New Brunswick New Jersey

While many older American cities struggle to remain vibrant, New Brunswick has transformed itself, adapting to new forms of commerce and a changing population, and enjoying a renaissance that has led many experts to cite this New Jersey city as a model for urban redevelopment. Featuring more than 100 remarkable photographs and many maps, New Brunswick, New Jersey explores the history of the city since the seventeenth century, with an emphasis on the dramatic changes of the past few decades. Using oral histories, archival materials, census data, and surveys, authors David Listokin, Dorothea Berkhout, and James W. Hughes illuminate the decision-making and planning process that led to New Brunswick’s dramatic revitalization, describing the major redevelopment projects that demonstrate the city’s success in capitalizing on funding opportunities. These projects include the momentous decision of Johnson & Johnson to build its world headquarters in the city, the growth of a theater district, the expansion of Rutgers University into the downtown area, and the destruction and rebuilding of public housing. But while the authors highlight the positive effects of the transformation, they also explore the often heated controversies about demolishing older neighborhoods and ask whether new building benefits residents. Shining a light on both the successes and failures in downtown revitalization, they underscore the lessons to be learned for national urban policy, highlighting the value of partnerships, unwavering commitment, and local leadership. Today, New Brunswick’s skyline has been dramatically altered by new office buildings, residential towers, medical complexes, and popular cultural centers. This engaging volume explores the challenges facing urban America, while also providing a specific case study of a city’s quest to raise its economic fortunes and retool its economy to changing needs.

New Brunswick Before the Equal Opportunity Program highlights the experiences and observations of some of the earliest social workers in New Brunswick.

South Brunswick traces the history of a central Jersey community from its earliest days through the mid-1900s. Established in 1798, the township began as an agrarian society and evolved and changed as it incorporated advances in transportation, education, and public services. More than two hundred images portray the people, vintage structures, and important events of Dayton, Deans, Monmouth Junction, and Kingstonthe historic villages within South Brunswick.

At the beginning of the Civil War, New Brunswick was positioned at the transportation and manufacturing hub of New Jersey. Many of the city's young men exchanged manufacturing equipment for rifles, and those whom they left behind witnessed the war through letters from their sons, brothers and husbands. Patriotism, a longing to earn more money and adventure lured these "Brunswick Boys"--close friends and co-workers--to enlist. Their recollections offer insights into everyday life in New Jersey during the war--New Brunswick's factory system, education and medicine. These letters also reveal their struggles to survive amid battles and close encounters with death that so many soldiers faced, as well as their difficult transition back to civilian life. Local author Joanne Hamilton Rajoppi presents the fascinating stories of New Brunswick and the Civil War, gleaned from the letters of those who experienced it.

This collection of photographs and illustrations offers a glimpse into life in New Brunswick, New Jersey in the early 20th century. The images capture a variety of scenes from daily life, including architecture, transportation, local industry, and social activities. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.