COAT OF ARMS: In the center is a shield with three plows, symbolic of agriculture. A helmet above indicates sovereignty, and a horse’s head atop the helmet signifies speed and prosperity. The state motto and the date “1776” are displayed on a banner below.

MOTTO: Liberty and Prosperity.

SONG: “I’m from New Jersey” (unofficial).

COLORS: Buff and Jersey blue.

FLOWER: Violet.

TREE: Red oak; dogwood (memorial tree).

ANIMAL: Horse.

BIRD: Eastern goldfinch.

INSECT: Honeybee.

SHELL: Knobbed whelk.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year’s Day, 1 January; Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., 3rd Monday in January; Lincoln’s Birthday, 12 February (sometimes observed on a Friday or Monday closest to this date); Washington’s Birthday, 3rd Monday in February; Good Friday, Friday before Easter, March or April; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Columbus Day, 2nd Monday in October; Election Day, 1st Tuesday after 1st Monday in November; Veterans’ Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 7 AM EST = noon GMT.

1 Location and Size

Situated in the northeastern United States, New Jersey is the smallest of the Mid-Atlantic states and ranks 46th among the 50 states. The total area of New Jersey is 7,787 square miles (20,168 square kilometers), of which 7,468 square miles (19,342 square kilometers) are land and 319 square miles (826 square kilometers) are inland waters. New Jersey extends 166 miles (267 kilometers) from north to south and 57 miles (92 kilometers) from east to west. New Jersey’s total boundary length is 480 miles (773 kilometers), including a general coastline of 130 miles (209 kilometers). Numerous barrier islands lie off the Atlantic coast.

2 Topography

Although small, New Jersey has considerable physical variety. In the extreme northwest corner of the state are the Appalachian Valley and the Kittatinny Ridge and Valley, containing High Point, the state’s highest point, at 1,803 feet (550 meters) above sea level. To the east and south is the highlands region, including the Ramapo Mountains. East of the highlands is a flat area broken by the high ridges of the Watchungs and Sourlands and—most spectacularly—by the Palisades, rising some 500 feet (150 meters) above the Hudson River. The Atlantic Coastal Plain claims the remaining two-thirds of the state. Its most notable feature is the Pine Barrens, 760 square miles (1,968 square kilometers) of pitch pines and white oaks.

Sandy Hook, a peninsula more than five miles (eight kilometers) long, extends northward into the Atlantic from Monmouth County. Major rivers include the Delaware, forming the border with Pennsylvania, and the Passaic, Hackensack, and Raritan. The largest natural lake is Lake Hopatcong, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) long.

3 Climate

Most of New Jersey has a moderate climate with cold winters and warm, humid summers. In Atlantic City, the temperatures ranges from 32°f (0°c) in January to 75°f (23°c) in July. Statewide, the record high temperature is 110°f (43°c), set in Runyon on 10 July 1936. The record low,

New Jersey Population Profile

Total population estimate in 2006:	8,724,560
Population change, 2000–06:	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino†:	15.3%
Population by race
One race:	98.5%
White:	69.9%
Black or African American:	13.3%
American Indian /Alaska Native:	0.2%
Asian:	7.3%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander:	0.0%
Some other race:	7.8%
Two or more races:	1.5%

Population by Age Group

Major Cities by Population
City	Population	% change 2000–05
Notes: †A person of Hispanic or Latino origin may be of any race. NA indicates that data are not available.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey and Population Estimates. www.census.gov/ (accessed March 2007).
Newark	280,666	2.6
Jersey	239,614	-0.2
Paterson	149,843	0.4
Elizabeth	125,809	4.3
Trenton	84,639	-0.9
Camden	80,010	0.1
Clifton	79,922	1.6
Passaic	68,338	0.7
East Orange	68,190	-2.3
Union	65,128	-2.9

-34°f (-37°c), was set in River Vale on 5 January 1904.

Precipitation is plentiful, averaging 46 inches (117 centimeters) annually. Snowfall totals about 16 inches (41 centimeters) per year. Occasional hurricanes and violent spring storms have damaged beachfront property over the years and floods along northern New Jersey rivers, especially in the Passaic River basin, are not uncommon. A serious drought occurs on an average of once every 15 years.

4 Plants and Animals

Birch, beech, and elm all grow in the state, along with 20 varieties of oak. Common shrubs include the spicebush and mountain laurel. Common wildflowers include meadow rue, butterflyweed, and black-eyed Susan. In 2006, six plant species were listed as threatened or endangered, including the American chaffseed and small whorled pogonia.

Among mammals native to New Jersey are the white-tailed deer, black bear, and raccoon. The herring gull and sandpiper are common shore birds, while the robin, cardinal, and Baltimore oriole are frequently sighted inland. Anglers prize the northern pike and various species of bass, trout, and perch.

Declining or rare animals include the whip-poorwill, hooded warbler, eastern hognose snake, northern red salamander, and northern kingfish. In 2006, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed 16 animal species as threatened or endangered, including four species of turtle, the Indiana bat, bald eagle, shortnose sturgeon, roseate tern, and three species of whale.

New Jersey Population by Race

Census 2000 was the first national census in which the instructions to respondents said, “Mark one or more races.” This table shows the number of people who are of one, two, or three or more races. For those claiming two races, the number of people belonging to the various categories is listed. The U.S. government conducts a census of the population every ten years.

	Number	Percent
Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000: Redistricting Data. Press release issued by the Redistricting Data Office. Washington, D.C., March, 2001. A dash (—) indicates that the percent is less than 0.1.
Total population	8,414,350	100.0
One race	8,200,595	97.5
Two races	203,207	2.4
White and Black or African American	23,611	0.3
White and American Indian/Alaska Native	11,428	0.1
White and Asian	22,701	0.3
White and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	1,261	—
White and some other race	88,184	1.0
Black or African American and American Indian/Alaska Native	7,167	0.1
Black or African American and Asian	3,784	—
Black or African American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	1,397	—
Black or African American and some other race	25,831	0.3
American Indian/Alaska Native and Asian	2,338	—
American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	78	—
American Indian/Alaska Native and some other race	2,501	—
Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	1,293	—
Asian and some other race	10,243	0.1
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and some other race	1,390	—
Three or more races	10,548	0.1

5 Environmental Protection

Laws and policies regulating the management and protection of New Jersey’s environment and natural resources are administered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The proximity of the populace to industrial plants and to the state’s expansive highway system makes air pollution control a special concern in the state. New Jersey has one of the most comprehensive air pollution control programs in the United States, maintaining a network of 105 air pollution monitoring stations, as well as 60 stations that monitor just for particulates and 10 monitoring radiation.

