| A great deal has changed since 1664 when the land that would become Union County was purchased from the Lenni Lenape Indians by a group of Englishmen. The area was named Elizabethtown after the wife of Sir George Carteret, proprietor of East Jersey. It was the first permanent English settlement in New Jersey and was the provincial capital of East Jersey.
By the mid-eighteenth century, Elizabethtown had become one of the most prominent cities of New Jersey. In the 1750s, Royal Governor Jonathan Belcher established his residence in Elizabethtown, making the town the colonial capital.
The area saw much action during the American Revolution, and local politicians such as Elias Boudinot, William Livingston, Abraham Clark and Jonathon Dayton became leaders in shaping the new nation. |
