Middletown City Map Poster

About Middletown

Middletown was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 23, 1798. Portions of the township were taken to form South Amboy (April 8, 1849), Raritan Township (March 10, 1870) and Roosevelt (March 14, 1898). The name derives from its original location in Monmouth County: midway between the two major settlements at Shrewsbury and Freehold Borough.The Lenape Native Americans called it "Matianuck", meaning "place where land is flat". It was known as part of Horseneck prior to 1660. In 1685 William Penn sold this tract for 300 pounds sterling to John Fenwick and his associates at what became known as Penn's Neck Landing which would become Middletown Township in later years when it grew into a town with many shops along River Road that ran through its center like Main Street does today.