The DEP reported that a 1984 review of water quality in the state showed that water quality degradation had been halted and the quality of streams had been stabilized or improved. Some rivers in highly urbanized areas, however, were still severely polluted.

Approximately 1,500 treatment facilities discharge waste water into New Jersey’s surface and groundwaters. Nearly 80% of these facilities comply with the requirements of federal and state clean water laws. Mandatory recycling programs exist throughout the state.

New Jersey’s toxic waste cleanup program is among the most serious in the United States. In 2003, New Jersey had 551 hazardous waste sites listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s database, 113 of which were on the National Priorities List in 2006.

New Jersey was the first state to begin a statewide search for sites contaminated by dioxin, a toxic byproduct in the manufacture of herbicides.

Since 1961, the state has bought more than 240,000 acres (97,000 hectares) under a “Green Acres” program for conservation and recreation. Additionally, Green Acres is assisting nonprofit conservation groups in acquiring over 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares).

6 Population

In 2006, New Jersey ranked 11th (down from 10th in 2005) population among the 50 states with an estimated total of 8,724,560 residents. The population is projected to reach 9.6 million by 2025. The population density in 2004 was 1,175.60 persons per square mile (453.89 persons per square kilometer), making New Jersey the most densely populated state in the country. In 2004, the median age was 37.8 years. In 2005, about 13% of all residents were 65 or older while 25% were 18 or younger.

The state’s entire population is classified as living in metropolitan areas, a distinction claimed by no other state. Newark, the state’s largest city, had an estimated 280,666 inhabitants in 2005. Populations of other New Jersey cities in 2005 were Jersey City, 239,614; Paterson, 149,843; and Elizabeth, 125,809.

7 Ethnic Groups

New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the nation. According to the 2000 census, 1,476,327 New Jerseyites (about 17.5% of the state’s population) were of foreign birth. The leading countries of origin were Italy, Cuba, India, and Germany. As of 2001, New Jersey had the third-highest percentage of foreign-born residents among the 50 states, surpassed only by California and New York.

In 2000, the largest ethnic minority in the state was black Americans, with about 1,141,821 people (13.6% of the population). The Hispanic and Latino population had 1,117,191 people (about 13.3% of the total population), including 366,788 Puerto Ricans, 77,337 Cubans, and smaller Spanish-speaking groups of Colombians and Dominicans. The estimated number of Asians living in New Jersey was 480,276, including 169,180 Asian Indians, 85,245 Filipinos, 100,355 Chinese, 65,349 Koreans, and 14,672 Japanese. Native Americans, including Eskimos and Aleuts, numbered 19,492. A group known as the Ramapough Mountain People claim to be descendants of Dutch settlers, black slaves, British and German soldiers, and Leni-Lenape and Tuscarora Native Americans. They live in the Ramapo hills near Ringwood and Mahwah.

8 Languages

English in New Jersey is rather evenly divided north and south between Northern and Midland dialects. Special characteristics of New York metropolitan-area speech occur in the northeast portion, such as the absence of /r/ after a vowel. Dominant in the southern half are the terms run (small stream), baby coach (baby carriage), and eel worm (earthworm). Heard also are keg rhyming with bag, scarce with fierce, spook with book, and haunted with panted.

In 2000, 74.5% of the resident population five years old or older spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home with number of speakers were Spanish, 967,741; Italian, 116,365; Chinese, 84,345; Polish, 74,663; Portuguese, 72,870; Tagalog, 66,851; Korean, 55,340; and Gujarati, 47,324. Place names borrowed from the native Leni-Lanape tribe include Passaic, Totowa, and Piscataway.

9 Religions

New Jersey has a long history of religious tolerance. Dutch immigrants founded a Reformed Church in 1662. Puritans came from New England and Long Island, Congregationalists from Connecticut, and Baptists from Rhode Island. Quakers settled in Shrewsbury and western New Jersey during the early 1670s. The state’s first synagogue was established in 1848, in Newark. About the only religion not tolerated by New Jerseyites was Catholicism. The first Catholic parish was not organized until 1814 and laws excluding Catholics from holding office were on the books until 1844.

In 2004, Roman Catholics constituted New Jersey’s single largest religious group, with 3,479,158 adherents. The next largest group is Jewish, with Jews numbering about 468,000 in 2000. The largest Protestant denomination (with 2000 data) was the United Methodist Church, with 140,133 adherents, followed by the Presbyterian Church USA, with 119,735; the Episcopal Church, 91,964; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 79,264. There were about 120,724 Muslims in the state. Nearly 3.5 million people (about 42.3% of the population) were not counted as members of any religious organization. Passaic is the headquarters of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Rite of the Byzantine Catholic Church.

10 Transportation

In the mid-1820s, Hoboken engineer John Stevens built the first steam locomotive operated in the United States. Over the protests of the dominant stagecoach operators, his son Robert obtained a charter in 1830 for the Camden and Amboy Railroad. The line opened in 1834, and six years later it held a monopoly on the lucrative New York–Philadelphia run. As of 2003, the major freight operations were run by CSX and Northfolk Southern. That year, there were 2,798 route miles (4,504 kilometers) of track in the state. In addition, there were one regional, one Canadian, six local, and six switching and terminal railroads operating in the state. As of 2006, daily Amtrak trains linked Newark, Trenton, and four other New Jersey cities along the main eastern rail corridor. But the bulk of interstate passenger traffic consists of commuters to New York and Philadelphia on trains operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA) and the Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO), a subsidiary of the Delaware River Port Authority.

The New Jersey Transit Corporation, called NJ TRANSIT, is a public corporation charged with coordinating and improving bus and rail services throughout the state. It is the nation’s third largest pubic transit agency, providing 223 million passenger trips annually. It operates 711 daily trains on 11 rail lines, and 2,027 buses on 236 routes throughout the state. It also owns and operates the Newark City Subway, a light rail system providing service through downtown Newark.

Although associated more with the West, the first stagecoach service began in New Jersey, as part of a New York–Philadelphia trek that took some five days in 1723. For a time, colonial law required towns along the way to provide taverns for the passengers and it was not uncommon for coach operators who were also tavern owners to find some way to prolong the journey an extra night. In 2004, there were 38,122 miles (61,376 kilometers) of public roads in the state. The major highways are the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. There were some 6,218,000 registered vehicles in the state in 2004, including 3,974,000 automobiles, 2,076,000 trucks, and 19,000 buses. There were 5,799,532 licensed drivers in the same year.

