PERTH AMBOY, am-hoi' or fim'boi. A city and port of entry in Middlesex County, N. J., 15 miles south of Newark; on Raritan Bay, at the mouth of the Raritan River, and on the Lehigh Valley, the Central of New Jersey, the Pennsyl vania, and the Staten Island Rapid Transit rail roads (Map: New Jersey, D 2). It has a fine harbor, with transportation facilities by water, and controls important shipping interests, par ticularly in coal. The manufactures, which are extensive, include terra cotta, bricks, chemicals, oil, cork, copper. iron, steel, and lumber, the first two named being developed from the valu able deposits of fire clay found in the vicinity. There are also two large smelting and refining plants and important shipbuilding interests. The city hall park and the bridge of the New Jersey Central Railroad are among the features of Perth Amboy. The government is administered, under a charter of 1871, by a mayor, elected every two years, and a council which has powers of election and confirmation in important administrative of fices. The water-works are owned and operated
by the municipality, Population, in 1890, 9512; in 1900, 17,699.
Perth Amboy was settled in 1683, and was ex pected soon to outstrip its neighbors and become 'the London of America.' It was named Perth, after James, Earl of Perth, but Amboy,' the original Indian name for the place, was soon added. It was the capital of the province from 1684 almost continuously up to the time of the Revolution. William Franklin, the last royal Governor, was captured here in 1776. Perth Amboy was incorporated as a city in 1784. Con sult Whitehead, Contributions to the Early His tory of Perth, Amboy (New York, 1856).