Jamesburg: The Town James Built

Jamesburg is named for James Buckelew, a landowner who in the eighteen forties donated the right-of-way that brought the Camden and Amboy Railroad through this corner of Middlesex County. Where the railroad came, a village followed. The borough incorporated in eighteen eighty-seven, and for decades it was a compact industrial and commercial stop on the rail line.

Buckelew also funded a school open to children of every race, after the surrounding township refused to admit a Black student to one of its schools, and the borough took its name from that school. Today Jamesburg has about six thousand residents.