Potters, New Jersey (original) (raw)

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Populated place in Middlesex County, New Jersey, US

Unincorporated community in New Jersey, United States

Potters, New Jersey
Unincorporated community
Potters is located in Middlesex County, New JerseyPottersPottersLocation in Middlesex County, New JerseyShow map of Middlesex County, New JerseyPotters is located in New JerseyPottersPottersPotters (New Jersey)Show map of New JerseyPotters is located in the United StatesPottersPottersPotters (the United States)Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 40°35′37″N 74°21′41″W / 40.59361°N 74.36139°W / 40.59361; -74.36139
Country United States
State New Jersey
County Middlesex
Township Edison
Elevation[1] 92 ft (28 m)
GNIS feature ID 884389[1]

Potters was an unincorporated community and is now a neighborhood within Edison Township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[2][3][4]

In the northern part of the township,[5] Potters was once known as Potters Crossing, and may have been an African-American community as early as the 1800s.[6] Centered around Inman Avenue and Grove Avenue,[7] 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.[8]

As early as 1955, Edison was pushing for a federal housing project to eliminate the slum areas of Potters.[9] The community was dispersed during an urban renewal projects in the 1960s and 1970s.[6][10] It was largely and replaced by the James D. Elder Park and two low-income housing development projects: Greenwood Townhouses and Colonial Square Townhouses.[11][12] The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church was relocated in 1978.[13]

  1. ^ a b "Potters". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. ^ Locality Search, State of New Jersey. Accessed February 13, 2015.
  3. ^ "NJDOT Graphic Information System Maps Middlesex" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  4. ^ Spies, Stacy (2001), Edison, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 9780738505497
  5. ^ Fleming, Herbert R. (1947). "Map of Middlesex County, New Jersey". Middlesex County (NJ). Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Murray, Stuart (April 11, 1976). "Housing Scar in Edison". New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  7. ^ "Potters Crossing Historic Village District" (PDF). Metuchen-dison Historical Society. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  8. ^ Hatala, Greg (February 17, 2014). "Glimpse of History: Looking for a better life in Edison". NJ Advance Media. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  9. ^ "The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey on February 23, 1955 · 2". Newspapers.com. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  10. ^ Potter Urban Renewal Project, United States. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1975
  11. ^ "Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey on April 4, 1975 · Page 75". Newspapers.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  12. ^ "The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey on December 29, 1982 · 22". Newspapers.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  13. ^ "Newsletter".