-
Appointment of Lord Cornbury
Britain appoints Lord Cornbury as Governor of New York and New Jersey. During his time in office he is readily known for accepting bribes from Jersey officials, spending extraravagant sums of money, running up personal debts, and even building a "pleasure house" on Governors Island. It seems that corruption was present at the very begining of New Jersey's history. -
Unification of New Jersey
East Jersey and West Jersey are unified into the Province of New Jersey. At this time there were about 24 townships and the creation of towns, also known as municipal incorporation, was done by royal charter. -
American Revolution Begins
New Jersey, among the other twelve colonies, reject the British monarchy. -
American Revolution Ends
Following the American Revolution, the power to incorporate municipalities was no longer done by charter, and was passed to the state Legislature. -
Borough Act of 1878
The Borough Act of 1878 allowed any township or part of a township with land area that is no more than four square miles, and a population not exceeding 5,000, to estabish itself as an independent borough through a petition process. *The borough form of government still remains the most common form of local government in NJ -
1897 Borough Amendment
The 1897 amendment made many important changes in borough governmnet, as it increased the power of the Mayor. It also gave a borough the power to collect taxes and to issue bonds. -
Frank Hague Becomes Mayor of Jersey City
Frank Hague served as a political machine boss whose many crimes went unchecked, partially due to the large number of political structures that New Jersey was alreading housing. His political machine was one of the most powerful in the United States and controlled politics on local, county, and even state levels. -
Amendment of Borough Act
An amendment to New Jersey's borough Act created an incentive for incorporation by granting borough control of their respective school districts once a township succeeded. Forty new boroughts were formed in 1894 and 1895, leading to New Jersey's infamous "boroughitis". -
Bid Rig Corruption Scandal
In the case known as "Big Rig", the biggest single corruption case in state history, 46 political, business, and religious leaders were arested. This indeed helps to prepetuate the stereotype that New Jersy is one of the most currupt states. -
Municipality Madness
As of 2014, New Jersey has 565 municipalities in its 21 counties, more than eight other states combines.
