List of neighborhoods in Edison, New Jersey

Metuchen lies at the geographic center of Edison

Edison, New Jersey is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey in central New Jersey. The township was originally founded as the settlement of Piscatawaytown, a small neighborhood that still exists within it,[1][2][3] and incorporated as Raritan Township on March 17, 1870.[4]

As of the 2020 United States census, Edison had a total population of 107,588, making it the sixth-most populous municipality in New Jersey.[5] The township had a total area of 30.638 square miles (79.351 km2).[6]

Edison is crisscrossed by several major roads, including Interstate 287, the New Jersey Turnpike, U.S. Route 1, Route 27, and Route 440, with various sections and neighborhoods interspersed between them.[2] Large acreages of the closed Raritan Arsensal, Camp Kilmer and the Edison Assembly have given way to mixed-use projects.

Some historic settlements date back to the 17th century. Until the later part of the 20th century, the township comprised several rural crossroad communities, the borders of which became less distinct with suburban development.[7][8][9] The sprawling township does not have an actual "downtown".[10][11][12] A section in the center of Raritan Township was ceded to create the Borough of Metuchen on March 20, 1900. While Metuchen is a separate municipality, it remains fully enclaved by, and is the geographic center of Edison,[11] making Edison a so-called 'doughnut' town.[13][14][15][16]

  1. ^ Gordon, Thomas Francis (1834). "A Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey: Comprehending a General View of Its Physical and Moral Condition, Together with a Topographical and Statistical Account of Its Counties, Towns, Villages, Canals, Rail Roads, &c., Accompanied by a Map".
  2. ^ a b "NJDOT Graphic Information System Maps Middlesex" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  3. ^ Middlesex COunty Office of Culture and Heritage. "History Revealed In Piscatawaytown and Edison", TAP into Piscataway, September 9, 2015. Accessed December 22, 2019. "The remnants of the Piscataway village and town commons can still be seen in modern Edison Township. Settled in the late 1600s by New Englanders, this historic site once consisted of a town hall, militia training ground, stockade, jail, church, burial ground and houses."
  4. ^ Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography, Trenton, New Jersey, 1969. p. 170 re Edison Township, p. 173 re Raritan Township.
  5. ^ QuickFacts Edison Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States
  6. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990, United States Census Bureau. Accessed September 4, 2014.
  7. ^ Spies, Stacy (2001), Edison, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 9780738505497
  8. ^ "Its History Community" (PDF). digifind-it.com. July 24, 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2021.
  9. ^ Fleming, Herbert R. (1947). "Map of Middlesex County, New Jersey". Middlesex County (NJ). Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  10. ^ Amaral, Brian (January 13, 2016). "Edison to unveil ideas on Clara Barton downtown redevelopment". NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Retrieved March 3, 2020. The Clara Barton neighborhood in west Edison is the closest thing that this sprawling township has to a city center with a critical mass.
  11. ^ a b Kalita, S. Mitra (2005), Suburban Sahibs: Three Immigrant Families and Their Passage from India to America, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 9780813536651, Unlike other suburbs, Edison has no main street or downtown. Its geographic center is literally the separate town of Metuchen.
  12. ^ Depalma, Anthony (October 5, 1990). "THE TALK OF EDISON; No Downtown in Town: New Jersey of the Future?". The New York Times.
  13. ^ Areas touching Metuchen, MapIt. Accessed February 27, 2020.
  14. ^ DeMarco, Megan. "Voters to decide whether to merge two Princetons into one", The Star-Ledger, November 3, 2011. Accessed January 8, 2017. "There are 22 sets of 'doughnut towns' in New Jersey, those where one town wraps around the other town".
  15. ^ Locality Search, State of New Jersey. Accessed May 21, 2015.
  16. ^ Siwolop, Sana (January 26, 2005). "Edison Hopes to Transform Old Factory Sites, Smartly". The New York Times.