Twenty-seven bridges cross the Delaware River, connecting New Jersey with Pennsylvania and Delaware. At the gateway to New York Harbor, there are ports at Elizabeth and Newark. There are private piers in Jersey City and Bayonne. The Ports of Philadelphia and Camden, Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia, operate facilities along the Delaware River. The port facility at Paulsboro is the most active in the state, followed by the Camden ports.

The state’s early aviation centers were Lakehurst and Newark. Lakehurst was the scene of the 6 May 1937 crash of the Hindenburg, a disaster that killed 26 people and spelled the end of commercial airship flights in the United States. Newark International Airport has become the state’s busiest, with 15,827,675 passengers in 2004. It was the 12th busiest airport in the United States that year. Statewide in 2005, there were 119 airports, 256 heliports, and 13 sea-plane bases.

11 History

The first known inhabitants of what is now New Jersey were the Leni-Lenape (meaning “Original People”). Members of the Algonquian language group, the Leni-Lenape were a peaceful agricultural people who believed in monogamy, educated their children in the simple skills needed for wilderness survival, and maintained the tradition that a pot of food must always be warm on the fire to welcome all strangers.

The first European explorer to reach New Jersey was Giovanni da Verrazano, who sailed into what is now Newark Bay in 1524. Henry Hudson, an English captain sailing under a Dutch flag, landed at Sandy Hook Bay in 1609, establishing a Dutch claim to the New World. In 1660, Hollanders founded New Jersey’s first town, called Bergen (now part of Jersey City). Native American lands were gained through a series of treaties. Ravaged by the introduction of guns, alcohol, and smallpox, only a few hundred of the “Original People” remained a century later.

England assumed control of the region in 1664. Eventually, the land passed into the hands of governing groups in two provinces called East Jersey and West Jersey. East Jersey was settled mainly by Puritans from Long Island and New England; West Jersey was settled by Quakers from England. The split cost the colony dearly in 1702, when Queen Anne united East and West Jersey but placed them under New York rule. The colony did not get its own “home rule” until 1738.

Statehood During the American Revolution, the colony was about equally divided between Revolutionists and Loyalists. However, in June 1776, the colony sent five delegates to the Continental Congress, all of whom voted for the Declaration of Independence. Two days before the Declaration was proclaimed, New Jersey adopted its first state constitution. George Washington and his battered troops made their winter headquarters in the state three times during the first four years of the war, and five major battles were fought in the state. At the end of the war, Princeton became the temporary capital of the United States until 1783.

With many of its pathway towns ravaged by the war, the state stagnated until railroads and canals brought new life in the 1830s and set it on a course of urbanization and industrialization. The coal brought in on railroad cars freed industry from waterpower; factories sprang up wherever the rails went. The Hudson County water-front, eastern terminus for most of the nation’s railway systems, became the most important railroad area in the United States.

The Civil War split New Jersey bitterly. As late as the summer of 1863, after the Battle of Gettysburg, many state “peace Democrats” were urging the North to make peace with the Confederacy. The state, however, sent its full quota of troops into service throughout the conflict. Most importantly, New Jersey factories poured forth streams of munitions and other equipment for the Union army. At war’s end, political leaders stubbornly opposed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution, and blacks were not permitted to vote in the state until 1870.

Industry During the last decades of the 19th century, New Jersey developed a reputation for factories capable of making the components necessary for thousands of manufacturing enterprises. In 1873, Isaac M. Singer opened a huge sewing machine plant at Elizabeth that employed 3,000 persons. Twentieth-century wars stimulated New Jersey’s industries further.

During World War I, giant shipyards at Newark, Kearny, and Camden made New Jersey the nation’s leading shipbuilding state. The Middlesex County area refined 75% of the nation’s copper, and nearly 75% of US shells were loaded in the state. World War II revived the shipbuilding and munitions industries. Paterson became the nation’s foremost airplane engine manufacturing center. Training and mobilization centers at Fort Dix and Camp Kilmer moved millions of soldiers into the front lines.

Urbanization The US Census Bureau termed New Jersey officially “urban” in 1880, when the state population rose above one million for the first time. New Jersey has experienced many of the problems of urbanization. Its cities have declined; traffic congestion from commuters streaming into urban areas to work is intense. The suburbs acutely know the problems of urban growth: increased needs for schools, police and fire protection, sewers, and road maintenance, along with rising taxes.

The state has not surrendered to its problems, however. Voters since 1950 have passed a wide variety of multimillion dollar bond issues to establish or rebuild state colleges. Rutgers, the state university, was rapidly expanded. Funds have been allocated for the purchase and development of new park and forest lands. Large bond issues financed the construction of highways, reservoirs, and rapid transit systems.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, New Jersey experienced a recession. The unemployment rate climbed to almost 10%, and over 270,000 people left the state. The state’s cities were hit particularly hard, suffering both from the loss of manufacturing jobs and from a flight of retailing to suburban malls. While the state lost over 200,000 manufacturing jobs, it gained 670,000 jobs in service industries, and the economy recovered in the 1980s. The rise in employment centered on such industries as services, transportation, and construction.

By the early 1990s, the economy was contracting again before entering a period of recovery toward the end of the decade. By 1999 unemployment had dropped to 4.6%. Observers credited the recovery of the 1990s in part to a skilled workforce that attracted pharmaceutical, biotechnology, electronics, and other high-tech firms to the state. Tax and economic incentives also helped bring business to the state. The state ranked second in the nation in per capita personal income ($33,953) and had the second lowest poverty rate (8.6%) in 1998. However, the state faced a severe budget crisis from 2002– 05. Nevertheless, the state’s per capita (per person) personal income in 2004 was $41,332, third in the nation behind Connecticut and Massachusetts.

In 1998, New Jersey’s area increased by 24.2 acres following a US Supreme Court ruling that awarded the Garden State most of Ellis Island.

In September 1999 New Jersey experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history; Hurricane Floyd damaged more than 8,000 homes and destroyed several hundred more. A federal aid package was approved in July 2000 to aid the hurricane victims.

Politics Since the end of World War II, New Jersey has had no predictable political pattern. It gave huge presidential majorities to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson, and narrowly supported Democrat John F. Kennedy. The state favored Republican Gerald Ford over Democrat Jimmy Carter by a small margin, gave two big majorities to Republican Ronald Reagan, favored Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and favored Democrat Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000. New Jersey gave its 15 electoral votes to John Kerry in 2004, in a 53% to 46% margin over George W. Bush.

