Potters, New Jersey Explained

Potters, New Jersey
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:USA New Jersey Middlesex County#USA New Jersey#USA
Pushpin Label:Potters
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Middlesex
Subdivision Type3:Township
Subdivision Name3:Edison
Elevation Ft:92
Coordinates:40.5936°N -74.3614°W
Blank Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank Info:884389
Unit Pref:imperial

Potters was an unincorporated community and is now a neighborhood within Edison Township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[1] [2]

In the northern part of the township,[3] Potters was once known as Potters Crossing, and may have been an African-American community as early as the 1800s.[4] Centered around Inman Avenue and Grove Avenue,[5] it is believed that seven upper-middle-class families moved to the village from Harlem in 1917. The community grew in the 1920s, with families from the South. By the 1940s, it had more than 1,500 residents and included three churches and a volunteer fire department.[6]

As early as 1955, Edison was pushing for a federal housing project to eliminate the slum areas of Potters.[7] The community was dispersed during an urban renewal projects in the 1960s and 1970s.[4] It was largely and replaced by the James D. Elder Park and two low-income housing development projects: Greenwood Townhouses and Colonial Square Townhouses.[8] [9] The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church was relocated in 1978.[10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.state.nj.us/infobank/localnames.txt Locality Search
  2. Web site: NJDOT Graphic Information System Maps Middlesex . New Jersey Department of Transportation. March 2, 2020.
  3. Web site: Fleming . Herbert R. . Map of Middlesex County, New Jersey . Middlesex County (NJ) . 1947 . September 8, 2021.
  4. Web site: Murray. Stuart. Housing Scar in Edison . New York Times . April 11, 1976 . March 2, 2020.
  5. Web site: Potters Crossing Historic Village District . Metuchen-dison Historical Society . March 2, 2020.
  6. Web site: Hatala . Greg . Glimpse of History: Looking for a better life in Edison . NJ Advance Media . February 17, 2014 . March 3, 2020.
  7. Web site: The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey on February 23, 1955 · 2. 2021-07-27. Newspapers.com. en.
  8. Web site: Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey on April 4, 1975 · Page 75. 2021-08-18. Newspapers.com. en.
  9. Web site: The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey on December 29, 1982 · 22. 2021-08-18. Newspapers.com. en.
  10. Web site: Newsletter.