Because Staten Island, Elizabethtown and Perth Amboy were points of entry for the British during the American Revolution, Rahway saw its share of action.  Presbyterians tended to be ardent revolutionaries, and the Reverend Aaron Richards fled to South Hanover to escape imprisonment by the British.  Abraham Clark, who lived on a farm north of Rahway, was a delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Like Richards, Clark was harassed by the British during the war. He lived to see independence from Britain and helped to establish the new national government.  Clark died in 1794 while watching bridge construction in Rahway, and was buried in the Presbyterian cemetery. 

Throughout the war, troops traversed Rahway, which was the scene of several skirmishes.  In January 1777, the Battle of Spanktown was fought on St. Georges Avenue in the vicinity of Robinson’s Branch and the North Branch of the Rahway River.  The battle lasted twelve hours with the rebels getting the best of the British, who lost almost one hundred men.  The British invaded Rahway again in March, killing a few rebels and taking fifteen prisoners.  During the war, a young New York City merchant and known rebel, William Irving, moved to Rahway with his wife Sarah to avoid imprisonment by the British.  In 1783, two years after they moved back to New York, Mrs. Irving gave birth to their son, Washington Irving, who was to become one of America’s most renowned authors.  

With the defeat of Britain, the individual states began to mint their own currency. In New Jersey, the General Assembly authorized Walter Mould, Thomas Goadsby and Albion Cox to coin copper pennies.  They chose Daniel Marsh’s mill as the location for the first state mint.  It was a likely choice, for Marsh, who represented the county in the Assembly, introduced the bill establishing the mint.  Due to financial troubles, however, the mint folded in less than a year.  The Rahway coin, featuring the head of a horse and a plow on one side, was the first coin of the new nation to feature the inscription E Pluribus Unum. A United States Post Office established in Rahway was one of only six in the entire state in 1791. 

Indeed, Rahway must have prospered following the war, for in 1794 a French traveler recorded the following in his diary:  

The winding layout of Rahway gives it an outstanding appearance.  It is rich in charming situations, with pretty and diversified gardens and small clean houses that have the double character of town and country houses. There are fruit trees of all kinds; and the elegance of the women corresponds to the light caleches they drive.  Everything about the place made us regret leaving, and impressed us unforgettably. 

In the 18^th century, Rahway was part of Westfield Township; however, in 1804, Rahway broke away from Westfield.  A town meeting was held at John and Catherine Anderson’s tavern, now known as the Merchants and Drovers Tavern, and the result was the creation of Rahway Township. Throughout the first half of the 19^th century, the tavern hosted the township committee meetings, and general elections were held at the tavern well into the 1840s.   

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