In 1978 Democrat Bill Bradley, former Princeton University and New York Knickerbockers basketball star, was elected to the US Senate; Bradley was reelected in 1984 and 1990, but did not run in 1996. In 2006, New Jersey was represented in the US Senate by Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, both Democrats.

Governor Thomas Kean, a Republican who served from 1983–89, helped to improve the public image of New Jersey, long perceived as dominated by smoke-belching factories and troubled cities. Kean was succeeded by Democrat Jim Florio, whose tax increases, which took effect just at the time the New Jersey economy had begun to waver, angered voters. In 1993, Florio lost his bid for reelection to Republican Christine Todd Whitman, the state’s first woman governor. As soon as she took office, Whitman implemented a 5% tax cut and pushed through another 10% cut as part of her budget package in 1993. Whitman won a second term in the 1996 election. In 2001, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); she resigned in 2003. Democrat Richard J. Codey, former state senate president, became acting governor in November 2004 after Governor James E. McGreevey resigned before his term expired. In the November 2005 gubernatorial election, former US Senator Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, was elected governor. Corzine took office in 2006.

12 State Government

The state legislature consists of a 40-member senate and an 80-member general assembly. New Jersey is one of four states (the others are Maine, New Hampshire, and Tennessee) in which the governor is the only elected administrative official. Given broad powers by the state constitution, the governor appoints the heads, or commissioners, of the major state departments with the advice and consent of the senate.

A bill may be introduced in either house of the legislature. Once passed, it goes to the governor, who may sign it, return it to the legislature with recommendations for change, or veto it in its entirety. A two-thirds majority in each house is needed to override a veto.

The legislative salary as of December 2004 was $49,000 and the governor’s salary was $157,000.

13 Political Parties

Sweeping reforms—including a corrupt practices act, a primary election law, and increased support for public education—were implemented during the two years (1911–13) that Woodrow

Wilson, a Democrat, served as New Jersey’s governor. Between 1913 and 1985, Democrats held the statehouse almost two-thirds of the time.

In 2004, there were 5,009,000 registered voters. In 1998, 25% of registered voters were Democratic, 19% Republican, and 56% unaffiliated or members of other parties. Following the 2006 statewide elections, the state senate contained 22 Democrats and 18 Republicans, while the general assembly consisted of 49 Democrats and 31 Republicans. Twenty-three women were elected to the state legislature in 2006, or 19.2%.

In the 2000 presidential voting, Democrat Al Gore won 56% of the vote, while Republican George W. Bush won 41%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democratic challenger John Kerry won 52.7% of the vote to incumbent President George W. Bush’s 46.5%.

In 1993, New Jersey elected its first woman as governor, Republican Christine Todd Whitman. Democrat James McGreevey was elected New Jersey’s governor in 2001; he resigned in 2004 and was succeeded by state senate president Richard Codey. In the November 2005 gubernatorial election, Codey decided not to run for a full term, and former US Senator Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, was elected governor. Democrat Robert Menendez was appointed by Corzine to fill the US Senate seat he left vacant

New Jersey Governors: 1776–2007

1776–1790	William Livingston	Federalist
1790	Elisha Lawrence	Federalist
1790–1793	William Paterson	Federalist
1793	Thomas Henderson	Federalist
1793–1801	Richard Howell	Federalist
1801–1802	Joseph Bloomfield	Republican
1802–1803	John Lambert	Dem-Rep
1803–1812	Joseph Bloomfield	Dem-Rep
1812–1813	Aaron Ogden	Federalist
1813–1815	William Sandford Pennington	Dem-Rep
1815	William Kennedy	Dem-Rep
1815–1817	Mahlon Dickerson	Republican
1817–1829	Isaac Halstead Williamson	Federalist
1829–1832	Peter Dumont Vroom	Democrat
1832–1833	Samuel Lewis Southard	Republican
1833	Elias P. Seeley	Whig
1833–1836	Peter Dumont Vroom	Democrat
1836–1837	Philemon Dickerson	Democrat
1837–1843	William Pennington	Dem-Rep
1843–1844	Daniel Haines	Democrat
1845–1848	Charles Creighton Stratton	Whig
1848–1851	Daniel Haines	Democrat
1851–1854	George Franklin Fort	Democrat
1854–1857	Rodman McCamley Price	Democrat
1857–1860	William Augustus Newell	Republican
1860–1863	Charles Smith Olden	Republican
1863–1866	Joel Parker	Democrat
1866–1869	Marcus Lawrence Ward	Republican
1869–1872	Theodore Fitz Randolph	Democrat
1872–1875	Joel Parker	Democrat
1875–1878	Joseph Dorsett Bedle	Democrat
1878–1881	George Brinton McClellan	Democrat
1881–1884	George Craig Ludlow	Democrat
1884–1887	Leon Abbett	Democrat
1887–1890	Robert Stockton Green	Democrat
1890–1893	Leon Abbett	Democrat
1893–1896	George Theodore Werts	Democrat
1896–1898	John Williams Griggs	Republican
1898	Foster MacGowan Voorhees	Republican
1898–1899	David Ogden Watkins	Republican
1899–1902	Foster MacGowan Voorhees	Republican
1902–1905	Franklin Murphy	Republican
1905–1908	Edward Casper Stokes	Republican
1908–1911	John Franklin Fort	Republican
1911–1913	Thomas Woodrow Wilson	Democrat
1913	James Fairman Fielder	Democrat
1913–1914	Leon R. Taylor	Democrat
1914–1917	James Fairman Fielder	Democrat
1917–1919	Walter Evans Edge	Republican
1919–1920	William Nelson Runyon	Republican
1920	Clarence Edwards Case	Republican
1920–1923	Edward Irving Edwards	Democrat
1923–1926	George Sebastian Silzer	Democrat
1926–1929	Arthur Harry Moore	Democrat
1929–1932	Morgan Foster Larson	Republican
1932–1935	Arthur Harry Moore	Democrat
1935	Clifford R. Powell	Republican
1935	Horace Griggs Prall	Republican
1935–1938	Harold Giles Hoffman	Republican
1938–1941	Arthur Harry Moore	Democrat
1941–1944	Charles Edison	Democrat
1944–1947	Walter Evans Edge	Republican
1947–1954	Alfred Eastlack Driscoll	Republican
1954–1962	Robert Baumle Meyner	Democrat
1962–1970	Richard Joseph Hughes	Democrat
1970–1974	William Thomas Cahill	Republican
1974–1982	Brendan Thomas Byrne	Democrat
1982–1990	Thomas H. Kean	Republican
1990–1994	James Joseph Florio	Democrat
1994–2001	Christine Todd Whitman	Republican
2001	Donald T. DeFrancesco	Republican
2001–2004	James McGreevey	Democrat
2004–2006	Richard Codey	Democrat
2006–	Jon S. Corzine	Democrat
Democratic Republican – Dem-Rep

