Middlesex Borough

Protected by the Watchung Mountains on the north and bordered by clean, bubbling brooks, Middlesex Borough has flourished in the past century. Located some thirty miles west of New York City, the borough was known for its brilliant and varied gardens, farms, and greenhouses. Orchids and other blooms grown at Thomas Young Orchids and other local greenhouses were distributed in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York and were said to have been favored by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Middlesex Borough explores this town’s unique history from its incorporation in 1913 to the mid-1900s with vintage photographs and fascinating text. During the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, residents of the westerly portion of Piscataway Township, at the urging of George Harris, decided to secede from Piscataway and form an independent town. The newly created Middlesex Borough consisted of large farms owned by the Stout, Reidy, Conover, Giles, Guernsey, and Harris families, with clusters of small homes bordering them. The Central Railroad of New Jersey passed through the town, bringing new residents to Middlesex from New York City and fostering the development of small factories and workers’ houses in the Lincoln section, the housing developments of Pierce Estates and Dewey Park, and, later, the spacious homes and properties in the Beechwood Heights section of the borough.