Morven (Princeton, New Jersey)

Morven

Morven in 2006.
Location 55 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ
Coordinates 40°20′50.97″N 74°40′1.03″W / 40.3474917°N 74.6669528°W / 40.3474917; -74.6669528Coordinates: 40°20′50.97″N 74°40′1.03″W / 40.3474917°N 74.6669528°W / 40.3474917; -74.6669528
Built 1730
Architect Unknown
Architectural style Georgian
Part of Princeton Historic District (#75001143)
NRHP Reference # 71000503 [1]
NJRHP # 1738[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP January 25, 1971
Designated NHL July 17, 1971[3]
Designated NJRHP September 11, 1970

Morven, known officially as Morven Museum & Garden, is a historic 18th-century house at 55 Stockton Street in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It served as the governor's mansion for nearly four decades in the twentieth century, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

In 1701, Richard Stockton purchased, from William Penn, the 5,500-acre (22 km2) property. His grandson Richard Stockton (1730–1781) had 150 acres, on which, in the 1750s, he built the house that his wife Annis Boudinot Stockton named "Morven", after a mythical Gaelic kingdom in Ireland.

Commodore Robert Stockton (1795–1866) later lived in the house that was built on the property. Robert Wood Johnson II, chairman of the company Johnson and Johnson, leased the home after Bayard Stockton died during 1932.[4]

In 1944, New Jersey Governor Walter E. Edge purchased Morven from the Stockton family. The sale was subject to the condition that Morven would be given to the state of New Jersey within two years of Edge's death.[5] Edge transferred ownership of Morven to the state during 1954, several years before he died.[6]

Morven served as the New Jersey's first governor's mansion from 1944 until 1981.

During 1982, the New Jersey Governor's Mansion was re-designated to Drumthwacket. Morven was adapted as a museum.

Owners

See also

References

  1. National Park Service (2006-03-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places — Mercer County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — Historic Preservation Office. April 5, 2013. p. 8. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  3. "Morven". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2008-06-23.
  4. "Edge Buys Historic Mansion at Princeton; Governor Will Later Give it to New Jersey", The New York Times, Nov. 11, 1944, p. 15
  5. Edge, Water Evans, A Jerseyman's Journal, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1948
  6. "Jersey Acquires Estate of Edge", The New York Times, Jan. 28, 1954, p. 29

See also

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