when he became governor in January 2006, and Menendez won that Senate seat in his own right in November 2006. Democrat Frank Lautenberg, first elected to the Senate in 1982, and reelected in 1988 and 1994, returned to the Senate in 2002 after having retired in 2000. Following the 2006 midterm elections, the state’s delegation to the US House of Representatives consisted of seven Democrats and six Republicans.

14 Local Government

As of 2005, New Jersey had 21 counties, 324 municipal governments, 604 public school districts, and 276 special districts. In 2002, there were 242 townships. Counties are divided into classes by population and location. These classes determine the number of members on the main county governing body (the board of freeholders)

New Jersey Presidential Vote by Political Parties, 1948–2004

YEAR	NEW JERSEY WINNER	DEMOCRAT	REPUBLICAN	PROGRESSIVE	SOCIALIST	PROHIBITION	SOCIALIST LABOR
* Won US presidential election.
1948	Dewey (R)	895,455	981,124	42,683	10,521	10,593	3,354
1952	*Eisenhower (R)	1,015,902	1,373,613	5,589	8,593	—	5,815
				CONSTITUTION
1956	*Eisenhower (R)	850,337	1,606,942	5,317	—	9,147	6,736
				CONSERVATIVE
1960	*Kennedy (D)	1,385,415	1,363,324	8,708	—	—	4,262
1964	*Johnson (D)	1,867,671	963,843	—	—	—	7,075
				AMERICAN IND.	PEACE & FREEDOM
1968	*Nixon (R)	1,264,206	1,325,467	262,187		8,084	6,784
					PEOPLE’S	AMERICAN
1972	*Nixon (R)	1,102,211	1,845,502	—	5,355	34,378	4,544
					US LABOR	LIBERTARIAN
1976	Ford (R)	1,444,653	1,509,688	7,716	1,650	9,449	3,686
1980	*Reagan (R)	1,147,364	1,546,557	8,203	—	20,652	2,198
					WORKERS WORLD
1984	*Reagan (R)	1,261,323	1,933,630	—	8,404	6,416	—
				NEW ALLIANCE	PEACE & FREEDOM		CONSUMER
1988	*Bush (R)	1,320,352	1,743,192	5,139	9,953	8,421	3,454
					IND. (PEROT)		IND. (BRADFORD)
1992	*Clinton (D)	1,436,206	1,356,865	3,513	521,829	6,822	4,749
							GREEN (NADER)
1996	*Clinton (D)	1,652,329	1,103,078	—	262,134	14,763	32,465
						LIBERTARIAN
2000	Gore (D)	1,788,850	1,284,173	94,554	1,880	6,312	844
2004	Kerry (D)	1,911,430	1,670,003	—	—	4,514	—

which administers county and state programs. County officers include the clerk, sheriff, and prosecutor.

Cities, boroughs, and towns may employ the mayor-council system, council-manager system, commission system, or other forms of their own devising. Cities, too, are classed by population and location into four classes. The budgets of all local units are supervised by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which also offers municipal aid programs.

15 Judicial System

The supreme court, the state’s highest, consists of six associate justices and a chief justice, who is also the administrative head of the state court system. As the court of highest authority, the supreme court hears appeals on constitutional questions and of certain cases from the superior court, which comprises three divisions: chancery, law, and appellate. The chancery division has original jurisdiction over general equity cases, most probate cases, and divorce actions. All other original cases are tried within the law division. The appeals division hears appeals from the chancery and law divisions, from lower courts, and from most state administrative agencies.

A state tax court, empowered to review local property tax assessments, equalization tables, and state tax determinations, has been in operation since 1979. Municipal court judges hear minor criminal matters, motor vehicle cases, and violations of municipal ordinances. In 2004, New Jersey had a total violent crime rate (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) of 355.7 reported incidents per 100,000 persons. Crimes against property (burglary, larceny/ theft, and motor vehicle theft) that year totaled 2,429.2 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Prisoners under jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities in New Jersey numbered 26,757 as of 31 December 2004. A death penalty by lethal injection was established in 1982, although as of 5 May 2006, the sentence had yet to be imposed. As of 1 January 2006, 13 persons were under sentence of death in New Jersey.

16 Migration

New Jersey’s first white settlers were colonial migrants: the Dutch from New Amsterdam, Swedes from west of the Delaware River, and Puritans from New England and Long Island. Not until the rapid industrial growth of the mid-1800s did New Jersey attract great waves of immigrants. Germans and Irish were the first to arrive. The late 1800s and early 1900s brought newcomers from Eastern Europe, including many Jews, and a much larger number of Italians to the cities. More recently, migration from Puerto Rico and Cuba has been substantial.

From World War I on, there has been a steady migration of blacks from Southern states. Black as well as Hispanic newcomers settled in major cities just as whites were departing for the suburbs. New Jersey’s suburbs were also attractive to residents of New York City, Philadelphia, and other adjacent areas, who began a massive move to the state just after World War II.

Between 1990 and 1998, New Jersey had a net loss of 350,000 in domestic migration and a net gain of 360,000 in international migration. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 290,194 and net internal migration was -194,901, for a net gain of 95,293 people.

17 Economy

Petroleum refining, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, food processing, apparel, fabricated metals, electric and electronic equipment, and other machinery are all important. But the state is more noteworthy for the diversity of its manufacturers than for any dominant company or product. The service sector of the economy, led by wholesale and retail trade, continued to grow rapidly during the 1990s. The heaviest concentrations of jobs are in and near metropolitan New York and Philadelphia. Fresh market vegetables are the leading source of farm income.

Economic growth during the late 1990s was robust. Although the national recession of 2001 resulted in a slowdown in the economy, employment losses for the state as a whole started later and were milder than for the nation as a whole.

