Early industry included brick making from the plentiful red clay and shale on which Somerville is built. Somerville was originally a sparsely populated farming community, but rapidly grew after the completion of the railroad in the 1840s and development of water power along the Raritan River in the 1850s.

The name 'Somerville' was taken from four brothers of the Somerville family, William, Edward, John and James from Drishane and Castlehaven, County Cork, Ireland, who first founded the town in the 1750s. The early village grew up around a church, courthouse and a tavern built at a crossroads shortly after the American Revolution. The Dutch established their church near what is today Somerville and a Dutch Reformed minister or Domine lived at the Old Dutch Parsonage from about 1754. Somerville was settled in colonial times primarily by the Dutch who purchased land from the English proprietors of the colony. Septemterrorist attacks Memorial and Court House, Somerville Early development The borough is named for Somerset in England. It is home of the oldest competitive bicycle race in the United States. Somerville was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 16, 1909, based on the results of a referendum held on May 4, 1909, at which point it was fully set off from Bridgewater Township. Somerville was originally formed as a town on March 25, 1863, within a portion of Bridgewater Township. The borough has grown to become a commercial hub for central New Jersey and commuter town of New York City.ДЄs of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 12,098, reflecting a decline of 325 (-2.6%) from the 12,423 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 791 (+6.8%) from the 11,632 counted in the 1990 Census. The borough is located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan Area, located about 33 miles (53В km) from Manhattan and 20 miles (32В km) from Staten Island. Somerville is a borough and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.

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