Linwood

With about 7,000 residents just nine miles west of Atlantic City, Linwood is primarily a
residential community with a median home price in the upper $200s. Encompassing an
area of about four square miles, the city is convenient to the Garden State Parkway with
Philadelphia about an hour’s drive west and New York City less than 2 ½ hours to the
north. With a low crime rate, quality schools and a population with a higher percentage of
college graduates than the national average, Linwood is considered an exceptional place
to raise children. In general, residents are engaged in white­-collar jobs and on average
earn a relatively healthy upper middle-­income wage. The city also has a fairly large
number of residents who are artists, designers or work in the media. A variety of housing
options are available with condos, townhomes and villas typically priced from the low
$100s to low $200s and single family homes ranging from the occasional handyman’s
special under $100K to more than $2 million.

The town traces its history back to the beginning of the nation and was influenced by both
a Quaker and Presbyterian presence during the 1700s. Records of Quaker meetings in
the township date to 1702. During the 1800s, the influence of the Quakers waned as
Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans and Roman Catholics began to move into the
area that was then known as Leedsville. While the community was removed from the
main stages of the Revolutionary War, local citizens did form two militia battalions tasked
with guarding the coast from invasion. Fishing and harvests of clams, oysters and other
seafood to be marketed in Philadelphia and New York was an early economic engine for
the region. In the 19th Century, it became a center for shipbuilding and an 1872 map of
Atlantic County lists Leedsville as the home of a large number of ship captains. In 1800,
Leedsville’s was no more with the U.S. Post Office asking residents to change the town’s
name since a second Leedsville also existed in the state. Residents chose the name of
Linwood.