Lower Township is a township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township’s population was 22,866, reflecting a decrease of 79 (-0.3%) from the 22,945 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,125 (+10.2%) from the 20,820 counted in the 1990 Census.
New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Lower Township as its 34th best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the “Best Places To Live” in New Jersey.
Before the region was settled by Europeans, the indigenous Kechemeche tribe of the Lenape people inhabited South Jersey, and traveled to the barrier islands during the summer to hunt and fish. On August 28, 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson entered the Delaware Bay and stayed one day on land, north of what is now Cape May Point. In 1630, representatives of the Dutch West India Company purchased a 16 sq mi (41 km2) tract of land along the Delaware from indigenous people, and additional land in the county was purchased 11 years later. Due to the large number of whales in the region of Cape May, Dutch explorers founded Town Bank around 1640 as a whaling village, in what is now Lower Township as a whaling village around 1640. It was the first European settlement in Cape May County. The village once functioned as the court house for the county, along with Coxehall, built by Dr. Daniel Coxe to be a center for a manorial style of government.
Lower Township was formed as a precinct on April 2, 1723, and was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, as one of New Jersey’s initial group of 104 townships established by the Township Act of 1798. The township’s name came from its location when Cape May was split into three townships in 1723 at the same time that Middle Township and Upper Township were created.
Portions of the township were taken to form Cape Island Borough (March 8, 1848, now known as Cape May city), Cape May Point borough (created April 19, 1878, restored to Lower Township on April 8, 1896, recreated April 6, 1908), Holly Beach (April 14, 1885, now part of Wildwood city), South Cape May (August 27, 1894; restored to Lower Township after the borough was dissolved on April 30, 1945), Wildwood Crest (April 6, 1910) and North Cape May (March 19, 1928; restored to Lower Township after it was dissolved on April 30, 1945).
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 22,866 people, 9,579 households, and 6,351 families residing in the township. The population density was 824.3 per square mile (318.3/km2). There were 14,507 housing units at an average density of 523.0 per square mile (201.9/km2). The racial makeup of the township was 94.24% (21,549) White, 1.99% (456) Black or African American, 0.16% (37) Native American, 0.62% (142) Asian, 0.04% (10) Pacific Islander, 1.20% (275) from other races, and 1.74% (397) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.24% (969) of the population.
Source: Wikipedia
