From a Cultured Past ... Evolved a Diverse Future

Looking forward 150 years from its humble beginnings as a small agricultural and seashore resort town, Brick Township has grown to be a multi-faceted community rich in both traditions and commerce that create rewarding lifestyles for everyone. Despite having evolved into New Jersey’s 13th largest municipality, Brick Township holds dear its “small town” feel and continues to bring its cultured past into future endeavors.

Though originally inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Indians — from whom the popular Metedeconk (“living timbers”) River received its designation — one Joseph W. Brick, a diligent iron works proprietor, would change the area forever. First known as Bricksburg, the community was home to the era’s dominant shore trades: carpenters, shipbuilders and sailors, many of whom were employed by Mr. Brick. In 1850, three years after his death, the New Jersey Legislature officially named the area Brick Township (population 1,558).

One of the more significant remnants of this pivotal period in Brick’s history — the Havens Homestead (c.1827) — remains. Once a crude yet sturdy, 15’x 14’ one-room cabin with a 6’7” ceiling height, it is now owned, operated and maintained by the Brick Township Historical Society and serves as the Havens Homestead Museum on Herbertsville Road. Other notable landmarks still standing today are the Burr House (c. 1810), where the first township committee meeting was held, and the First Baptist Church of Laurelton (c. 1857), listed in the State and National Register of Historic Places.

Almost 100 years later, the popularity and availability of the automobile brought a totally different way of life to Brick, along with then-unimaginable prosperity. With the completion of the Garden State Parkway in the 1950s, people enjoyed newfound access to attractive shore communities like ours. Summer homes sprang up and the population swelled, much to the town’s economic benefit. A council form of government took shape and a police department, schools, and a hospital followed.

Today, Brick upholds its position as a focal point in Ocean County living, culture, and trade. A peaceful, secure, and advantageous lifestyle continues to draw people of all ages — and businesses of all kinds — to a fantastic Jersey Shore community.