Sussex was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on October 14, 1891, as Deckertown, from portions of Wantage Township.[22] The borough's original name was for settler Peter Decker.[23] The borough was renamed Sussex on March 2, 1902.[22] The county and borough are named for the historic county of Sussex in England.[24][25]
A joint commission of residents of both Sussex and Wantage had recommended that the two communities should be consolidated to form what would be called the Township of Sussex-Wantage, which would operate within the Faulkner Act under the council-manager form of government, with a mayor and a six-member township council, and that voters in both municipalities should approve a referendum to be held on November 3, 2009. The committee noted that the two municipalities share common issues, schools, library and community services and that the artificial nature of the octagonal Sussex border often made it hard to distinguish between the two.[26] The efforts at consolidation with surrounding Wantage Township ended in November 2009 after Wantage voters rejected the merger despite support from Sussex borough residents.[27]
^Donohue, Brian. "Sussex, Wantage reject merger; home rule still rules in New Jersey", The Star-Ledger, November 13, 2009. Accessed April 4, 2012. "That's just what happened last week in the Township of Wantage, where voters rejected a ballot measure that would have joined the town with the tiny Borough of Sussex. Sussex is essentially Wantage's downtown, cut off from the surrounding township in a feud over utilities costs in the late 1800s. Sussex voters were largely for the reunion."