Blairstown, New Jersey

Blairstown, New Jersey
—  Township  —
Map of Blairstown Township in Warren County. Inset: Location of Warren County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Blairstown, New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°58′45″N 74°59′49″W / 40.97917°N 74.99694°W / 40.97917; -74.99694
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Warren
Incorporated	April 14, 1845
Government
- Type	Township (New Jersey)
- Mayor	Richard Mach (2009)
Area
- Total	31.8 sq mi (82.3 km2)
- Land	31.0 sq mi (80.3 km2)
- Water	0.8 sq mi (1.9 km2)
Elevation [1]	502 ft (153 m)
Population (2006)[2]
- Total	5,982
- Density	185.3/sq mi (71.5/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	07825
Area code(s)	908
FIPS code	34-06160[3][4]
GNIS feature ID	0882317[5]
Website	http://www.blairstown-nj.org/

Blairstown is a Township in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 5,747.

Blairstown Township was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 14, 1845, from portions of Knowlton Township, based on the results of a referendum held that day.^[6] It is located in the eastern portion of the Lehigh Valley.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 31.8 square miles (82.3 km²), of which, 31.0 square miles (80.3 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (1.9 km²) of it (2.36%) is water. The township is located in the Kittatinny Valley which is a section of the 700 mile long Great Appalachian Valley that stretches from Canada to Alabama.

Demographics

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there were 5,747 people, 2,040 households, and 1,638 families residing in the township. The population density was 185.3 people per square mile (71.5/km²). There were 2,136 housing units at an average density of 68.9/sq mi (26.6/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 98.17% White, 0.26% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.28% from other races, and 0.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.98% of the population.

There were 2,040 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.6% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.7% were non-families. 15.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the township the population was spread out with 25.6% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.2 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $64,809, and the median income for a family was $71,214. Males had a median income of $51,931 versus $33,646 for females. The per capita income for the township was $27,775. About 3.0% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over. The Township's economic data (as is all of Warren County) is calculated by the US Census Bureau as part of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area which includes Carbon, Lehigh, and Northamption Counties, PA and Warren County, NJ.

Government

Local government

Blairstown has a traditional Township form of government, with a five-member committee. Committee members serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with one or two seats coming up for election each year. Each year, the Committee members select one of their fellow members to serve as Mayor and another to serve as Deputy Mayor.^[8][9]

The Blairstown Township Committee consists of Mayor Richard Mach (R, term ends December 31, 2010), Deputy Mayor Salvatore Lascari (R, 2011), Frank Anderson (R, 2012), Stephen Lance (R, 2011), and William Seal (R, 2012).^[10][11]

Federal, state and county representation

Blairstown Township is in the Fifth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 23rd Legislative District.^[12]

New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District, covering the northern portions of Bergen County, Passaic County and Sussex County and all of Warren County, is represented by Scott Garrett (R, Wantage Township). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

For the 2008-2009 Legislative Session, the 23rd District of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Michael J. Doherty (R, Oxford Township). He was sworn in on November 23, 2009, after winning an election to fill the seat that had been vacated by Marcia A. Karrow, who had earlier been selected by a party convention to succeed Congressman Leonard Lance, who resigned from the Senate after his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.^[13] The district is represented in the Assembly by John DiMaio (R, Hackettstown), who won a special convention on February 21, 2009.^[14] The vacant Assembly seat will be filled on December 5, 2009, by a special convention of the district's Republican Party county committee members.^[13] The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).^[15]

Warren County is governed by a three-member Board of Chosen Freeholders. As of 2009^[update], Warren County's Freeholders are Freeholder Director Richard D. Gardner (term expires January 1, 2012), Freeholder Deputy Director Everett A. Chamberlain (January 1, 2010), and Freeholder Angelo Accetturo (November 3, 2009). Accetturo was selected to serve the remainder of the term of John DiMaio after DiMaio won a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly.^[16]

Former Mayors

• 2009 - Richard Mach (R)
• 2008 - Stephen Lance (R)
• 2007 - Stephen Lance (R)
• 2006 - Stephen Lance (R)
• 2005 - Alfred Handy (R)
• 2004 - George Joest (R)
• 2003 - William Horsey (R)
• 2002 - George Joest (R)
• 2001 - William Seal (R)
• 2000 - Jane Santini (D)
• 1999 - Joseph DiGrazia (R)
• 1998 - Anita Ardia (I)
• 1997 - Franklin D Shotwell (R)
• 1996 - Franklin D Shotwell (R)
• 1995 - Charles Eble (R)

Education

Blair Walk, built as part of Blair Academy, crosses over the 17-foot (5.2 m) high dam just off Main Street in Blairstown, perhaps Blairstown's most recognizable point of interest.

