In 1717 Joseph Borden settled here, bought up a substantial part of the land and changed the town’s name to Borden’s Towne. By 1740, he started a packet line from Philadelphia to Bordentown. Travelers would stop and rest in Borden’s Towne and then board the Borden Stage for Perth Amboy where they would make their ferry boat connections to New York. Most of the founding fathers of the new republic passed through Bordentown which had become a bustling city of colonial trade.