Alcohol Treatment Center in Hammonton, NJ.

Little is known about the area of Hammonton before European contact. Archaeological findings, including stone tools that presumably dating back to the Woodland period, suggest some form of prehistoric habitation, though further details remain unclear. At the time of European contact, the general area was inhabited by the Unalachtigo Lenape.

As European settlement continued, the Lenape in the area declined due to disease, loss of land to Europeans, and emigration elsewhere. The West Jersey Society was granted rights over a large tract of land in the English Province of New Jersey to parcel out in 1748, including the territory of future Hammonton. The Society sold a parcel of what would become Hammonton in 1805, with the territory passing through several hands.

In 1812, William Coffin and his family migrated to the region, constructing a home and managing a sawmill for John R. Coates. Coffin purchased the land and the mill in 1814. The mill was located adjacent to Hammonton Lake and extended towards the north and east of the current town, not within the present-day downtown. Originally named “Hammondton” after Coffin’s son, John Hammond Coffin, later administrations dropped the “d”, resulting in the present name Hammonton.