Flemington is surrounded by the Township of Raritan and is located in the center of the Township. The Borough is also the County Seat of Hunterdon. Raritan Township comprises only a little more than one fourth of the old Amwell Township (embracing the territory of the townships of Raritan, Delaware, East and West Amwell) which was purchased from the Indians in 1703. Raritan was formed from Amwell in 1838. One of the eastern townships of central Hunterdon County, Raritan is rhombic shaped resulting in its extreme northern and western points reaching far into the townships adjoining it to the north and west.

In 1756, Samuel Fleming purchased part of this land, and built his home which still stands on Bonnell Street, and "Fleming's Town" was born.
For Fleming Castle Go Here.

The surrounding fertile farmland dictated that the beginnings of Flemington should be essentially agricultural. Early German and English settlers engaged in industries dependent on farm products. As time passed poultry and dairy farms superseded crops in agricultural importance.

In 1785, Flemington was chosen as the County Seat of Hunterdon. Fire destroyed the old courthouse in 1826 and the City of Lambertville made an attempt to have the Seat moved, to no avail. Flemington remained the County Seat and the Courthouse which stands today on Main Street was built.

The Union Hotel, across the street from the Courthouse was built in 1814 by Neal Hart. After Hart's death in 1837, the hotel was purchased by his son and then in 1850 the partnership of Bartles, Bonnell and Fleming. It was during this ownership that the business became known by its current name.

By 1980 sixty-five percent of Flemington borough had been included on the New Jersey State Register of Historic Places and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1856, the Hunterdon County Agricultural society purchased 40 acres of land that would accommodate the people, exhibits and livestock for the County (Flemington) Fair. The purpose of this Fair was to promote competition between farmers, stock raisers and machinery manufacturers. In the year 2003, the County Fair found a new home in Raritan Township.

The Trial that Put Flemington on the Map
On a cold rainy night, March 1, 1932, in the remote rural area near Hopewell, New Jersey, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., twenty months old, was kidnapped. Sometime between 8:00 p.m., when his nurse, Betty Gow, checked on the sleeping baby, and 10:00 p.m., when she once again checked on him before retiring for the night, "The Eaglet" (as the newspapers called him) had been removed from his crib...
To read more Go Here.

The most dramatic change in Flemington was its transformation into a major factory outlet center, which is called Liberty Village and Turntable Junction. With over sixty-five stores, it has become one of the finest high quality manufactures outlet shopping complexes in the Country.

Historic Flemington is a community which maintains many faces from the Flemington Fair to Liberty Village, from art and craft shows to stock car racing, from small family owned businesses to large industrial enterprises and it is all maintained in a quaint country atmosphere.