Red Bank

Red Bank, long part of Shrewsbury Township, one of Monmouth County’s three original townships, is believed to have been first used as a locality name in 1736, when Thomas Morford sold Joseph French "a lot of over three acres on the west side of the highway that goes to the red bank." Information on Red Bank’s early settlement is sparse. Its modern history generally begins c.1800 with Barnes Smock’s purchase of a tract bordering the Navesink River. He opened a tavern, the all-purpose building of its day, near the river, c.1809. ...Barber and Howes’ 1845 Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey... claimed that in 1830 Red Bank contained only two houses, including the tavern by the river, but by 1844 it contained seven stores, one hat manager, two wheelwrights, two lumber yards, two blacksmiths, two lime kilns, one sash and blind factory, a public meeting hall, an Episcopal church and sixty dwellings. The town’s principal commerce was New York City trade, with thirteen sloops and schooners and one steamboat on that route. ...Red Bank’s expansion was even more dramatic in the 1860s after the arrival of the Raritan and Delaware Bay railroad, a line later absorbed by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. 

Settled as part of "Shrewsbury Towne" in the late 1600’s, Red Bank was incorporated as a borough in 1908. By the early 1800’s it was a bustling river town. Sailing vessels at first and then steamboat packets brought in freight and visitors for all Monmouth County seashore resorts and took shellfish, farm produce and local manufacturies. With the coming of the railroad, commercial boating ended but pleasure boating and iceboating then became a serious pursuit. Annual speed boat regattas, ice boat races and sailing races mean Red Bank makes sporting history the year round