Penns Grove

History

The area was long primarily agricultural. Penns Grove was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 8, 1894, from portions of Upper Penns Neck Township (now Carneys Point Township), based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. It began to industrialize around this time. The borough's name comes from William Penn. In the early 20th century, many Italian immigrants from Valle San Giovanni and the surrounding southern province of Teramo came to work at the local E.I. DuPont de Nemours plant in Carneys Point. Many settled on Pitman Street in Penns Grove. In 1925, the Italian community arranged to commission a copy of the statue of the Madonna and Child from the Chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie in Teramo, and had it installed in the Saint James Roman Catholic Church in Penns Grove. Other immigrants from eastern Europe also settled in the county, markedly increasing the population.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Penns Grove borough had a total area of 0.89 square miles (2.31 km2), all of which was land. The borough is located across the Delaware River from Wilmington, which is part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and is south of the city of Philadelphia.

Race & ethnicity