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Perth Amboy

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A city and port of entry of Middlesex county, New Jersey, U.S.A., at the mouth of the Raritan river, on Raritan Bay and Staten Island Sound, about 15 m. S. by W. of Newark. Pop. (1910 census) 32,121. It is served by the Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley, Central of New Jersey and Staten Island Rapid Transit railways, and by boats to New York City. It is connected by a railway bridge (C.R.R. of N.J.) and by a foot and wagon bridge with South Amboy, on the south shore of the Raritan. Perth Amboy has a good harbour, shipyards and dry-docks. In the city still stands Franklin Palace (erected in 1764-1774), the home of William Franklin (1729-1813), a natural son of Benjamin Franklin and the last royal governor of New Jersey. In the vicinity is the Bartow House, in which William Dunlap (1766-1839), the art historian, made his first drawings. Other buildings of historic interest are the Parker Castle (c. 1729), a centre of Loyalist influence at the time of the War of Independence, and the Kearny Cottage, the home of "Madam Scribblerus," a halfsister of Captain James Lawrence. The city has various manufactures, the factory product in 1905 being valued at $34,800,402. Clay is obtained in the vicinity, and large shipments of coal are made. Perth Amboy was founded in 1683. It was at first called Amboy after the original Indian name; in 1684 the proprietors named it Perth in honour of James, earl of Perth (1648-1716), one of their number, and a few years later the two names were combined. From 1686 until the end of the proprietary government in 1702 Perth Amboy was the capital of the province of East Jersey, and during the period of royal government the general assembly and supreme court of New Jersey met alternately here and at Burlington. Perth Amboy was incorporated as a city in 1718, and received a new charter in 1784, and another in 1844, the last being revised in 1870. The township of Perth Amboy was incorporated in 1693 and in 1844 was included in the city.