Princeton’s Historic Sites and People Princeton, New Jersey is
one of the country's most historic communities. Settled in the
late 17th century, Princeton produced two signers of the
Declaration of Independence and was the site of one of the
Revolutionary War's crucial battles. It served briefly as the
nation's capital when the Continental Congress met at the
College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1783. A center
for learning and culture since the colonial period, it has been
home to world-renowned scholars, scientists, writers, and
statesmen. George Washington walked its streets and three other
United States Presidents, James Madison, Woodrow Wilson, and
Grover Cleveland, lived in Princeton. Thomas Mann, T. S. Eliot,
and F. Scott Fitzgerald all wrote in Princeton. Actor Paul
Robeson spent his childhood here; his father, William Drew
Robeson, was pastor of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian
Church in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood. World-renowned
scientists Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheime