Howell Township was named for Richard Howell who was governor when it was created from ShrewsburyTownship in 1801. In 1830 the population was approximately 4,000. Around that time the township contained eleven stores, ten sawmills, five grist mills, four carding machines, two fulling mills, twenty-six tan-vats, two distilleries, and a furnace.
History of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1664-1920: Volume II, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1922.