About Us:

Wall Township, incorporated March 7, 1851 by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature, embraces approximately thirty-two square miles in southern Monmouth County. Wall's ancestors settled first in East Jersey's Shrewsbury Township.

This land was already inhabited by the Lenni Lenape, an Algonquian group of Indians (Native Americans) who lived in loosely - knit family groups in the greater Delaware area. Clans managed decisions on marriage and descent, leaving the people to their individual governance. Current research on Lenape life includes books, excavations such as the one at Turkey Swamp and "Pow Wows" presented by the Delaware people themselves.

King Charles II of England in 1664 decided to colonize the land he owned between the Hudson and the Delaware Rivers. He dispatched Colonel Robert Nicolls to subdue the Dutch and establish settlements. Nicolls was remarkably successful and named the land "Albania." But before he could return to England, the King granted his brother, James Duke of York, these same lands. The Duke named the tract "Novo Cesarea" or "New Jersey," then gave the territory to court favorites Sir John Carteret and John Lord Berkeley. The result was that two different patent claims were made for the same land, causing title problems which persist to today. New Jersey was divided into East and West Jersey. Upon the death of Berkeley, the land was leased in 1682 by The General Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey. In 1688, Berkeley's lands were organized as The Council of Proprietors of the Western Division.

Earliest patents granted in the Wall area were for land near the Manasquan River. By 1801, what was to be the Wall area became a part of Howell Township. Towards the mid-18th century, certain inhabitants petitioned the New Jersey Legislature to set aside a new township from Howell - from Shark River and its streams to the Atlantic Ocean, then from the Manasquan River over to the Howell border.

Petitioners for the successful establishment of a new township included the first Township Committee members James Allgor, Robert Laird, M.D, Samuel Allen and Benjamin Pearce. They chose to name the township "Wall" after United States Senator Garret Dorset Wall who had died in 1850 during the time of legal separation from Howell Township.