[19] Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the south and the Raritan Valley region to the north in the center of the state, the borough was established as Jersey Homesteads by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 29, 1937, from portions of Millstone Township.

[24] The project fell under the discretion of the Resettlement Administration, but was conceived and largely planned out by Benjamin Brown.

[27] Objectives of the community were to help residents escape poverty, to show that cooperative management can work, and as an experiment in government intervention.

Artist Ben Shahn lived in the town and painted a fresco mural viewable in the current Roosevelt Public School.

The three panels show the history of the Jersey Homesteads, starting with the eastern European origins of its Jewish residents, their passage through Ellis Island and making plans for the community in Roosevelt.

One of the main reasons for its failure is because of delays in housing construction and resulted of shortage in workers in the garment factory.

Although the clothing store failed with the factory, the borough's cooperative grocery and meat market endured into the 1940s.

According to town expert Michael Hiltzik another reason it failed is "It was very, very expensive, and the agricultural progress that New Dealers thought they'd make, and certainly the industrial gains they thought they would see, never really materialized" [30][31][32][33] Roosevelt is a historic landmark and is the subject of the 1983 documentary, Roosevelt, New Jersey: Visions of Utopia.

[43][44] As of 2025[update], the mayor of Roosevelt is Democrat Peggy Malkin, whose term of office ends December 31, 2027.

[3] The members of the Roosevelt Borough Council are Council President Joseph E. Trammell (D, 2026), Robert Atwood (D, 2024), Louis Esakoff (D, 2026), Danelle Feigenbaum (D, 2025; appointed to serve an unexpired term), Constance Herrstrom (D, 2025), Kristine Kaufman-Marut (D, 2027) and Ralph Warnick (D, 2027).

[45][46][47][48][49] In June 2021, the borough council selected Constance Herrstrom from a list of three candidates nominated by the Democratic municipal committee to fill the seat expiring in December 2022 that had been held by Luke D. Dermody until he resigned from office.

[51] In August 2017, Mayor Jeff Ellentuck (whose term was to expire in December 2019), Council President Stacey Bonna (in 2017) and Councilwoman Jill Lipoti (2018) all resigned, citing conflicts between factions of the Democratic Party in the borough.

As in all such cases where there is an insufficient number of elected officials, Governor Chris Christie will have 30 days to appoint replacements to fill the vacancies.

[55] As specified by state law in such circumstances, Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie selected registered Democrats Robin Middleman Filepp, Nicholas Murray and Maureen S. Parrott to fill the vacant seats, from applications submitted by borough residents.

[57] In February 2015, the borough council selected Jill Lipoti to fill the vacant seat expiring in December 2017 of Michelle Hermelee, who had resigned earlier that month due to work demands.

Voters chose Beth Battel, then the borough council's president, to replace Marko as mayor.

While supporters of the yeshiva, including Mayor Marko, described the opposition as "thinly veiled prejudice", a local historian described the recall as reflecting "not so much anti-Semitism as anti-Orthodox feelings".

[62][63][64] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 3rd congressional district is currently represented Herb Conaway (D, Delran Township).

Meyner's 1957 campaign which garnered 93.52% being the largest total won by any gubernatorial candidate in Roosevelt since the borough's incorporation.

In that election, Roosevelt was one of only three municipalities (along with Audubon Park, and Chesilhurst) in the entire state of New Jersey that supported Peter Shapiro.

[131] From 2005 to 2010, a Jewish secondary and post-secondary religious school, Yeshiva Me'on Hatorah, was located in a local synagogue, Congregation Anshei Roosevelt.

Due to unresolvable zoning issues for its dormitory and dining facilities, and local opposition to its presence, the yeshiva relocated to Monsey, New York, after the yeshiva brought and lost several actions against the borough and certain individual borough officials in state and Federal courts.