Tavistock, New Jersey

Tavistock, New Jersey
Entrance to the borough from Winding Way
Entrance to the borough from Winding Way
Official seal of Tavistock, New Jersey
Tavistock highlighted in Camden County. Inset: Location of Camden County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Tavistock highlighted in Camden County. Inset: Location of Camden County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Tavistock, New Jersey
Census Bureau map of Tavistock, New Jersey
Tavistock is located in Camden County, New Jersey
Tavistock
Tavistock
Location in Camden County
Tavistock is located in New Jersey
Tavistock
Tavistock
Location in New Jersey
Tavistock is located in the United States
Tavistock
Tavistock
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 39°52′35″N 75°01′47″W / 39.876265°N 75.029807°W / 39.876265; -75.029807[1][2]
Country United States
State New Jersey
CountyCamden
IncorporatedFebruary 16, 1921
Government
 • TypeWalsh Act
 • BodyBoard of Commissioners
 • MayorJoseph Del Duca (term ends December 31, 2025)[3][4]
 • Administrator / Municipal clerkDenise K. Moules[5]
Area
 • Total
0.28 sq mi (0.71 km2)
 • Land0.27 sq mi (0.71 km2)
 • Water0.00 sq mi (0.01 km2)  1.07%
 • Rank555th of 565 in state
34th of 37 in county[1]
Elevation46 ft (14 m)
Population
 • Total
9
 • Estimate 
(2023)[10]
7
 • Rank564th of 565 in state
37th of 37 in county[11]
 • Density33.0/sq mi (12.7/km2)
  • Rank558th of 565 in state
36th of 37 in county[11]
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code
08033 – Haddonfield[12]
Area code856[13]
FIPS code3400772240[1][14][15]
GNIS feature ID0885416[1][16]
Websitewww.tavistocknj.org

Tavistock is a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,[9] an increase of 4 (+80.0%) from the 2010 census count of 5,[17][18] which in turn reflected a decline of 19 (−79.2%) from the 24 counted in the 2000 census.[19] As of the 2010 Census it was the smallest municipality by population in New Jersey, with seven fewer residents than nearby Pine Valley, which had 12,[17][20] while the 2020 census placed Tavistock as second-smallest by population, two more than Walpack Township, New Jersey, which had a population of 7.[9]

Tavistock was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 16, 1921, from portions of the now-defunct Centre Township.[21] The name of the borough came from the estate in England of a family of early settlers.[22][23]

The borough was formed in order to allow the members of Tavistock Country Club to play golf on Sundays by members of the Victor Talking Machine Company.[24] This was prohibited at the Haddon Country Club which was governed by a local blue law prohibiting sporting activities on Sundays.[25] Tavistock's secession from Haddonfield, New Jersey, the original site of the club, is said to have been driven by the fact that Haddonfield was (and remains) a dry borough, though Tavistock was formed in 1921 during Prohibition when liquor would have been banned.[26][27] Members of the club included State Senator Joseph Wallworth and Assembly Speaker T. Harry Rowland, who helped push the bill that created the new municipality to unanimous approval in the New Jersey Legislature.[24]

  1. ^ a b c d 2019 Census Gazetteer Files: New Jersey Places, United States Census Bureau. Accessed July 1, 2020.
  2. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990, United States Census Bureau. Accessed September 4, 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference WhosWho was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ 2023 New Jersey Mayors Directory, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, updated February 8, 2023. Accessed February 10, 2023.
  5. ^ Contact, Borough of Tavistock. Accessed June 8, 2023.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference DataBook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  8. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Borough of Tavistock, Geographic Names Information System. Accessed March 14, 2013.
  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference LWD2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference PopEst was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ a b Population Density by County and Municipality: New Jersey, 2020 and 2021, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Accessed March 1, 2023.
  12. ^ Look Up a ZIP Code for Tavistock, NJ, United States Postal Service. Accessed October 12, 2012.
  13. ^ Area Code Lookup - NPA NXX for Tavistock, NJ, Area-Codes.com. Accessed November 6, 2013.
  14. ^ U.S. Census website, United States Census Bureau. Accessed September 4, 2014.
  15. ^ Geographic Codes Lookup for New Jersey, Missouri Census Data Center. Accessed April 1, 2022.
  16. ^ US Board on Geographic Names, United States Geological Survey. Accessed September 4, 2014.
  17. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Census2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference LWD2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  20. ^ Staff. "N.J.'s population shifting to coast, south", USA Today, February 27, 2011. Accessed October 28, 2014.
  21. ^ Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 109. Accessed May 30, 2024.
  22. ^ Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed October 11, 2015.
  23. ^ Greenblatt, Sarah. "Tavistock: No golf on Sunday? Hah!"[permanent dead link], The Courier-Post, October 18, 2006. Accessed October 11, 2015. "1917: Two sons of the prominent Gill Hopkins family of Baltimore that established Johns Hopkins University inherit the property, which has by now become a summer home renamed Tavistock, in honor of a family estate in England."
  24. ^ a b Duhart, Bill. "The smallest town in N.J. (just 3 houses!) is the epitome of home rule", NJ.com, May 2018. Accessed September 22, 2019. "That's where Frank Middleton came in. He was an executive of the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden two decades into the 20th Century.... Middleton — a member of the Haddon Country Club saddled with Sunday Blue Laws that prohibited sports — had a new plan. He bought a 180-acre stretch of former farmland just over the Haddonfield borough line in 1920, on the edge of what was then Centre Township."
  25. ^ Rothschild, Barbara S. "Haddonfield: Quaker roots run deep", Courier-Post, October 19, 2006. Accessed June 25, 2008. "Another ban, in the form of blue laws, prohibited Sunday golfing, which led to the incorporation of Tavistock -- primarily a country club -- as a separate borough in 1921."
  26. ^ Strauss, Robert. "Ready, Set, Get Ready", The New York Times, May 14, 2000. Accessed September 22, 2019. "Local legend has it that Tavistock, the club and the town (population 10), seceded from nearby Haddonfield in a dispute over whether the club could serve liquor in otherwise dry Quaker Haddonfield."
  27. ^ Staff. "No golf on Sunday? Ha! They fixed that fast", Courier-Post, May 4, 2008. Accessed June 25, 2008. "In their 1989 book, "Lost Haddonfield," the historians noted Tavistock was established in 1921, when Prohibition prevented alcohol from being sold anywhere legally.... The Haddonfield Public School District serves children who live in Tavistock."