Hammonton Town Hall is located at 100 Central Avenue, Hammonton NJ 08037.
Phone: 609‑567‑4300. Hammonton proclaims itself to be The Blueberry Capital of the World.
Neighborhoods
First settled around 1812, the Town of Hammonton was incorporated in 1866 and today covers more than 40 square miles.
Beginnings [1]
About the time when the U.S. was having its second war with Great Britain, say 1812, William Coffin, whose father was a native of the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and who had settled at Green Bank, Burlington County, came to Hammonton under an agreement with John Coates to build and operate a saw mill. Coffin operated the mill for a couple of years and then purchased it along with the large tract of land. The mill was his principal business until 1821. Until 1836 he manufactured glass and lumber, at which time he leased the operations to his son, Bodine Coffin and his son-in-law Andrew K. Hay. William Coffin took the operations back over about 1838, and operated them until his death in 1844. The town was named for John Hammond Coffin, originally known as Hammondton (with a "d", later dropped.)
The glass manufactured by the Coffins sought an outlet to market by being carted to the forks of the Mullica River, about 1-1/2 miles below Pleasant Mills, from which point it went by boat to New York and Philadelphia markets.
"Old Hammonton" was a business and social oasis in the wilderness. The nearest doctor was in Haddonfield. A preacher visited about every other week, during which he enjoyed the hospitality of the Coffins. A stage coach ran from Camden to Leeds' Point every Wednesday and Saturday, making return trips on Thursdays and Mondays.
In 1856 banker Richard J. Byrnes formed a partnership with a young Philadelphia lawyer, Charles K. Landis, for the purpose of engaging in the real estate, stock and note business. They began purchasing several wilderness tracts adjoining "Old Hammonton." They began advertising the sale of their land, in farms and tracts to suit purchasers. They made their first sale in 1857 to Matthew Seagrove of Philadelphia. This and subsequent early sales were made in the vicinity of Hammonton Lake, mainly along Pleasant Mills Road. In 1858 Hammonton Station was established (Camden and Atlantic Railroad). Upon incorporation in 1866, a local census counted 1,422 residents of the newly organized town. The following year a Fruit Growers Union, was established in the town as a distribution co-operative.
Nearby Towns: Mullica Twp • Waterford Twp •