By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Few people who drive along County Route 571, also known as Etra Road, would give a second look at the couple of boarded-up houses, the forgotten gasoline service station or the fenced-in cemetery near Etra Lake.
But during the mid-1800s, Etra was a bustling community with a post office, stores and houses – larger, in fact, than the collection of houses known as the village of Hightstown a couple of miles to the west.
Etra, or Milford, which is its original name, was one of many villages scattered throughout today’s East Windsor Township. It derived its “new” name from Edward Taylor Riggs Applegate – ETRA – who was a prominent member of the community and who lived in a grand house on County Route 571.
The history of Etra and East Windsor Township – which is celebrating its 220th anniversary – was laid out in an illustrated talk at the Hickory Corner Branch of the Mercer County Library System by Cappy Stults, the president of the Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society.
The land that became East Windsor Township and the Borough of Hightstown was acquired by William Penn in the late 1600s. He wanted to settle the land with Quakers, who were being persecuted in England and New England, Stults said.
The first recorded land sale in today’s East Windsor Township occurred in the early 1700s. George and Mary Rescarrick were among the first purchasers when they bought land in the northwest corner of the township in 1702.
Other early purchasers included John and Mary Hight, who bought about 3,000 acres around 1721, and John Ely, who bought 1,400 acres in the southern part of the township in 1725. William and Ann Hutchinson bought more than 1,000 acres in 1740.
But they were not buying land in East Windsor Township, because the township did not exist until 1797. It was part of Windsor Township, which was created in 1750 and contained the land that is now in East Windsor and West Windsor townships.
A disagreement over roads and other improvements – and who would pay for them – led to the division of Windsor Township into East Windsor Township and West Windsor Township in 1797.
The two townships were created by an act of the State Legislature in 1797.
Fast forward a few years, and disagreements arose again – this time, over sidewalks, taverns, the need for a constable (the equivalent of a police officer), barking dogs and drunken men, Stults said.
“The farmers in East Windsor Township did not want to pay (for those requests). ‘So, why don’t you form your own town,’” Stults said. And so, in 1853, the Borough of Hightstown was born. Over time, the borough grew as land was annexed.
Hightstown came into its own when the Camden and Amboy Railroad was built in 1833. The railroad transformed East Windsor Township and the Borough of Hightstown into prosperous commercial centers, Stults said. The railroad, however, no longer runs through the two towns.
Lately, the largest contributor to East Windsor Township’s growth and commercial success is the New Jersey Turnpike, which opened in 1951. With an exit in East Windsor Township, many businesses have located to the township.
