BRIDGETON

bridgeton, a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of cumberland county, new jersey, u.s.a., in the south part of the state, on cohansey creek, 38 m. s. of philadelphia. pop. (1890) 11,424; (1900) 13,913, of whom 653 were foreign-born and 701 were negroes; (1905) 13,624; (1910) 14,209. it is served by the west jersey & sea shore and the central of new jersey railways, by electric railways connecting with adjacent towns, and by delaware river steamboats on cohansey creek, which is navigable to this point. it is an attractive residential city, has a park of 650 acres and a fine public library, and is the seat of west jersey academy and of ivy hall, a school for girls. it is an important market town and distributing centre for a rich agricultural region; among its manufactures are glass (the product, chiefly glass bottles, being valued in 1905 at $1,252,795--42.3% of the value of all the city's factory products--and bridgeton ranking eighth among the cities of the united states in this industry), machinery, clothing, and canned fruits and vegetables; it also has dyeing and finishing works. though bridgeton is a port of entry, its foreign commerce is relatively unimportant. the first settlement in what is now bridgeton was made toward the close of the 18th century. a pioneer iron-works was established here in 1814. the city of bridgeton, formed by the union of the township of bridgeton and the township of cohansey (incorporated in 1845 and 1848 respectively), was chartered in 1864.