Bedminster is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 8,165,[8][9][10] reflecting a decline of 137 (-1.7%) from the 8,302 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 1,216 (+17.2%) from the 7,086 counted in the 1990 Census.[19]

Bedminster was settled in 1710 by Dutch, Germans, and Scots-Irish immigrants. It was named after Bedminster, then in Somerset, England and now a district of Bristol.[20][21] Bedminster Township was created by Royal charter on April 4, 1749, from portions of the Northern precinct. It was incorporated formally by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken on March 28, 1912, to form Peapack-Gladstone.[22]

Bedminster was the corporate headquarters of AT&T Corporation, prior to its merger with SBC Communications (the combined company is now known as AT&T Inc.).[23] AT&T's Global Network Operations Center, which monitors traffic worldwide on AT&T's network, is currently located in Bedminister.[24] It was also the corporate headquarters for Verizon Wireless before relocation to nearby Basking Ridge in 2006.

Bedminster Township is noted for having one of the most historic revolutionary war sites in the United States at what is known as the Pluckemin Continental Artillery Cantonment Site, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. General Henry Knox, chief of the Continental Army artillery, was the leader responsible for building what was the country's first military artillery training academy, the forerunner to the United States Military Academy at West Point.[25]

 

The Bedminster Township School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade at Bedminster Township Public School.[79] As of the 2014-15 school year, the district and its one school had an enrollment of 840 students and 56.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.9:1.[80]

Public school students in ninth through twelfth grades attend Bernards High School,[81] as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Somerset Hills Regional School District, a K - 12 district that also serves students from Bernardsville, Far Hills and Peapack-Gladstone.[82] As of the 2014-15 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 843 students and 64.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.1:1.[83]