Public school students in grades K through 6 attend the Blairstown Elementary School, as part of the Blairstown Township School District. Blairstown Elementary School served 744 students in grades K-6, as of the 2005-06 school year.^[17] Students from Hardwick Township, a non-operating school district, attend Blairstown Elementary School as part of a sending/receiving relationship.^[18]

Students in grades 7 through 12 for public school attend the North Warren Regional High School (1,044 students) in Blairstown, a public secondary high school, serving students from the townships of Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick, and Knowlton.^[19]

Blair Academy, a prestigious private school, is located in Blairstown for grades 9-12. Ridge and Valley Charter School, a K-8 charter school focused on Earth literacy and sustainable living.

Transportation

Interstate 80 and Route 94 pass through the township. Blairstown airport (1N7) is located southwest of the central business district. It is the home of Yards Creek Soaring, where you can take a glider ride to see Blairstown from the air.

The Lackawanna Cut-Off, a 28.45-mile high-speed, double-track railway line was constructed by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad between 1908 and 1911, opening for service on December 24, 1911. It ran west from Port Morris, New Jersey to Slateford, Pennsylvania and passed through Blairstown. The DL&W RR merged with the Erie Railroad on October 17, 1960, to form the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. Due to declining revenues, passenger service over the Lackawanna Cut-Off was discontinued on January 5, 1970, and freight service ceased in 1979, just three years after the E-L was absorbed into the Consolidated Railroad Company (Conrail). The tracks remained relatively dormant until 1984, when the property was sold to a developer and rails removed. The right of way is now the property of the State of New Jersey, and plans are underway for the restoration of rail service in the future. Blairstown's poured concrete passenger and freight stations still stand, although privately owned.

Blairstown was also served by a second railroad, the Blairstown Railway. The little short line, a personal project of the local industrial magnate John Insley Blair, was constructed in 1876 from Blairstown to Delaware, NJ, where it connected with the Old Main Line of the Lackawanna RR. The Blairstown Railway was absorbed by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad in 1882 as it built west to the coal fields of Pennsylvania. The NYS&W also operated passenger service between Blairstown and New York (via Jersey City, NJ) until 1935. A third railroad, the Lehigh & New England Railroad, operated through Blairstown via trackage rights over the NYS&W between Swartswood Jct. and Hainesburg Jct. until October 31, 1961, when the L&NE was abandoned. With the loss of L&NE trackage rights revenues and little local business to sustain the line, the NYS&W also abandoned its line through Blairstown shortly thereafter, and the tracks were removed in 1962. The right of way today has been preserved by the State of New Jersey as the 26 mile long Paulinskill Valley Trail.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Blairstown include:

• Bennett Bean, studio potter.^[20]
• Cathy Bao Bean, writer, The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual.^{[citation needed]}
• John Insley Blair, (1802-1899), entrepreneur, railroad magnate, and Blairstown's most famous citizen. Gravel Hill was renamed Blairstown after Blair in 1839.^[21]
• DeWitt Clinton Blair, (1833 - 1915), son of John Insley Blair.
• Isaac Wildrick (1803-1892), represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1849 to 1853.^[22]

Popular culture

Now painted a bright blue, historic Roy's Hall is a highlight of Blairstown's Main Street.

• Scenes from the horror film Friday the 13th were filmed in Blairstown; the local Boy Scout camp in neighboring Hardwick Township was the site for Camp Crystal Lake.^[23]
• Historic Roy's Hall (also known as Roy's Theater) was built in 1913 as a silent movie theater. The building, seen briefly in the horror film Friday the 13th, was restored in 2005 and was the site of the Blairstown Theater Festival in 2007.
• The body of Princess Doe was discovered at the Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown on July 15, 1982. She became the first unidentified body entered into the FBI's NCIC computer system.

References

External links

• Blairstown Township website
• Warren County page for Blairstown Township
• Blairstown Township School District
• Blairstown Township School District's 2007–08 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• Data for the Blairstown Township School District, National Center for Education Statistics
• North Warren Regional School District
• North Warren Regional High School's 2007-08 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• Data for the North Warren Regional High School, National Center for Education Statistics
• History of Blairstown, New Jersey
• Princess Doe Website
• Yards Creek Soaring - Glider rides and instruction at the Blairstown airport

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Warren County, New Jersey County seat: Belvidere Boroughs Alpha | Washington Towns Belvidere | Hackettstown | Phillipsburg Townships Allamuchy | Blairstown | Franklin | Frelinghuysen | Greenwich | Hardwick | Harmony | Hope | Independence | Knowlton | Liberty | Lopatcong | Mansfield | Oxford | Pahaquarry (defunct) | Pohatcong | Washington | White CDPs Allamuchy-Panther Valley | Beattystown | Brass Castle | Great Meadows-Vienna | Oxford Communities Asbury | Great Meadows | Johnsonburg | Port Colden | Port Murray | Stewartsville

Coordinates: 40°58′58″N 74°57′38″W / 40.98278°N 74.96056°W / 40.98278; -74.96056