Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey,
United States. Princeton University has been located in the
community since 1756. Although Princeton is a "college town",
there are other institutions in its territory, including the
Institute for Advanced Study, the Educational Testing Service
(ETS), Opinion Research Corporation, Siemens Corporate Research
, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sarnoff Corporation, FMC Corporation,
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Amrep, Church and Dwight,
Berlitz International, and Dow Jones & Company.
The
community is equidistant between New York and Philadelphia and
has been connected to both since the 19th century. You can go to
both cities by highway.
The capital of New Jersey is the
city of Trenton, but the official residence of the governor has
been in Princeton since 1945.
Although Princetonians
traditionally have a strong identity, the community is made up
of two separate entities: a township and a borough. The central
borough is completely surrounded by the municipality. The
borough was separated from the borough in 1894 in a dispute over
school fees; the two municipalities later formed Princeton
Regional Schools, and other public services are jointly
controlled. There were three referendums proposing
reunification, but it was rejected each time. The borough
contains Nassau Street, the main shopping street, most of the
university campus, and most of the suburbs created after World
War II. The borough and the municipality have a similar
population of approximately 30,000.
By plane
The nearest airports are Newark Liberty International
Airport (IATA: EWR) and Philadelphia Airport (IATA: PHL).
Small
airfields at Princeton itself and Teterboro serve private and business
flyers.
By train
Princeton has a small train station Princeton
train station. A commuter train (popularly known as the Dinkie) runs to
Princeton Junction on the Northeast Corridor every half hour, and every
hour during off-peak hours. There are connections to Philadelphia via
Trenton and New York City via Newark.
In the street
The New
Jersey Turnpike (here also Interstate 95), which is subject to a toll,
runs east of Princeton about 15 kilometers away. The intersection-free
US1 highway touches the city in the south-east.
You can walk within Princeton. Parking the car is no fun anyway, unless you want to end up in comparatively insignificant residential areas. Parking fees in the city are steep.
Buildings
1 Nassau Hall. Oldest and largest university building in
North America when it was built in 1756. Big enough to house the US
government for a few months of the Revolutionary War in 1777. Today the
seat of the university administration and as such can only be viewed
from the outside.
2 Albert Einstein House, 112 Mercer Street.
Einstein lived here from 1935 until his death in 1955. Cannot be visited
as a private residence.
Monuments
3 Princeton Battle Monument
commemorating the 1777 Battle of Princeton in the American Revolutionary
War.
Museums
4 Princeton University Art Museum, McCosh Walk.
Tel: +1 (609) 258-3788, Email: tmuseum@princeton.edu. Collection right
through human and cultural history. Open: Tue~Sun 10~17 (Sun from 12).
Price: Admission free.
Various
Carnegie Lake Industrialist and
patron Andrew Carnegie donated a lake, artificially created by damming
the Millstone River, to Princeton University, which seemed to have it
all. The rowing team of the university trains here, paddle and pedal
boats, ice skating in winter.
The city was one of the hot spots in the American Revolutionary War.
The Battle of Princeton was decided on January 3, 1777.
Princeton
was the capital of the United States for six months in 1783. At that
time, the Second Continental Congress was being held in the famous
Nassau Hall on the Princeton University campus.
Administratively,
the city of Princeton consisted of two parishes from 1894 until 2012,
when it split into Princeton Township and Princeton Borough over a
dispute over school fees. In November 2011, the parishes decided to
merge back into one parish, which would thereafter be called simply
Princeton. The merger took effect on January 1, 2013.
City administration
The first female mayor of reunited Princeton
is Democrat Liz Lempert.
town twinning
Princeton has
partnerships with France's Colmar, Italy's Pettoranello del Molise and
India's Kalianpur.
educational institutions
The renowned Princeton University has
been based in Princeton since 1756; it was founded in Elizabeth in 1746
as the College of New Jersey (until 1896). The Institute for Advanced
Study, where Albert Einstein worked, is also based in Princeton. Other
colleges in Princeton include Westminster Choir College (Rider
University) and Princeton Theological Seminary. Princeton is also home
to one of New Jersey's most renowned theaters, the McCarter Theatre.
Established businesses
Although Princeton is best known for its
university, a number of well-known business and industrial companies are
also based there. Examples include Opinion Research Corporation, Siemens
Corporate Research, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sarnoff Corporation, FMC
Corporation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation , Amrep, Church &
Dwight, Berlitz Corporation and Dow Jones & Company have their
headquarters or significant offices in Princeton. In neighboring
Lawrenceville there is also a BASF agricultural research facility.
German companies are also increasingly settling in Princeton. They are
looked after by the Princeton Institute, which has set up its own
department for this purpose.
In the north of Princeton there is a privately operated airport, Princeton Airport (FAA identifier: 39N), which also has a rental car agency, two charter companies and two flight schools - one only for helicopters - are located. The airport serves private air traffic.
Established in 1757, Princeton Cemetery is the final resting place of
a number of notable figures, most notably scholars from Princeton
University. Among other things, there are the graves of
Aaron
Burr (1756–1836), 3rd Vice President of the United States (under Thomas
Jefferson); killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel
Kurt Gödel
(1906–1978), Austrian-American mathematician, logician, and philosopher
Arnold Henri Guyot (1807–1884), Swiss-American naturalist and geographer
Donald Lambert (1904–1962), American jazz pianist
Solomon Lefschetz
(1884–1972), American mathematician
Lyman Spitzer (1914–1997),
American astrophysicist
William Milligan Sloane (1850–1928), American
philologist and historian
John von Neumann (1903-1957),
Hungarian-born mathematician, physicist and computer scientist
Eugene
Paul Wigner (1902–1995), Hungarian-American physicist
The main shopping street is Nassau Street with a few boutiques pp.
that appeal to conservative, sophisticated tastes.
1 Wawa, 152,
Alexander Street (opposite the train station). Phone: (609) 924-2845.
Supermarket with an impressive selection of potato chips, sandwiches,
beverages, junk food, ice cream, coffee and two alibi shelves for greens
and fresh fruit. Institution in Princeton, an undetermined number of
university degrees would have failed if Wawa had not secured supplies
during the hot phase of exam preparation at half past two in the night.
Open: 24 hours a day.
2 Princeton University Store, 36 University Pl,
Princeton, NJ 08540. Tel: +1 609-921-8500. Student-run store that stocks
everything students need from notepads to shaving cream, as well as
university merchandise. Another store on Nassau Street. Open: daily 0800
- 0400.