Oops! Hightstown Younger Than Previously Believed

The history books are wrong. Hightstown Borough wasn't founded in 1721, but rather in 1747.

And if the Historic Preservation Commission has its way, a new sign in will replace the current historical marker there with a more accurate description of how the borough began.

HPC Chairman Richard Pratt told the Borough Council Monday night that Hightstown natives and historical researcher Bob Craig learned after decades of research that the old date, 1721, was wrong. Craig, along with fellow Hightstownians and researchers Clark and Richard Hutchinson, wrote the text for the new sign.

“The three have collaborated, and through extensive research over the past 30 years or so have unearthed a history that is different than what we know it to be today,” Pratt said. The HPC, he explained, is seeking “to erect a sign that corrects all the past history that was inaccurate and put it in Memorial Park.”

The new information says Hightstown was actually founded in 1747, 26 years later than previously believed. That puts several other dates in perspective.

“The borough celebrated its 275th anniversary back in 1996, and by what I’m reading here that’s not going to happen again until 2022,” said Democrat Council President Isabel McGinty. “This is somewhat cataclysmic.”

“Can’t we post both signs side-by-side and let people figure it out?” she asked jokingly, before adding, “I thank the historians very, very much for their research on this.”

“Wonderful job, Rick Pratt. It’s great,” said resident Gene Sarafin. But, he added, “We’re going to have to change many things in this town.”

As McGinty noted, the true 250th anniversary  “was the year after the [observed] 275th.”

The old placard also says the borough’s founders, John and Mary Hight, started the town on the 3,000 acres they bought in what’s now known to be the wrong year, and Pratt pointed out that that’s larger than the borough actually is. Hightstown is 1.1 square miles, while 3,000 acres is equivalent to about 4.69 square miles.

Pratt said the Parks and Recreation Commission has the money to pay for the new sign, which has already received the approval of Parks and Rec and the HPC. The work can be done without tax dollars thanks to a combination of Parks and Rec funds and potential private donations.

The two groups want to put the new sign on the north side of the dam, across from where the current blue sign is, because the north side is where John and Mary Hight first lived, Pratt explained.

Members of the council said they were in favor of the project and would vote on it formally at the next meeting.

“I’m absolutely in favor,” said Republican Councilwoman Skye Gilmartin.

Democrat Mayor Steve Kirson said, “I’m in favor of doing it. I don’t think there’s any drawback.”

This article was updated at 9:50 a.m. May 20 to correct the sign's potential funding sources. The HPC will not fund the sign, as was previously stated.