NJ History
NJ Downtowns Are Breathing New Life Into Empty Old Banks
Developers are capitalizing on these historic, character-rich spaces—turning them into restaurants, event spaces, offices and even a vape shop.
Judge Shuts Down Chance to Re-Examine Lindbergh Kidnapping Case
It’s been 87 years since New Jersey executed Bruno Richard Hauptmann for kidnapping and killing aviator Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Civil Rights Career Began at a Modest NJ Café
King’s first-ever recorded sit-in—a little-known confrontation at a Maple Shade tavern in 1950—changed world history.
Racism and Hate Have Disturbing Roots in NJ
Ku Klux Klan members and Nazis were part of our state's past long before groups like the Proud Boys showed up.
Most Recent in History
Although he spent most of his life in Philadelphia, Ben Franklin made a few memorable visits to Burlington, just across the Delaware River. ...
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For many, Atlantic City and Miss America were forever linked. Now only the city by the sea is confident in its future....
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This year marks our 30th year of publication. We’ll celebrate throughout 2006 by spotlighting memorable New Jersey news events of the last three decades. In each issue we’ll feature an episode from that month in the state’s past. We begin with the breakup of Bedminster-based telecom giant AT&T, which followed an announcement by the company in January 8, 1982....
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The Salem County Historical Society premieres a new film this month about the history of the county’s black population, part of a multimedia effort called the African-American Oral History Project. ...
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In his lifetime, Charles Willson Peale, one of the finest portrait artists America has ever produced, created 60 portraits of George Washington, whose birthday we celebrate this month....
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South Jersey communities built long ago by African-Americans struggle to keep pace in the modern world. Naomi Morris stands in… Read the rest
This month we recall Governor Brendan Byrne’s 1979 signing of the Pinelands Protection Act, put forth to end construction in unspoiled portions of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, and Ocean counties....
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A plan out of Trenton could single out a group of hard-working people to help soothe the sting of the state’s budget crunch....
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The state’s largest public high school has nothing in common with the smallest, right? Spend time inside each—urban or bucolic, immigrant or fourth-generation farm kid—and the common ground might surprise you....
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This month we remember the first flight of People Express, out of Newark Airport in April 1981. Before People went bust nearly six years later, its introduction of super-low prices changed the airline industry forever....
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Since the first Atlantic City casino opened for legalized gambling 28 years ago this month, the city has become a major hot spot. We look back at the legislation that allowed gambling and its impact on the state....
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We look back at the notorious tax increase that took effect under Governor Jim Florio’s watch in June 1990, which spawned a citizens’ backlash that forever changed New Jersey’s political landscape....
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It was indeed a dark and stormy night, like many that winter of 1817. The wreckmasters’ crews were standing by… Read the rest
Bottom of the ninth. Yankees down by 1 to the Red Sox. Two men on…and rookie shortstop Joe Buzas rips one into left field. ...
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There were three of them in that room at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City on a June Sunday in 1922—three sitting around a table with the shades drawn against the afternoon sun, three closing their eyes in deepest concentration. Or were there four?...
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Must-know facts for New Jerseyans....
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For decades Meadowlands referred to the odiferous stretch of swamp glimpsed from Route 3 and the Turnpike. That changed on July 2, 1981, when the Brendan Byrne Arena opened, joining the five-year-old Giants Stadium and Meadowlands Racetrack....
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It’s been five years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Many New Jerseyans have been instrumental in rebuilding and restoring our lives. Here are just a few of their stories....
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A temporary space in an Ivy League place pays homage to the giants of science....
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The 40th anniversary of the Newark race riots is coming up this July, and Brett Ellen Block has just written a crime novel, The Lightning Rule (William Morrow), with the riots as a backdrop. ...
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