PHILLIPSBURG, NEW JERSEY

'Phillipsburg', known locally as 'P'burg', is a town in Warren County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 15,166.
Phillipsburg was incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 8, 1861, from portions of Phillipsburg Township (now Lopatcong Township)."The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 248.
The town is located in western New Jersey, on the border of Pennsylvania, and is considered the eastern border of the region's Lehigh Valley.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

Economic revival

Government

Local government

Federal, state and county representation

Education

Transportation

Notable present and former residents

References

External links

Geography

Phillipsburg is located at (40.689474, -75.185340).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.7 km² (3.3 mi²). 8.3 km² (3.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (3.29%) is water.
Pohatcong Mountain is a ridge, approximately 6 mi (10 km) long, in the Appalachian Mountains that extends from Phillipsburg northeast approximately to Washington.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,166 people, 6,044 households, and 3,946 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,818.5/km² (4,703.6/mi²). There were 6,651 housing units at an average density of 797.5/km² (2,062.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.84% White, 3.47% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.83% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 2.02% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.38% of the population.
There were 6,044 households out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.4% were married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 91.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $37,368, and the median income for a family was $46,925. Males had a median income of $37,446 versus $25,228 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,452. About 9.9% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.6% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economic revival

Most of the manufacturing jobs have left Warren County's largest city. At the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, Phillipsburg used to benefit from being a major transportation hub. Long gone is the era of canal shipping and many of the important freight railways have shut down. In 1994, the New Jersey Legislature designated Phillipsburg as an Urban Enterprise Zone community. This zoning offers tax incentives and other benefits to Phillipsburg-based businesses, as well as a 3½% sales tax rate, reduced from the 7% rate charged statewide.
In recent years, some businesses have begun to move into the center of the city. Rising real estate prices indicate that these legislative stimulants have been somewhat effective. Phillipsburg also has been selected as a site for the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Heritage Center (jointly with Netcong), a museum designed to help preserve and showcase the state's transportation history.^[1]

Government

Local government

Phillipsburg is governed under the Mayor-Council system of municipal government under the Faulkner Act.^[2] The Mayor of Phillipsburg is Harry L. Wyant, Jr. (R, term of office ends December 31, 2007). He is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition^[3], a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Town Council Members are Council President David DeGerolamo (D, 2007), Council Vice President, James P. Stettner (D, 2007), John Damato (D, 2009), William M. Merrick (D, 2009) and James M. Shelly (D, 2009).^[4][5]

Federal, state and county representation

Phillipsburg is in the Fifth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 23rd Legislative District.^[6]

Education

The Phillipsburg School District serves public school students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.
The elementary and middle schools of the district are: Green Street School (Grades PreK-5), Barber School (Grades 1&2), Freeman School (Grades 1&2), Andover-Morris School (Grades 3-5) and Phillipsburg Middle School (Grades 6-8).
Students in grades 9-12 attend
Phillipsburg High School which serves students from the town of Phillipsburg and from five neighboring communities at the secondary level: Alpha, Bloomsbury (in Hunterdon County), Greenwich Township, Lopatcong Township and Pohatcong Township, who attend as part of sending/receiving relationships. Although the school sports an historic attractive building, a multi-million dollar football stadium and sport training facility, and one of the states biggest football powerhouses, it remains as one of the lowest performing public schools in the state in academics and suffers from chronic overcrowding. The school district, which has struggled for over a decade to build a new school, continues to use a building which lacks up-to-date facilities and some handicap amenities and will soon introduce its 32nd temporary trailer to help its lack of classroom space.
Phillipsburg High School has an athletic rivalry with neighboring Easton, Pennsylvania's Easton High School, which celebrated its 100th anniversary game on Thanksgiving Day 2006. Phillipsburg lost the game. ^[7]
Phillipsburg represents one of the state's 30-odd Abbott Districts, established by the New Jersey Supreme Court to alleviate what was found to be an inadequate and unconstitutional education of the district's children.

Transportation

Many major highways pass through Phillipsburg, including U.S. Route 22, Route 122, and Interstate 78.
New Jersey Transit bus service is provided on the 890 and 891 routes.^[8]

Notable present and former residents

★ Charlie Berry, former professional baseball player, Union Association, and father of Charlie Berry.

★ Charlie Berry, former professional baseball and football player and umpire in Major League Baseball.^[9]

★ William F. Birch (1870-1946) represented New Jersey's 5th congressional district from 1918 to 1919.^[10]

★ Tom Brennan, radio and television sportscaster and former men's basketball head coach, most notably at the University of Vermont from 1986 to 2005.^[11]

★ Wayne Dumont, former New Jersey Senate Majority Leader and Senate President.^[12]

★ Fiona, rock singer.

★ Terry Kitchen, folk singer.^[13]

★ Jim Ringo, former professional football player, Green Bay Packers.^[14]

★ Sheetal Sheth, actress.^[15]

★ Charles Sitgreaves, (1803-1878), represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district from 1865 to 1869, and served as the mayor of Phillipsburg in 1861 and 1862.^[16]

★ Yvonne Zima, actress, "Rachel Greene" on NBC's ''ER''.

References

1. Phillipsburg's Historic CNJ Station, accessed August 30, 2006.
2. Phillipsburg Form of Government, Town of Phillipsburg. Accessed July 25, 2006.
3. Mayors Against Illegal Guns: Coalition Members
4. About the Council..., Town of Phillipsburg. Accessed August 21, 2007.
5. Warren County page for Phillipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey. Accessed August 21, 2007.
6. 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 62. Accessed August 30, 2006.
7. "High school rivals are like family", ''USA Today'', September 21, 2005.
8. Warren County Bus/Rail Connections, New Jersey Transit. Accessed July 3, 2007.
9. "Jack's Facts: A Closer Look at the Easton/Phillipsburg Rivalry", ''The Morning Call'', November 21, 2006, accessed April 13, 2007. "The Garnet's Charlie Berry would score all Phillipsburg's points in a 14-7 win. Berry after graduating from PHS went on to have outstanding career at Lafayette College and later became an American League baseball umpire and officiated in the NFL."
10. William Fred Birch biographic profile, United States Congress. Accessed July 25, 2007.
11. The Brennan Era At Vermont, University of Vermont, accessed April 6, 2007. "The 54-year old Brennan is a native of Phillipsburg, NJ who graduated as the all-time leading scorer at Phillipsburg Catholic High School."
12. State of New Jersey Executive Order #57 issued by Governor James J. Florio , accessed April 6, 2007. "WHEREAS, he played minor league baseball for the former St. Louis Browns and later moved to Phillipsburg in 1940 where he began practicing law;"
13. Terry Kitchen's Home Page, accessed April 13, 2007. "Born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Kitchen grew up first in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania..."
14. Database Football Player's Page for Jim Ringo, accessed November 4, 2006.
15. Melwani, Lavina. "Lethal Sheetal - Time and the moment are on Sheetal Sheth’s side.", ''Little India (magazine)'', accessed April 13, 2007. "Sheetal was born in Phillipsburg, NJ, but the family relocated to Bethlehem, Penn., when she was in the sixth grade."
16. Charles Sitgreaves, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 18, 2007.

External links

★ Phillipsburg Official Web Site

★ Warren County page for Phillipsburg

★ Phillipsburg School District

★

★ National Center for Education Statistics data for the Phillipsburg School District

★ Phillipsburg Area Chamber Of Commerce