FREEHOLD – A century after becoming its own municipality, Freehold Borough maintains an identity all its own and that identity will be celebrated during 2019.
This year marks the centennial anniversary of the official incorporation of Freehold Borough on Sept. 15, 1919. To celebrate and recognize the town’s 100th birthday, the Freehold Borough Centennial Committee has planned a series of activities and events.
“We look forward to the events planned for this year and the recognition of the borough’s 100th anniversary,” Mayor Nolan Higgins said. “Our annual events will all recognize our 100th birthday.”
The area of the county seat of Monmouth County which would eventually become Freehold Borough was part of Freehold Township until a divide formed between residents who lived near the county courthouse on Main Street and residents who lived on the farms that surrounded the “downtown,” according to Muriel Smith, a member of the centennial committee.
The divide, according to Kevin Coyne, who serves as the borough’s historian, was primarily attributed to municipal services. Residents of the courthouse area did not want to pay to keep extending water and sewer lines farther out from the center of town.
Smith said the dispute over the expenditure of tax dollars was heightened when a polio epidemic swept through the area in 1916.
Eventually, a referendum was held on July 18, 1919, during which residents voted on a proposal to separate the courthouse area from the farmlands. When the votes were counted, 398 people had voted in favor of separation and 98 people had voted against separation, according to Coyne.
The courthouse area and surrounding neighborhoods left Freehold Township and were officially incorporated as Freehold Borough on Sept. 15, 1919.
Smith explained that the courthouse area retained the government buildings and the title of the county seat of Monmouth County when it became Freehold Borough. New municipal buildings were established in Freehold Township, which encircles the borough, after the split.
“The two towns gradually became quite different from each other,” Coyne said. “The township remained mostly farms until the 1960s. The population of the township did not surpass the borough until the early 1970s. The population of the township is now almost three times that of the borough.”
In the most recent U.S. census (2010), Freehold Borough’s population was reported as 12,052 residents and Freehold Township’s population was reported as 36,184 residents. In 2016, Freehold Borough’s population was estimated at 11,891 residents and Freehold Township’s population was estimated at 35,623 residents.
“We here in the borough are very proud of our community, where many of us have deep roots, and this year we are celebrating our distinctive mixture of village intimacy and urban diversity,” Coyne said.
Borough Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer said, “This is an important and exciting year for Freehold as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the borough. We will be celebrating 100 years of creating, defending and protecting our identity. I love Freehold Borough and I cannot wait for us to show how profoundly proud we all are of being a part of and sharing our beloved community.”