April 14, 1851), portions of Nottingham Township, New Jersey|Nottingham Township (April 14, 1856), Chambersburg, New Jersey|Chambersburg and Millham Township, New Jersey|Millham Township (both on March 30, 1888) and Wilbur, New Jersey|Wilbur borough (February 28, 1898)."The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 164.
Trenton is the home of the Trenton Thunder Eastern League (U.S. baseball)|Eastern League AA minor league baseball team, which is affiliated with the New York Yankees and plays in Mercer County Waterfront Park, and the Trenton Devils (an ECHL minor league hockey affiliate of the New Jersey Devils) which plays in the Sovereign Bank Arena. The New Jersey State Prison, which has two maximum security units and houses the state's most dangerous criminals, is also located in Trenton.
In the year 2000 Trenton was designated as an anchor city for the New York Metropolitan Area. The rapid growth of suburban New York into Northern and Central New Jersey has brought Trenton under New York City's sphere of influence. During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, James Madison referred to the war-raged Trenton (and New Jersey at large) as "a dismembered torso bleeding into Philadelphia and New York" thus sealing its fate as an important port city in the eastern United States. Trenton and its immediate suburbs are often lumped together and referred to as "Greater Trenton" by locals.
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