New Jersey’s gross state product (GSP) in 2004 was $416.05 billion, of which the real estate sector accounted for the largest share at $65.6 billion (15.7% of GSP), followed by manufacturing ($45.35 billion, or 10.9% of GSP), and professional and technical services ($33.65 billion, or 8% of GSP).

18 Income

In 2005, New Jersey had a gross state product (GSP) of $431 billion, eighth highest in the nation. In 2004, New Jersey ranked fourth among the 50 states and the District of Columbia with a per capita (per person) income of $41,626 (the national average was $33,050). The three-year average median household income for 2002–04 was $56,772, compared to the national average of $44,473. For the same 2002–04 period, 8.2% of the state’s residents lived below the federal poverty level, as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

19 Industry

In 2004, the shipment value of all products manufactured in the state was $94.12 billion. That year, the leading industrial categories were chemical and allied products ($26.9 billion), petroleum and coal products manufacturing ($12.2 billion) food manufacturing ($9.48 billion), computer and electronic product manufacturing ($6.1 billion), and fabricated metal product manufacturing ($5.24 billion). Nearly every major US corporation has facilities in the state.

20 Labor

In April 2006, the civilian labor force in New Jersey numbered 4,501,800, with approximately 231,000 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 5.1%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. In April 2006, 4.2% of the labor force was employed in construction; 7.8% in manufacturing; 21.4% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 6.9% in financial activities; 14.6% in professional and business services; 13.9% in education and health services; 8.4% in leisure and hospitality services; and 15.8% in government.

Although migrant workers are still employed at south Jersey tomato farms and fruit orchards, the number of farm workers coming into the state is declining with the increased use of mechanical harvesters.

In 2005, 791,000 of New Jersey’s 3,868,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions, representing 20.5% of those so employed. The national average was 12%.

21 Agriculture

New Jersey is a leading producer of fresh fruits and vegetables. Its total farm income was $862 million in 2005. In 2004, it ranked fourth in cranberries, spinach, and lettuce, and eighth in fresh market tomatoes.

About 820,000 acres (332,000 hectares) were contained in 9,900 farms in 2004. The major farm counties are: Warren for grain and milk production, Gloucester and Cumberland for fruits and vegetables, Atlantic for blueberries, Burlington for nursery production and berries, Salem for processing vegetables, and Monmouth for nursery and equine.

In 2004, leading crops were bell peppers, cabbage, sweet corn, tomatoes, and head lettuce. New Jersey farmers also produced 56,440 tons of vegetables for processing. Fruit crops in 2004 included apples, peaches, cranberries, and strawberries.

22 Domesticated Animals

In 2005, New Jersey had an estimated 44,000 cattle and calves, valued at $48.8 million. During 2004, New Jersey farmers had an estimated 11,000 hogs and pigs valued at $1.3 million. In 2003, poultry farmers produced 686,000 million pounds (312 million kilograms) of turkey, 3 million pounds (1.4 million kilograms) of chickens, and 556 million eggs. The state’s total milk yield was 216 million pounds (98.1 million kilograms) in 2003.

23 Fishing

In 2004, New Jersey had a commercial fish catch of 185.6 million pounds (84.3 million kilograms) worth $139.4 million, the eighth-highest catch value in the nation. Cape May–Wildwood had the 15th-highest value and 13th-largest volume of all US ports, bringing in 97.5 million pounds (44.3 million kilograms) of fish, worth $68.1 million. Clams, scallops, swordfish, tuna, squid, lobster, and flounder are the most valuable species. The state ranked second in the nation for volume of Atlantic mackerel landings. The state led the nation in landings of surf clams and quahogs. In 2003, there were 15 processing and 83 wholesale plants in the state with about 2,050 employees. The commercial fleet in 2001 had 397 vessels.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior maintains a total of 190,000 acres (76,900 hectares) at 12 different sites with boating access. The state stocks over 1.8 million fish per year to lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. The Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery and the Pequest Trout Hatchery are major suppliers.

Recreational fishermen catch finfish and shellfish along the Atlantic coast and in the rivers and lakes of northern New Jersey. In 2004, the state issued 169,418 sport fishing licenses.

24 Forestry

Over 42% of New Jersey’s land area, or 1,876,000 acres (759,000 hectares), was forested in 2004. Of that total, 1,228,000 acres (521,000 hectares) were classified as commercial timberland, most of it privately owned. The forests of New Jersey are important for their function in conservation and recreation. Harvested wood contributes to specialty markets and quality veneer products. State forests cover 382,000 acres (155,000 hectares).

25 Mining

The value of nonfuel mineral production in New Jersey in 2003 was estimated to be $272 million. According to preliminary figures, 22.5 million metric tons of crushed stone were produced in 2003. Other mineral resources mined or recovered included construction sand and gravel, industrial sand and gravel, common and fire clays, greensand marl. New Jersey continued to be the only state that produced greensand marl, also known as the mineral glauconite, which is processed and sold mainly as a water-softening filtration medium to remove soluble iron and manganese from well water. A secondary use is as an organic conditioner for soils.

26 Energy and Power

Although it contains some of the largest oil refineries in the United States, New Jersey produces little of its own energy, importing much of its electric power and virtually all of its fossil fuels.

In 2003, there were 37 electric generating plants in New Jersey. Installed capacity (utility and nonutility) totaled 18.6 million kilowatts. Power production amounted to 57.4 billion kilowatt hours. In 2000, New Jersey’s total per capita energy consumption was 322 million Btu (81.1 million kilocalories), ranking it 33rd among the 50 states.

New Jersey had three nuclear power stations in operation in 2006: Hope Creek in Lower Alloways Township; Oyster Creek plant at Forked River; and the Salem Creek plant near Salem. Nuclear generating stations accounted for 51.8% of the electric power generated in the state in 2003.

27 Commerce

With one of the nation’s busiest ports and many regional distribution centers, New Jersey is an important commercial state. Wholesale sales for 2002 totaled $256.9 billion; retail sales were $102.1 billion. In 2005, New Jersey exported $21.08 billion of its own manufactures to foreign countries. Leading exports were chemicals, electronics, and industrial machinery. Most exports went to Canada, Japan, the UK, and Mexico.

28 Public Finance

The annual budget, prepared by the Treasury Department’s Division of Budget and Accounting, is submitted by the governor to the legislature for approval. The fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June.

The revenues for 2004 were $50.58 billion and expenditures were $46.45 billion. The largest general expenditures were for education ($12.12 billion), public welfare ($8.59 billion), and highways ($2.38 billion). The public debt of state government was $35.77 billion, or $4,118.62 per person.

