Townsbury, New Jersey

Townsbury, New Jersey
Unincorporated community
Townsbury, New Jersey Townsbury, New Jersey Townsbury, New Jersey Location of Townsbury in Warren County. Inset: Location of Warren County within the state of New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°51′03″N 74°56′01″W / 40.85083°N 74.93361°WCoordinates: 40°51′03″N 74°56′01″W / 40.85083°N 74.93361°W
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Warren
Township	Liberty
Named for	Benjamin and John Town
Elevation[1]	157 m (515 ft)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
GNIS feature ID	881225[1]

Townsbury is an unincorporated community located within Liberty Township in Warren County, New Jersey, United States.^[1][2]

Townsbury is located on U.S. Route 46, approximately 12 mi (19 km) west of Hackettstown. The Pequest River flows through the settlement.

History

The settlement was first called "Meng's Mill", named for John Meng, an early settler who established a grist mill here.^[1][3] In the 1780s, the mill was owned by Benjamin Town and John Town, the settlement's namesake.

By 1882, Townsbury had a post office, grist mill, lumber mill, and a "good local trade". The population was 102.^[4]

A line of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway passed through Townsbury.^[5] The abandoned railbed now forms the Pequest Wildlife Management Area Trail, a recreational rail trail between Townsbury and Buttzville.^[6]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Townsbury
2. Locality Search, State of New Jersey. Accessed June 9, 2016.
3. Cummins, George Wyckoff (1911). History of Warren County, New Jersey. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 176.
4. Industries of New Jersey. Historical Publishing Company. 1882. p. 129.
5. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, Issues 112-121. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1893. p. 118.
6. Treese, Lorett (2006). Railroads of New Jersey: Fragments of the Past in the Garden State Landscape. Stackpole Books. p. 95.