Princeton Junction

History

Following the mid-1860s relocation of the Camden & Amboy rail line from next to the Delaware & Raritan Canal to the present location of the Northeast Corridor, and the subsequent construction of a train station south of the intersection of Washington Road and the new rail line, a community called "Princeton Junction" developed. This community originally featured several farmhouses, a hotel, a general store, a feed mill, and several other businesses centered around the intersection of Station Drive and Washington Road, profiting off of access to other cities provided by the rail line. The construction of the neighborhood of Berrien City (focused around Scott Avenue, Alexander Road, and Berrien Avenue) starting in the 1910s represented West Windsor's first planned development. Following the reconstruction of the Washington Road railroad bridge in 1939, the business center of the community shifted to the intersection of Washington Road and Cranbury Road, where a lumber yard, service station, liquor store, strip mall, several gas stations, and several more businesses operated for decades. Following World War II, the Princeton Junction population grew with the construction of residential developments such as Sherbrooke Estates, Windsor Chase, and Wellington Estates. Princeton Junction is currently the proposed site of a "transit village" to be built northwest of the train station. In October 2019, the Historical Society of West Windsor published an online museum exploring the history of West Windsor - including that of Princeton Junction.

Geography

Princeton Junction is in eastern Mercer County, in the northern part of West Windsor Township. The northeastern boundary of the community is the Millstone River, across which is Plainsboro Township in Middlesex County. Bear Brook, a tributary of the Millstone, forms the eastern border of Princeton Junction, and the CDP extends north as far as U.S. Route 1. Trenton, the state capital, is to the southwest, the borough of Princeton is to the northwest, and New Brunswick is to the northeast. Part of the Berrien City development is in the southwest corner of the CDP. Princeton Junction's name comes from the train station of the same name, now on the Amtrak and New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor. The station is the junction between this main line and a spur served by the "Dinky" train, run by New Jersey Transit, to Princeton itself. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Princeton Junction CDP has a total area of , including of land and of water (1.72%).

Race & ethnicity