What was here before?
This land was once inhabited by the Matinecock, who sold the land to Dutch and English settlers in the 17th century. In 1645, William Lawrence (1622-1680) was granted 900 acres of land in what was known as Tew’s Neck, which he renamed Lawrence Neck. He built a vast estate on this site and served as a magistrate, sheriff, and justice. Lawrence’s descendants sold the land to Eliphalet Stratton (1745-1831) in 1790, and the region became known as Strattonport.
In 1837, Reverend William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877) established the short-lived St. Paul’s College in Strattonport, which gave the region its later name of College Point. The area developed rapidly after 1854 after industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen established a company town for the employees of his rubber factory.