Should these towns exist? The smallest places in NJ are still standing

🔴 Even the smallest towns in each NJ county are still in existence

🔴 The smallest has a population of 7

🔴 Do you live in one of these towns?

There are several reasons why New Jersey’s smallest municipalities are the least populated. Location, lack of housing, and lack of job opportunities are just three culprits as to why people are either moving out or just not moving into these towns.

Do you live in one of them? Find out which town takes the bottom spot in your county.

Corbin City

Incorporated in 1922, this city is named after Long Island railroad executive Austin Corbin. So small, the town has considered merging with other municipalities despite residents' worries that they could risk their small-town feel. An idea to merge with a neighboring municipality in the next county was rejected a decade ago because Cape May County officials said it would cost too much. 

Teterboro

Teterboro, home of a major regional airport, was incorporated on March 26, 1917, from land that was part of the boroughs of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Lodi. Throughout the borough’s history, neighboring towns like Hasbrouck Heights and South Hackensack have made repeated attempts to dissolve Teterboro. Some have argued that the population is too small to justify its existence. But all such attempts have met with failure.

Fieldsboro

The Legislature incorporated Fieldsboro as a borough on March 7, 1850. It separated from Bordentown Township as an independent municipality in 1894. The borough was named for the Field family, prominent early settlers in the area.

Cape May Point

One reason why Cape May Point may be the least populous town in Cape May County is because it is a dry town — one of three municipalities in the county where the sale of alcohol is prohibited by law. Ocean City and Wildwood Crest are the other two. Cape May Point was called Stites Beach until 1876, when the name was changed to Seagrove. Cape May Point re-emerged as an independent municipality in 1908. In 2004, the borough had about 600 houses. In 2021, the median price for a house was over $1 million, the highest of any municipality on Cape Island. In 2004, the only two businesses in Cape May Point were a bird shop and a general store.

Tavistock

Only 9 people live in this tiny Camden County town, and that’s an increase from 5 people living there in 2010. The name of the borough came from the estate in England of a family of early settlers. Tavistock was formed to allow members of Tavistock Country Club to play golf on Sundays by members of the Victor Talking Machine Co. This was prohibited at the Haddon County Club, which was governed by a local blue law, prohibiting sports activities on Sundays.

Shiloh

No, Shiloh in Cumberland County is not named after Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter. The settlement was founded in 1705 by Robert Ayars, who brought over 2,000 Seventh Day Baptists from Rhode Island to be free of religious persecution. Known as Cohansey Crossing when a church was formed in the area in 1737, the name Shiloh was adopted in 1771, though some sources think the borough was named for the Civil War Battle of Shiloh. It is a dry town today, where alcohol is not permitted to be sold by law, but alcohol is available at the borough winery.

Essex Fells

Essex Fells is the smallest municipality in Essex County. The community’s name was derived by taking “Essex” from the name of the county and adding “Fells” from the name John F. Fell, which means “hill” or “down.” While New Jersey Family magazine ranked Essex Fells as the best town for families in 2016, the borough has no apartment buildings, office buildings, or traffic lights, and until recently, no condos.

Newfield

Newfield, whose name derives from its status as a new-field development, was formed as a borough in 1924 from portions of Franklin Township. In the weeks before the Legislature approved the formation of the borough, a group of 240 residents went to Trenton by train to lobby on behalf of an independent municipality. Sweet Amalia Market and Kitchen is a restaurant in Newfield that was included by The New York Times on its 2024 list of the 50 best restaurants in the U.S.

East Newark

East Newark, a suburb of Newark, is not only the smallest municipality in Hudson County, but it’s the second-smallest municipality in the state. The borough was established on July 2, 1895, from portions of Kearny. The Clark Thread Co. Historic District is located in the borough.

Stockton

Stockton is the smallest municipality in Hunterdon County. It’s located along the Delaware River north of Lambertville. The community was first known as Reading Ferry and later as Howell’s Ferry. The name was changed to Centre Bridge Station to match the name of the post office. The name became Stockton with the creation of a railroad station and a local post office in 1851, named in honor of U.S. Sen. Robert Field Stockton.

Hopewell Borough

The historical settlement of Hopewell Borough is a commuter suburb for New York City in the New York metropolitan area, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Lenape tribe were the original inhabitants. In 1715, the settlers who stayed in Hopewell, most notably the Stout family, organized the Old School Baptist Church and what is now known as Hopewell was then referred to as “Baptist Meetinghouse.” The meeting house brought in Baptists from miles around to Hopewell and encouraged early growth.

