Up until about 1875, Belle Mead, then named Plainville, was considered to be part of the community of Harlingen.[13] It was a quiet farming region when about that time a New York City contractor named Van Aken bought up all the local farms and set out to develop a city. He had the farms laid out into lots, some streets put through and named after the style of New York. He donated land for the railroad station that had a dining room underneath (the station was torn down in February, 1940). There is an abandoned train station in Belle Mead. When Van Aken went broke, the property was sold to a U.S. Senator, John R. McPherson, who changed the name from Vanaken to Belle Mead in honor of his daughter, Edna Belle Mead McPherson, according to one popular story.[14]
Woods Tavern in Belle Mead was a popular stop for travelers for more than 100 years and played an important social and political role. Horace Greeley spoke there in 1872 as part of his campaign for President of the United States. The tavern burned down in 1932.[14]
The Belle Mead Army Depot was the nation's largest military supply facility during WWII. The depot operated until 1991, and no buildings remain.[15] Now a Superfund site, it is undergoing remediation and part is a county park.[16]James Baldwin, the author and civil rights advocate, lived in Belle Mead in the early 1940s while working at the depot.[17]
Dr. John Summerskill and his wife, Mimi LaFollette Summerskill established the LaFollette Vineyard in Belle Mead in the 1970s. President Bill Clinton and 14 Democratic governors met for a strategy session and press conference at the vineyard during the 1992 presidential campaign.
The abandoned train station was built by Reading Railroad in the 1930s, and was removed from service in 1984. Since then, restoration projects have been announced, but none have progressed any further than cleaning up tree debris and graffiti.
The Belle Mead section straddles the northern portion of Montgomery Township and the southern portion of Hillsborough Township. For many years residents of Belle Mead had been served by the Belle Mead Post Office located on Route 206 in Montgomery Township having ZIP code 08502. In the late 1990s, Hillsborough Township was granted its own post office serving all of its residents (ZIP code 08844), including that section of town formerly serving the Belle Mead area. Since that time the Belle Mead post office and its associated ZIP code (08502) serves only the remaining area of Belle Mead located in the northern section of Montgomery Township.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, Belle Mead had a total area of 0.740 square miles (1.917 km2), all of which is land.[1][2]
Belle Mead is demographically notable for having the fastest-growing Asian population of any U.S. community as enumerated by the U.S. Census Bureau, increasing from four individuals in 2010 to a majority of its residents in 2020.[19]
Of the 78 households, 39.7% had children under the age of 18; 71.8% were married couples living together; 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present and 20.5% were non-families. Of all households, 15.4% were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.03.[18]
25.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 30.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.5 years. For every 100 females, the population had 100.0 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 102.5 males.[18]
^Martinelli, Patricia A. New Jersey Ghost Towns: Uncovering the Hidden Past, p. 46. Accessed March 29, 2023. Stackpole Books, 2012. ISBN9780811745789. "Plainville, a bucolic farm area, was part of Harlingen up until about 1875. ... Somerset County is home to the towns of Harlingen and Belle Mead, which up until the late nineteenth century were considered one community."
^Aubrey, Dan. "City lore: James Baldwin, Jim Crow and Trenton", Community News, March 1, 2021, updated January 11, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2023. "The Harlem-born Baldwin had come to central New Jersey to work in the regional defense plant in Belle Mead and was 'working and living among southerners, white and black. I knew about the south, of course, and about how southerners treated Negroes and how they expected them to behave, but it had never entered my mind that anyone would look at me and expect me to behave that way.'"
^Cavanaugh, Jack. "Crawford Hurt In Army Loss", The New York Times, October 4, 1987. Accessed January 29, 2017. "Then, Mike Elkins of Wake Forest and a sophomore wingback, Ricky Proehl of Belle Mead, N.J., combined on their second touchdown play with 2:46 remaining in the game, and Wilson Hoyle, who had kicked a 46-yard field-goal in the third period, added his second conversion to seal the triumph."
^Waggoner, Walter H. "G .O .P . Faces Aggressive Challenge In Central Jersey Assembly Race", The New York Times, October 14, 1977. Accessed February 20, 2018. "Their Republican opponents are Assemblyman Walter J. Cavanaugh of Somerville, who led the Republican ticket in the district when he was elected to his first term in 1975, and Elliott F. Smith of Belle Mead."
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