29 Taxation

New Jersey’s personal income tax is the largest single source of revenues. The 6% retail sales tax is the second largest. The personal income tax schedule has six brackets ranging from 1.4% to 8.97%. The corporate tax is a flat rate of 9%. The state also imposes a full array of excise taxes covering motor fuels, tobacco products, and many other products and services. There are no local sales taxes. Other state taxes include various license and franchise fees, stamp taxes, and state property taxes. Most property taxes are collected locally.

The state collected $22.93 billion in taxes in 2005, of which 35.9% came from individual income taxes, 28.6% came from the general sales tax, 15.8% from selective sales taxes, 9.7% from corporate income taxes and 10.1% from other taxes. In 2005, New Jersey ranked 10th among the states in terms of combined state and local tax burden, which amounted to $2,631 per capita (per person). The national average was $2,192.

30 Health

In October 2005, the infant mortality rate in New Jersey was 4.9 per 1,000 live births. The overall death rate stood at 8.5 per 1,000 inhabitants. The leading causes of death in the state were heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, accidents, motor vehicle accidents, and suicide. Among persons ages 18 and older, 18.8% were smokers. The HIV-related death rate was 8.9 per 100,000 population. A total of 43,824 AIDS cases had been reported through 2001.

New Jersey’s 78 community hospitals had about 22,800 beds in 2003. The average expense for community hospital care was $1,411 per inpatient day in 2003. In 2004, New Jersey had 333 doctors per 100,000 residents, and 928 nurses per 100,000 residents in 2005. In 2002, approximately 15% of New Jersey’s residents were uninsured.

The state’s only medical school, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, is a public institution that combines three medical schools, one dental school, a school of allied professions, and a graduate school of biomedical sciences.

31 Housing

Poor housing was at least one of the causes of the Newark riots in 1967. As a result, the state established the Department of Community Affairs to coordinate existing housing aid programs and establish new ones. In 2004, the state had an estimated 3,414,739 housing units, of which 3,134,481 were occupied; 68.1% were owner-occupied. About 54.6% of all units were single-family, detached homes. Nearly 60% of the entire housing stock was built before 1969. Utility gas is the most common heating energy source, followed by fuel oil and kerosene. It was estimated that 98,620 units lacked telephone service, 10,054 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 16,364 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household size was 2.71 people.

In 2004, some 36,900 new privately owned units were authorized for construction. The median home value was $291,294, the fifth highest in the country. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,847, while renters paid a median of $877, the second-highest rate in the country, after California.

32 Education

In 2004, 87.6% of residents over age 25 were high school graduates and 34.6% had college degrees.

Total public school enrollment was estimated at 1,367,000 in fall 2002 and is expected to reach 1,415,000 by fall 2014. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $20.8 billion or $12,981 per student, the highest in the nation. Enrollment in private schools in fall 2003 was 204,732.

As of fall 2002, there were 361,733 students enrolled in institutions of higher education. In 2005, New Jersey had 58 degree-granting institutions. Rutgers, the state university, began operations as Queen’s College in 1766 and was placed under state control in 1956. Altogether, New Jersey has 14 public four-year colleges, 19 two-year community colleges, and 21 private colleges. The major private university in the state and one of the nation’s leading institutions is Princeton University, founded in 1746. Other major private universities are Seton Hall (1856), Stevens Institute of Technology (1870), and Fairleigh Dickinson (1942).

33 Arts

Around the end of the 19th century, New Jersey towns, especially Atlantic City and Newark, were tryout centers for shows bound for Broadway. The New Jersey Theater Group, a service organization for nonprofit professional theaters, was established in 1978. There are several theaters in the state that are members of the statewide Theater Group, including the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theater at Princeton and Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.

Ft. Lee was once the state’s motion picture capital. The first silent film, The Great Train Robbery, was shot there. New Jersey’s early preeminence in cinema, an era that ended with the rise of Hollywood, stemmed partly from the fact that the first motion picture system was developed by Thomas Edison at Menlo Park in the late 1880s. The state created the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission in 1977.

In 1796, William Dunlap of Perth Amboy wrote the libretto for The Archers, the first American opera to be commercially produced. There are over 60 professional and community orchestras throughout the state. The leading orchestra is the New Jersey Symphony, which makes its home in the new New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. There are other symphony orchestras in Plainfield and Trenton. The New Jersey State Opera performs in Newark’s Symphony Hall, while the Opera Festival of New Jersey makes its home in Lawrenceville. Noteworthy dance companies include the American Repertory Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, and the Nai Ni Chen Dance Company.

The jazz clubs of northern New Jersey and the seaside rock clubs in Asbury Park have helped launch the careers of many local performers. Famous stars perform in the casinos and hotels of Atlantic City.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts supports arts programs with state and federal funds. The New Jersey Council for the Humanities was founded in 1973.

34 Libraries and Museums

In 2001, New Jersey had 309 public library systems with a total of 458 libraries, 149 of which were branches. The public library systems that year housed 31 million volumes and had a total circulation of 49,171,000. The Newark Public Library was the largest municipal system with over 1.45 million volumes and 10 branches. Princeton University’s library is the largest in the state, with over 4.9 million volumes and 34,182 periodical subscriptions. It is distinguished by special collections on African American studies, art and archaeology, economics, and international affairs, among many others. Rutgers University ranked second with 3.2 million volumes.

New Jersey has more than 177 museums, historic sites, botanical gardens, and arboretums. Among the most noteworthy museums are the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark and Princeton University’s Art Museum and Museum of Natural History. Also of interest are Grover Cleveland’s birthplace in Caldwell; the Campbell Museum in Camden (featuring the soup company’s collection of bowls and utensils); and one of the most popular attractions, the Edison National Historic Site, formerly the home and workshop of Thomas Edison, in West Orange. In 1984, the grounds at the Skylands section of Ringwood State Park were designated as the official state botanical garden.

35 Communications

Telstar, the first communications satellite, was developed by researchers at Bell Labs in Holmdel, Whippany, and Murray Hill. Three Bell Labs researchers shared the Nobel Prize in physics (1956) for developing the transistor, a device that has revolutionized communications and many other fields. In 1876, at Menlo Park, Thomas Edison invented the carbon telephone transmitter, a device which made the telephone commercially feasible.

