Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the southwest and the Raritan Valley region to the northeast, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau,[18][19] while also directly bordering the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area.

[20] The home of the prestigious Lawrenceville School, Rider University, and the site of the Quaker Bridge Mall, the township is a regional commercial and cultural hub of central New Jersey.

[23] What is now Lawrence Township was originally formed as Maidenhead Township on February 20, 1697, while the area was still part of Burlington County in West Jersey on the eastern boundary of the Province Line (on the other side of which was East Jersey).

The township was named by the early Quaker settlers after Maidenhead, a Thames River village west of London.

In 1698, Puritan settlers from Long Island and Connecticut came to Maidenhead and were granted land and established a Presbyterian church.

[24] In 1810, the seventh minister of the church, Isaac V. Brown, began the Maidenhead Academy to prepare young men for college.

On January 24, 1816, the municipality was renamed Lawrence Township, in honor of Captain James Lawrence—commander of the frigate USS Chesapeake, one of the naval heroes of the War of 1812, and a native of relatively nearby Burlington, New Jersey—best known for his dying command of "Don't give up the ship".

[2][3] Lawrenceville (with a 2010 Census population of 3,887[29]) is a census-designated place and unincorporated community located within Lawrence Township.

[30] Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include:[31] Bakersville, Clarksville, Colonial Lakelands, Coxs Corner, Eldridge Park,[citation needed] Franklin Corner, Harneys Corner, Lawrence Station, Lewisville, Louisville, Port Mercer, Princessville, Quaker Bridge, Rosedale, Slackwood and Sturwood Hamlet.

[45][46] Lawrence Township is home to the headquarters of the Educational Testing Service[48] and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Research & Development Division.

[49] Quaker Bridge Mall is a two-level, indoor shopping center located in Lawrenceville on U.S. 1, near Interstate 295.

The Lawrence Shopping Center and other businesses along U.S. Route 1 provide additional commercial clusters in the township.

[7][53] At a reorganization meeting held in January after each election, a Mayor is selected by the council from among its members to serve a term of two years.

[54] As of 2025[update], members of the Lawrence Township Council are Mayor Patricia Hendricks Farmer (D, term on committee and as mayor ends December 31, 2027), Chris Bobbitt (D, 2025), James S. Kownacki (D, 2025), Olympia I’Liou Perry (D, 2027) and John T. Ryan (D, 2027).

[4][55][56][57][58] In January 2023, the township council selected Catherin MacDuff to fill the seat expiring in December 2023 that had been held by Cathleen M. Lewis until she resigned from office earlier that month to take a seat on the Mercer County Board of County Commissioners.

[59] In August 2015, the Township Council appointed Ian J. Dember on an interim basis to fill the seat expiring in December 2017 that had been held by Stephen Brame until his death the previous month.

[64][65][66] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 3rd congressional district is currently represented Herb Conaway (D, Delran Township).

[68] For the 2024-2025 session, the 15th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Shirley Turner (D, Lawrence Township) and in the General Assembly by Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D, Trenton) and Anthony Verrelli (D, Hopewell Township).

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

[102] The Lawrence Township Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.

[115][116][117][118] 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.

Since 2001, HindiUSA has been offering classes in the Lawrence Middle School where all students can learn Hindi on Friday evenings.

The Lawrence Township Historic District is a 550-acre (220 ha) historic district encompassing the community of Lawrenceville, consisting of a number of buildings along U.S. Route 206 (formerly King's Highway, as well as the Lincoln Highway), two early cemeteries associated with the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville (Est.

[136] U.S. 1 is in effect three different roads: the original route from Trenton to New Brunswick in the southern half of the Township, the limited access Trenton Freeway, and the combined road in the northern half that serves as a regional arterial linking the Interstates with New Brunswick and Route 18.

U.S. Route 206 (Lawrence Road) is the main artery within the township itself, running from Trenton to Princeton roughly north-to-south.

[137] It is a segment of the historic Lincoln Highway, and before that, it was part of the main New York-Philadelphia Post road in the decades after the Revolutionary War.

Originally, when drivers travelled along I-95 north while approaching the interchange for U.S. Route 1, the 95 designation abruptly ended and the highway turned southward and became Interstate 295.

[143] The busy Northeast Corridor rail line, carrying Amtrak and NJ Transit trains, runs along the eastern edge of the township.

From Lawrenceville, a trolley line to Princeton existed from 1900 to 1941, but was dismantled before World War II, and the right-of-way largely has reverted to neighboring landowners.

His widow converted it into Tournament Players Club at Jasna Polana golf course.