[21] The township, and all of Burlington County, is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.

The township was renamed Mount Holly as of November 6, 1931, based on the results of a referendum held three days earlier.

[26][27][28] Mount Holly gives its name to the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office for the Philadelphia metropolitan area, serving most of New Jersey, Southeastern Pennsylvania, all of Delaware and Eastern Maryland, though the office is actually located in adjacent Westampton.

[29][30] The first European settlement in what is now Mount Holly began in 1677 when Walter Reeves acquired land from the Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans living in the area.

He constructed a dam on Rancocas Creek to channel water through a raceway to power a gristmill and sawmill.

On December 17, 1776, Colonel Samuel Griffin of the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River with 600 men, mostly untrained men and boys with little equipment, who marched to Mount Holly where they set up a few 3-pounder artillery pieces on Iron Works Hill.

[34] After George Washington crossed the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, the fact that thousands of Hessian troops had been drawn to Mount Holly aided in the Continental Army's success in the Battle of Trenton the next day, a surprising American victory that helped turn the Army's fading morale after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington just weeks before and the ignominious retreat through New Jersey.

[36][37][page needed] Several important municipal buildings were constructed, including the courthouse in 1796 and the county prison built c. 1819.

In 1849, the Burlington and Mount Holly Railroad was established, connecting communities along the Delaware River to Philadelphia, the major city of the area.

The Camden and Mount Holly Railroad constructed a station 20 years later near the intersection of Washington and King streets.

New municipal buildings were constructed during the 20th century, including the Town Hall on Washington Street (1930) and the U.S. Post Office (1935) located across the street (1935), both federally funded and constructed as Works Progress Administration projects under President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

In the late 1950s, Mount Holly began to have economic difficulties due to industrial restructuring and the loss of working-class jobs.

In the post-World War II period, numerous blue collar, family wage jobs disappeared as the community's traditional employers, the mills and dye factories, were shut down.

By 1980, however, the vacancy rate had climbed to 8.7% as a result of the nearby military installations' downsizing after the end of the Vietnam War.

During this same period, 1970–1980, shopping malls proliferated in the suburban Philadelphia area, and retail business in Mount Holly suffered.

The Burlington County Courthouse was designed by architect Samuel Lewis and constructed by Michael Rush in 1796.

[citation needed] The 2010 United States census counted 9,536 people, 3,456 households, and 2,264 families in the township.

Mount Holly was selected in 1994 as one of a group of 10 zones added to participate in the program and one of four of those chosen based on a competition.

[77][78][79] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 3rd congressional district is currently represented Herb Conaway (D, Delran Township).

[82] Burlington County is governed by a Board of County Commissioners composed of five members who are chosen at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year; at an annual reorganization meeting, the board selects a director and deputy director from among its members to serve a one-year term.

[105] Among the township's 2010 Census population, 55.1% (vs. 61.7% in Burlington County) were registered to vote, including 72.0% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 80.3% countywide).

[113] For pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, students attend the Mount Holly Township Public Schools.

[127][128] Students from Mount Holly, and from all of Burlington County, are eligible to attend the Burlington County Institute of Technology, a countywide public school district that serves the vocational and technical education needs of students at the high school and post-secondary level at its campuses in Medford and Westampton.

[132] The only state highway serving Mount Holly is Route 38, which crosses from west to east at the township's southern end.

[135][136] The pop punk band The High Court from the township released the 2007 album Puppet Strings.