In 2004, about 95% of the state’s occupied housing units had telephones. That year there were 6,326,459 mobile telephone subscribers. As of 2003, about 65.5% of New Jersey households had a computer and 60.5% had Internet access. Because the state lacks a major television broadcasting outlet, New Jerseyites receive more news about events in New York City and Philadelphia than in their own towns and cities. In 2005 there were 60 major radio stations (8 AM, 52 FM) and 7 television stations. In 1978, in cooperation with public television’s WNET (licensed in Newark but operated in New York), New Jersey’s public stations began producing the state’s first nightly newscast.

36 Press

Several newspapers, most notably the Newark Star–Ledger, have amassed considerable circulation. But none has been able to muster statewide influence of the nearby New York Times or Philadelphia Inquirer, both of which are read widely in the state. In 2005, there were 18 morning dailies, 1 evening, and 15 Sunday papers. Most of the largest papers are owned by either Gannett Company, Inc. (of Virginia) or Advance Publications (of New York).

As of 2005, the leading papers and their daily circulations were are the Newark Star–Ledger (400,042), the Hackensack Record (176,177), and the Neptune-Asbury Park Press (160,399).

Numerous scholarly and historical books have been published by the university presses of Princeton and Rutgers. Periodicals published in New Jersey include Home, New Jersey Monthly, Personal Computing, and Tiger Beat.

37 Tourism, Travel & Recreation

Tourism is a leading industry in New Jersey. In 2005, there were about 72.2 million visitors to the state.

The Jersey shore has been a popular attraction since 1801, when Cape May began advertising itself as a summer resort. Of all the shore resorts, the largest has long been Atlantic City, which by the 1890s was the nation’s most popular resort city. By the early 1970s, however, the city’s only claims to fame were the Miss America pageant and the game of Monopoly, whose standard version uses its street names. In an effort to restore Atlantic City to its former luster and revive its economy, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1976 to allow casinos in the resort. Some 33 million people now visit Atlantic City annually.

State attractions include 10 ski areas in northwestern New Jersey, canoeing and camping at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, three national wildlife refuges, 31 public golf courses, and 30 amusement parks, including Great Adventure in central Jersey. New Jersey’s inland lakes, trout streams, and saltwater fishing facilities are popular with anglers.

38 Sports

New Jersey is historically significant in the births of two major national sports. Princeton and Rutgers played what is claimed to be the first intercollegiate football game on 6 November 1869 at New Brunswick. The first game of what we know today as baseball was also played in New Jersey at the Elysion Field in Hoboken between the Knickerbockers and the New York Nine on 19 June 1846.

New Jersey did not have a major league professional team until 1976, when the New York Giants of the National Football League moved across the Hudson River into the newly completed Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands Sports Complex at East Rutherford. The NFL’s New York Jets began playing their home games at the Meadowlands in 1984. The Continental Airlines Arena, located at the same site, is the home of the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League. The Devils won the Stanley Cup in 1995, 2000, and 2003.

The Meadowlands is also the home of a dual thoroughbred and harness racing track. Other racetracks are Garden State Park (Cherry Hill), Monmouth Park (Oceanport), and Atlantic City Race Course for thoroughbreds; and Freehold Raceway for harness racing. Auto racing is featured at speedways in Bridgeport, East Windsor, and New Egypt.

Trenton has a minor league baseball team, the Thunder, in the Eastern League. New Jersey has several world class golf courses, including Baltusrol, the site of seven US Opens and the 2005 PGA Championship. Numerous championship boxing matches have been held in Atlantic City. Other annual sporting events include the New Jersey Offshore Grand Prix Ocean Races held at Point Pleasant Beach in July and the National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood.

39 Famous New Jerseyites

While only one native New Jerseyite, (Stephen) Grover Cleveland (1837–1908), has been elected president of the United States, the state can also properly claim (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson (b.Virginia, 1856–1924), who spent most of his adult life there. Elected governor of New Jersey in 1910, Wilson pushed through a series of sweeping reforms before entering the White House in 1913. Wilson’s two presidential terms were marked by his controversial decision to declare war on Germany and his unsuccessful crusade for US membership in the League of Nations after World War I.

Two vice presidents hail from New Jersey: Aaron Burr (1756–1836) and Garret A. Hobart (1844–1899). Burr, born in Newark and educated at what is now Princeton University, is best remembered for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel at Weehawken in 1804.

Important historical figures include Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, 1754?–1832), a heroine of the American Revolution, and Zebulon Pike (1779–1813), the noted explorer. One of the world’s most prolific inventors, Thomas Alva Edison (b.Ohio, 1847–1931) patented over 1,000 devices from workshops at Menlo Park and West Orange. Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (b.Germany, 1879–1955), winner of a Nobel Prize in 1921, spent his last decades in Princeton. General Norman Schwarzkopf (b.1934) was commander of US forces during the Persian Gulf War.

The state’s traditions in the arts began in colonial times. Patience Lovell Wright (1725–1786) of Bordentown was America’s first recognized sculptor. Authors after the Revolution included James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851), one of the nation’s first novelists; and Stephen Crane (1871–1900), famed for The Red Badge of Courage (1895).

Quite a number of prominent 20th-century writers were born in or are associated with New Jersey including William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997); Norman Mailer (b.1923); John McPhee (b.1931); Philip Roth (b.1933); Imamu Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones, b.1934) and Peter Benchley (b.New York, 1940).

Notable 19th century artists were Asher B. Durand (1796–1886) and George Inness (b.New York, 1825–1894). The best known 20th-century artist associated with New Jersey was Ben Shahn (1898–1969); cartoonist Charles Addams (1912–1988) was born in Westfield. Noted photographers born in New Jersey include Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and Dorothea Lange (1895–1965). Important composers were Lowell Mason (b.Massachusetts, 1792–1872), called the “father of American church music,” and Milton Babbitt (b.Pennsylvania, 1916), long active at Princeton.

Popular singers include Francis Albert “Frank” Sinatra (1915–1998); Sarah Vaughan (1924–1990); Dionne Warwick (b.1941); Paul Simon (b.1942); and Bruce Springsteen (b.1949). Jazz musician William “Count” Basie (1904–1984) was born in Red Bank.

Other celebrities native to New Jersey are actors Jack Nicholson (b.1937); Michael Douglas (b.1944); Meryl Streep (b.1948); and John Travolta (b.1954). Comedians Lou Costello (1906–1959), Jerry Lewis (b.1926), and Clerow “Flip” Wilson (1933–1998) were also born in the state. Michael Chang (b.1972), 1989 French Open tennis champion, was born in Hoboken.