Helmetta

The smallest town in Middlesex County is Helmetta. The community was established around a snuff mill, which opened in the 1820s. The town’s main landmark is the large, abandoned Helme Products Inc. plant that sits next to the Camden and Amboy Railroad. The mill began producing snuff in the 1880s. In 1925, it became the largest mill of its kind in the world, and by 1940, it employed 400 people. In 2012, the mill was purchased and transformed into an apartment complex.

Loch Arbour

Loch Arbour is a village in Monmouth County, with a population of only 224 people. In 2020, it was named the third-smallest municipality in New Jersey in terms of area (behind Shrewsbury and East Newark) and was the fifth-smallest municipality by population in the state. Its formation was driven by efforts to build beachfront condos in the area. Residents who sought to prevent the development led the secession, taking with them the last portion of oceanfront property in what is now known as Ocean Township. In 1997, Loch Arbour voters rejected a ballot proposal that would have it merge back into Ocean Township. A ballot proposal in 2011 again considered a merger with Allenhurst.

Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens is the smallest municipality in Morris County, measured both by size and population, and it’s the most densely populated. The borough’s name is derived from the victory gardens planted at homes and parks during World War. Streets are named after U.S. presidents. Randolph residents approved a referendum as part of a September 1951 special election in which voters were asked if Victory Gardens should be removed from the township and created as an independent municipality. Residents argued that the compensation paid by the federal government for the more than 250 students did not adequately cover the cost of their public education, that the housing and other structures in Victory Gardens was out of compliance with the township’s building and zoning ordinances and that the large Democratic party political leanings of residents of Victory Gardens were out of sync with the more Republican township of Randolph.

Mantoloking

Mantoloking is a coastal borough and the smallest municipality in Ocean County. The name is derived from the Unami language of the Lenni Lenape Native Americans. Various meanings have been attributed to the community’s name, including “frog ground’ or “sand place.” In the 2000 census, Mantoloking was the highest-income community in the state until Superstorm Sandy in 2012 wiped out 90% of properties.

Prospect Park

The smallest municipality in Passaic County is Prospect Park, a dry town where alcohol has not been sold since 1978. The borough, which was named after Prospect Park in Brooklyn, borders Haledon, Hawthorne, North Haledon, and Paterson.

Elsinboro

Have you ever heard of Elsinboro? It’s the smallest municipality in Salem County with just a hair over 1,000 people living there. Its first mention dates back to May 12, 1701, although it was also mentioned in records on Nov. 28, 1676. The details and date of its original incorporation remain unknown. The Legislature incorporated the township on Feb. 21, 1798 as one of New Jersey’s original group of 104 townships.

Millstone Borough

Millstone Borough is named for the Millstone River, whose name derives from an incident in which a millstone was dropped into it. Millstone, once called Somerset Courthouse, was the county seat of Somerset County from 1738 until the British burned it to the ground in 1779. After the victory at Princeton in 1777, General George Washington headquartered at Van Doren House. A historic district with 58 buildings was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Walpack

If you thought Tavistock in Camden County was the least populated municipality in New Jersey, with only 9 people living there, you’d be wrong. That distinction goes to Walpack in Sussex County, with a population of only 7 people. In 2010, 16 people were living there. The township's name comes from the Lenape word “wahlpeck,” which means “turn-hole” or an eddy or whirlpool. In 1962, following the devastation caused by Hurricanes Connie and Diane in 1955, a proposal was made by Congress for the Army Corps of Engineers to alleviate flooding on the Delaware River by building a dam on Tocks Island. The dam, just south of Walpack, would have created a 40-mile long lake. Over the next 15 years, about 72,000 acres of surrounding land, including Walpack, were claimed under eminent domain, forcing many long-time residents to move out. But the dam and the lake were never built.

Winfield

Winfield is the smallest municipality in Union County, mainly because it was created to hold a single-housing complex. Winfield was created in 1941 as a housing project for defense workers at the Kearny shipyards. The housing project was part of a mutual ownership program that was the last of its kind undertaken by the Federal Works Agency. The project was opposed by the residents of nearby Clark, who were afraid of higher property taxes and an influx of working-class people. The Legislature then rushed a bill to make the housing project its own municipality. The bill was vetoed by the governor but was eventually overturned. Not much has changed in Winfield since the 1940s.

Hardwick

Hardwick Township was created in 1713 through a royal patent. The township was created by Royal charter on Jan. 22, 1750, from Greenwich Township when it was part of Morris County. Hardwick Township was incorporated as a township by the  Legislature on Feb. 21, 1798. Since colonial times, Hardwick has remained a rural area with no business center.

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