Bound Brook is a borough located in Somerset County, New Jersey. Bound Brook was settled by Quaker families from Great Britain who first arrived in 1714. The town was originally named Middlebrook, but the name changed to Bound Brook before the American Revolution. Bound Brook was established as a borough in 1869.
Bound Brook is located at 40°38′09″N 74°33′22″W and has an area of 4.9 square miles. Bound Brook is known as the “Hometown of Baseball” because several baseball players were raised there, including Johnny Bench and others who went on to become Hall of Famers. The Bound Brook High School baseball team won two state championships, in 1969 – when Johnny Bench played for them — and 2001. The team won the Central Group IV state sectional championships in both 1969 and 2001.
Bound Brook is also known as the “Crown Jewel Town of Somerset County.” The town contains several historic places, including the Remsen House, First Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Bound Brook Cemetery, St. Andrew Episcopal Church Cemetery and other cemeteries, White Hall, the Reformed Church of Bound Brook, Zion Episcopal Church, Quaker Burying Ground, Baker House and several other homes.
Bound Brook was originally known as Middlebrook after a brook by the same name that gave the area its first settlers. The first settlement of European origin in what is now Franklin Park was made by 1715. The English farmer Bartholomew Cooper was the first settler in the area that would become Bound Brook. He settled near a crossing of Middlebrook as early as 1715, and a nearby waterfall provided a good power source for mills. In 1733, Benjamin Palmer purchased 490 acres from Lord Stirling to form Franklin Township.
In 1869, Bound Brook was established as a borough through an Act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of South Bound Brook.