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The
Township
of
Washington
was incorporated on February 17, 1836 as part of
Gloucester
County
during a meeting held at the Green Tree Tavern, at the corner of
Egg Harbor Road
and
GreenTree Road
. The Township officially moved to
Camden
County
in March of 1844 but moved back into
Gloucester
County
on February 28, 1871.
The Township's
oldest community is the Grenloch Terrace area which was a thriving
Lenni-Lenape
Indian
Village
called Tetamekon. Some twenty other Indian encampments have been
identified within this Township's borders. Some of the early
settlers to the area were the Collins family of Chestnut Ridge Farm
(1771), the Turner family (1798) for whom Turnersville was named,
the Hurff family (1806) of Hurffville, the Heritage family (1725)
whose family began the Heritage Dairy Farm Stores, the Morgan family
who were the first residents of the Olde Stone House (1736) and the
Bell Family who arrived in 1899 turning our 139 year old grist mill
into GENERAL MILLS, INC. The mill, located at
Bells
Lake
, was destroyed by fire in 1963.
The Township
government was formed in 1836 as a five person committee, township
clerk, tax assessor, tax collector and constable which continued until
1985 when the residents overwhelmingly voted to change the
government to a directly elected Mayor and Five elected
Councilpersons.
The 23.0 square
miles Township is home to approximately 48,500 people who live
within the communities of Turnersville, Hurffville,
Grenloch, CrossKeys, Mayfair, Bunker Hill and
Chapel
Heights
.
Washington
Township
is a family community, providing all services in an environment
conducive to outstanding educational, recreational, and social
activities and programs. The Township also offers excellent retail,
professional, and corporate businesses which are by far the finest
in the County.
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