The area that today is Ewing Township was originally Lenape land. Permanent European settlement began about 1675. Most of this land was within a tract acquired by Adlord Bowde for Daniel Coxe in 1688. There were few settlers in the area before 1690 when Coxe's agents began subdividing and selling his land. At this time it was part of Hopewell Township. By the beginning of the 19th century the area had developed into a settled agricultural region. Ewing Township was officially established in 1834.
In the 1780s the "Old River Road" followed the course currently taken by Sullivan Way, Grand Avenue and Bear Tavern Road. By 1800 the small settlement of Birmingham had been formed around a tavern established at the intersection of Old River Road and Upper Ferry Road. The growth of additional villages occured about 1875 when Old River Road was intersected about a mile south of Birmingham by the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad. By 1882 after the Delaware and Bound Brook had been acquired by the Reading Railroad a station was constructed at the intersection of the main track of the railroad and a spur line to downtown Trenton. The station was just north of Old River Road and the community of "Trenton Junction" developed around it. Gradually the street network of Trenton Junction expanded to the north and in the 20th century the community merged with Birmingham and became the community of West Trenton.
Next month a brief history of another section of Ewing Township.
