East Brunswick

Edison

Helmetta

Metuchen

South Plainfield

South River

Spotswood

The 18th legislative district in central Middlesex County is extensively developed with a variety of industrial, commercial and residential complexes, including a number of large multi-family housing projects that contribute to its higher than average population density. Edison Township, with 97,687 residents in the 2000 U.S. Census, is the largest municipality, over twice the population of second-ranking East Brunswick at 46,756 residents. The district also is ranked second of the 40 legislative districts as a location for jobs.

Once part of Raritan Township, Edison derives its present name from Thomas Alva Edison; the municipality was the site of Edison's industrial research laboratory at Menlo Park established in 1876, where Edison invented over 400 patented items including the phonograph, the electric railway and the incandescent lamp. The small borough of Helmetta, with only 1,825 residents in the 2000 Census, also has one of the more interesting histories in New Jersey, with many of its buildings now on the state and national registers of historic places for their significance as a typical nineteenth century "factory town". The town was the site of the factory of the George W. Helme Company's General Cigar and Tobacco Company, which continued to operate making snuff and other tobacco products until 1993.