Centrally located within the Raritan Valley region, this historical settlement (and its neighboring township of the same name) is an exurban commuter suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area as defined by the United States Census Bureau.

[23] The first Colonial influence in Hopewell by European settlers was the purchase of a 30,000-acre (120 km2) tract of land by Daniel Coxe a Royal British governor of West Jersey, in the latter half of the 17th century.[when?]

[25] The society appointed an agent, Thomas Revell, to preside over the land and sell it to prospective buyers.

[26] Revell then attracted settlers from New England, Long Island, and New Jersey falsely claiming that the land was fertile, and tame.

[27] The first settler in Hopewell Valley was Thomas Tindall who on November 10, 1699, bought a 300-acre (1.2 km2) tract of land from The West Jersey Society of England through Revell, for "ten pounds per hundred acres".

Fifty settlers then organized a class action lawsuit against Revell and the West Jersey Society.

A lengthy trial was held in Burlington and the court ultimately ruled against the settlers, who were forced to repurchase their land or relocate.

[31][32] One of the most valued members of the meeting house was Declaration of Independence signer John Hart who in 1740 purchased 193 acres (0.78 km2) of land in the north of current day Hopewell, and in 1747 as a sign of Hart's devotion to the Church, donated a plot of his land to the Baptists.

In 1756, Isaac Eaton the first pastor of the Old School Baptist Church established the Hopewell Academy.

The Delaware and Bound Brook was leased by the Philadelphia and Reading in 1879 for 999 years[38] and has become the CSX Trenton Line and is still in use today.

[40] According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.72 square miles (1.87 km2), all of which was land.

[6] The borough form of government used by Hopewell is a "weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie.

The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council.

[55] As of 2023[update], the mayor of Hopewell is Democrat Paul Anzano, whose term expires December 31, 2023.

[3][56][57][58][59][60][61] The Hopewell Public Library was founded March 14, 1914, and was originally located at Broad and Mercer Streets in an old harness shop.

[62] In 2014, the library began looking for a new space, citing the lack of a parking lot and non-ADA compliant steps an issue with serving the general public.

[65][66][67] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 12th congressional district is represented by Bonnie Watson Coleman (D, Ewing Township).

[72] As of 2025[update], the County Executive is Daniel R. Benson (D, Hamilton Township) whose term of office ends December 31, 2027.

The district's board of education is comprised of nine members allocated to each of the three municipalities based on population, with Hopewell assigned a single seat.

[117] Eighth grade students from all of Mercer County are eligible to apply to attend the high school programs offered by the Mercer County Technical Schools, a county-wide vocational school district that offers full-time career and technical education at its Health Sciences Academy, STEM Academy and Academy of Culinary Arts, with no tuition charged to students for attendance.

NJ Transit is planning to restore passenger commuter rail service to Hopewell on the West Trenton Line.

NJ Transit plans to use the existing one-track right of way that CSX owns through Hopewell, the former four-track Reading Company Trenton Line.

The proposed plan includes double tracking most of the CSX line to increase capacity and construction of a new rail station on Somerset Street.