Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Salem (New Jersey)

SALEM, a city of the United States, the county seat of Salem county, New Jersey, on a small stream of the same name, by which it has steam communication with Philadelphia (on the Delaware), 44 miles distant to the north-north-east by rail. While Salem depends mainly on the agricultural prosperity of the surrounding district, it also contains foundries and machine-shops, fruit-canning establishments, glass-ware factories, oil-cloth factories, &c. The population was 3052 in 1850, 4555 in 1870, and 5056 in 1880.

A colony settled on the site of Salem in 1641 was replaced by a Swedish fort, and this passed through the Dutch to the English. One of the Quakers who in 1673 bought Lord Berkeley's half of New Jersey gave the place its present name and restored the settlement, which in 1682 was declared a port of entry. In 1778 the town was plundered by Colonel Manhood.