Plumber in West Long Branch, NJ, Monmouth County,

Prior to being called West Long Branch, the area had been called Mechanicsville from the 18th century through the Civil War, and then Branchburg in the 1870s. The name West Long Branch appears in the 1889 Wolverton Atlas of Monmouth County, and seems to have derived its name from its proximity to a section of the Shrewsbury River.

In 1908, the residents of what was the West Long Branch section of Eatontown thought that they were not getting a fair return on their taxes. A request was made that the West Long Branch section be separated from Eatontown. The Township of Eatontown strongly resisted as there were several large estates in the West Long Branch section that were a source of considerable tax revenues. An act of the New Jersey Legislature was passed on April 7, 1908, and the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders authorized an election. On May 5, 1908, a referendum was held in West Long Branch, with voters approving the separation. The borough takes its name from Long Branch, which in turn takes its name from the “long branch” or south branch of the Shrewsbury River.