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Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, US

Lawrence Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U. S. state of New Jersey. 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, while also directly bordering the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. 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. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 33,077,

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. A meetinghouse was erected on the site of the present Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville in the early 1700s. A record from 1709 indicates that it was used both for a meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia and for a session of the Hunterdon County Court. The present structure was built in 1764. The township became part of the newly created Hunterdon County on March 11, 1714. Maidenhead Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. In 1810, the seventh minister of the church, Isaac V. Brown, began the Maidenhead Academy to prepare young men for college. This school is now the Lawrenceville School. On January 24, 1816, the municipality was renamed Lawrence Township, in honor of Captain James Lawrence—commander of the frigate 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". Lawrence Township became part of Mercer County at its creation on February 22, 1838. Portions of the township were taken to form Millham Township on February 10, 1882, which was annexed six years later by Trenton. Violent crime in Lawrence Township is notably rare. A fatal shooting at an Applebee's restaurant on November 14, 2017, was the first murder in the township in 16 years.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 21.98 square miles (56.94 km2), including 21.73 square miles (56.27 km2) of land and 0.26 square miles (0.67 km2) of water (1.17%).) is a census designated place and unincorporated community located within Lawrence Township. Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include: Bakersville, Clarksville, Colonial Lakelands, Coxs Corner, Eldridge Park, Franklin Corner, Harneys Corner, Lawrence Station, Lewisville, Louisville, Port Mercer, Princessville, Quaker Bridge, Rosedale, Slackwood and Sturwood Hamlet. Many area residents often refer to all of Lawrence Township as Lawrenceville, as a significant majority of township residents use a Lawrenceville mailing address as specified by the United States Postal Service, while other residents have mailing addresses in either Princeton or Trenton. The township was notified by the Postal Service in 2007 that the preferred designation for the ZIP code 08648 would be changed to "Lawrence Township". The township borders the Mercer County municipalities of Ewing Township, Hamilton Township, Hopewell Township, Princeton, Trenton and West Windsor.

Lawrence Township operates within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Council Manager form of municipal government, which was implemented in 1970. The township is one of 42 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is composed of five Council Members who are elected at large in partisan elections to serve four year terms on a staggered basis, with either two or three seats coming up for election in odd numbered years as part of the November general election. 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. as of 2023, members of the Lawrence Township Council are Mayor John T. Ryan (D, term on committee and as mayor ends December 31, 2023), Chris Bobbitt (D, 2025), James S. Kownacki (D, 2025), Catherin MacDuff (D, 2023; appointed to serve an unexpired term) and Michael S. Powers (D, 2023). 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. 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. In the November 2015 general election, Democrat Chris Bobbitt was elected to serve the balance of the term.

Lawrence Township is located in the 3rd Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 15th state legislative district. New Jersey Lottery is headquartered in the One Lawrence Park Complex in Lawrence Township.