150th Birthday
Merchantville will mark its 150th Birthday in April 2024 and back in February of 2020, the Borough held their first planning and brainstorming meeting intended to create a series of signature events in 2023-2024 celebrating the Borough’s history, success and
future. By their follow-up meeting in December 2022, a 150th Trust Account had been established for fundraising which, along with sponsorships, will help support an event-filled celebratory year. The Borough wants to involve families, local historians, businesses, residents and those connected to the Borough’s history. Merchantville residents and organizations are welcome to complete this SURVEY to indicate their unique talents and knowledge, then the 150th committee will form subcommittees for various events and help with other tasks along the way. To date the Spring 2022 Roaring 20s Gala generated donations for beautification projects including the new holiday pole banners for the downtown! The first event of 2023 is the Borough Beautiful Tea on April 30th at the Community Center and the year-long celebration will culminate with Merchantville's 150th Birthday Celebration Weekend next April. "Once made up of sprawling farmland, Merchantville was developed by a group of merchants and incorporated in 1874 to reflect the town’s evolution into a community of stores and homes folks visited to get away from the bustle of the city and delight in a relaxing country setting while still enjoying amenities that made life easy and enjoyable."Thank you again for your time and we look forward to receiving your feedback!
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150th Birthday
The Borough of Merchantville celebrates 150 years of fashion trends - the good, bad, and off the wall! Join your friends and neighbors - at The Borough Beautiful Tea and Fashion Show on April 30th at the Merchantville Community Center for an afternoon of fun, laughs and tea beginning at 2:00 p.m. Enjoy delicious tea sandwiches and desserts at your table, indulge in a signature cocktail, and try your luck with a basket raffle and 50/50. Gather your friends to celebrate 150 years of the Borough Beautiful! Tickets are $30 each, full tables (8 seats) MUST be reserved in one transaction. Tickets go on sale March 13th. Check back for ordering information. Sponsorship and donation opportunities available. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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150th Birthday
Happy holidays, Merchantville! Take a look on your next Downtown Merchantville shopping trip and you’ll find BRIGHT, NEW holiday banners celebrating Merchantville’s upcoming 150th Birthday! THANK YOU to all who donated during the Gala celebration, your generous contributions fund this and many more projects to come as we continue to grow the Borough Beautiful!
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150th Birthday
More than 300 years ago, the first farms and small settlements began to appear in this part of South Jersey. Gradually, more people began moving to this area, and by the mid 19th century the site where present-day Merchantville is located had been incorporated into a large municipality called Waterford Township. In 1859, a piece of land that included the newly settled village of Merchantville broke off from Waterford Township and became Stockton Township. Meanwhile, the Moorestown-Camden Turnpike, which opened in 1851, was making this area increasingly attractive potential residents, and between 1852 and 1860 a group of men who would be among Merchantville’s earliest residents and founding fathers – Patrick Cunningham, Samuel McFadden, Jon Loutey, Frederick Gerker and Matthias Homer – purchased extensive tracts of land along the turnpike. Another major impetus for settlement in this area was completion of the Camden & Burlington Railroad in 1867. This provided good transportation from Philadelphia and Camden, and helped spur growth in the community. Residents of Philadelphia were particularly attracted to the town, where they built both permanent and summer homes.
In 1857, at the home of Philadelphia merchant John Louty, several citizens had met to decide on a name for their little community. As the story goes, they had almost agreed on “Martinsville, in honor of Ben Martin, the popular owner of a local pub called the Stockton House. But John’s wife, Rebecca, suggested that a more appropriate name would be “Merchantville,” since the founding fathers were all merchants. The group agreed, and so it happened that this community is known as Merchantville, and not Martinsville.
By the early 1870s, many of Merchantville’s approximately 400 residents had grown unhappy about being part of Stockton Township because they felt their taxes were not being spent on improvements to their town. So George Crump, an interested resident who served as England’s vice consul to Philadelphia, drew up a proposed charter for self-rule. In the spring of 1874, he and six other residents took this document to Trenton, where the legislature gave its approval. This led to the Borough of Merchantville’s incorporation on May 18, 1874.
Over the past decades Merchantville has continued to thrive and grow. In April 2024, our town celebrates its 150th birthday. The borough today has 3,800 residents and continues to maintain the same friendly charm it had at its founding. At the same time, it looks forward with great optimism to the progress it expects to make in the years to come.
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150th Birthday