The earliest colonial settlers concentrated around the White Horse Tavern in the 1740s, around which the small village of White Horse emerged.[26] The only remaining building of this early village is the Stratford Quaker Store.
In the 1880s, the Rural Land Improvement Company began developing the area known as "Old Stratford" and renamed the village after Stratford-upon-Avon, England.[27][28]
The Borough of Stratford was officially formed on February 13, 1925, from portions of Clementon Township, one of seven municipalities carved from the township.[29]
In the 1960s, Hunt's farm was sold to developers and the Laurel Mill Farms housing development was formed adjacent to the North Branch of Big Timber Creek.[26]
Of the 2,641 households, 31.1% had children under the age of 18; 51.8% were married couples living together; 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present and 31.0% were non-families. Of all households, 25.6% were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.19.[19]
23.3% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.1 years. For every 100 females, the population had 95.8 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 92.9 males.[19]
The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $64,297 (with a margin of error of +/− $6,575) and the median family income was $86,375 (+/− $11,140). Males had a median income of $63,879 (+/− $4,823) versus $40,243 (+/− $1,924) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $32,383 (+/− $3,556). About 4.3% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.[35]
As of the 2000 U.S. census,[16] there were 7,271 people, 2,736 households, and 1,906 families residing in the borough. The population density was 4,603.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,777.5/km2). There were 2,849 housing units at an average density of 1,803.9 per square mile (696.5/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 88.56% White, 6.60% African American, 0.12% Native American, 2.38% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.87% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.81% of the population.[33][34]
There were 2,736 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.3% were non-families. 25.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.18.[33][34]
In the borough, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males.[33][34]
The median income for a household in the borough was $50,977, and the median income for a family was $57,500. Males had a median income of $42,246 versus $29,153 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $21,748. About 2.5% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.[33][34]
Stratford is governed under the borough form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey.[36] The governing body is comprised of a mayor and a borough council, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The borough council includes six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle.[6] The borough form of government used by Stratford is a "weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.[37][38]
As of 2023[update], the mayor of Stratford is Democrat Josh Keenan, whose term of office ends December 31, 2023.[3] Members of the Stratford Borough Council are Council President Stephen C. Gandy (D, 2024), Patrick Gilligan (D, 2023), Linda Hall (D, 2025), James Kelly (D, 2024), Tina Lomanno (D, 2025) and Michael G. Tolomeo (D, 2023).[39][40][41][42][43][44]
Camden County is governed by a Board of County Commissioners composed of seven members chosen at-large in partisan elections for three-year terms on a staggered basis by the residents of the county, with either two or three seats up for election each year as part of the November general election. At a reorganization meeting held in January after each election, the newly constituted Board of Commissioners selects one member to serve as Director and another as Deputy Director, each serving a one-year term in that role.[55] As of 2024[update], Camden County's Commissioners are:
Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. (D, Collingswood, 2026),[56]
Commissioner Deputy Director Edward T. McDonnell (D, Pennsauken Township, 2025),[57]
Virginia Ruiz Betteridge (D, Runnemede, 2025),[58]
Almar Dyer (D, Pennsauken Township, 2024),[59]
Melinda Kane (D, Cherry Hill, 2024),[60]
Jeffrey L. Nash (D, Winslow Township, 2024),[61] and
Jonathan L. Young Sr. (D, Berlin Township, 2026).[62][55][63][64][65]
As of March 2011, there were a total of 4,606 registered voters in Stratford, of which 1,743 (37.8%) were registered as Democrats, 849 (18.4%) were registered as Republicans and 2,013 (43.7%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There was one voter registered to another party.[73]
In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 59.0% of the vote (1,911 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 39.6% (1,282 votes), and other candidates with 1.5% (48 votes), among the 3,271 ballots cast by the borough's 4,925 registered voters (30 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 66.4%.[74][75] In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 56.8% of the vote (2,006 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain, who received around 39.9% (1,409 votes), with 3,534 ballots cast among the borough's 4,639 registered voters, for a turnout of 76.2%.[76] In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 54.0% of the vote (1,886 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush, who received around 44.3% (1,547 votes), with 3,492 ballots cast among the borough's 4,629 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 75.4.[77]
In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 67.0% of the vote (1,340 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 31.4% (628 votes), and other candidates with 1.6% (32 votes), among the 2,056 ballots cast by the borough's 4,945 registered voters (56 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 41.6%.[78][79] In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 45.9% of the vote (1,005 ballots cast), ahead of both Democrat Jon Corzine with 45.1% (988 votes) and Independent Chris Daggett with 5.3% (116 votes), with 2,191 ballots cast among the borough's 4,630 registered voters, yielding a 47.3% turnout.[80]
The Stratford School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Students from Hi-Nella attend the district for Pre-K–8 as part of a sending/receiving relationship, under a five-year transition that started in 2012–13, bringing in an additional 100 students to the district.[81] Students from Laurel Springs also attend the district's schools for grades 7 and 8 as part of a sending/receiving relationship.[82] As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of two schools, had an enrollment of 901 students and 78.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.6:1.[83] Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[84]) are
Parkview Elementary School[85] with 384 students in pre-kindergarten through third grade and
Samuel S. Yellin Elementary School[86] with 507 students in grades 4 through 8.[87][88]
For ninth grade through twelfth grade, public school students attend Sterling High School, a regional high school district that also serves students from Magnolia and Somerdale, along with the sending districts of Hi-Nella and Laurel Springs.[89][90] The high school is located in Somerdale. As of the 2022–23 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 894 students and 70.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1.[91]
John Paul II Regional School is an elementary school that operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden, having opened for the 2008–09 school year as the result of the consolidation of Our Lady of Grace, St. Luke and St. Lawrence by the Camden diocese.[92][93]
Rutgers University's Biomedical and Health Sciences school has a campus in Stratford.[95]
Stratford Classical Christian Academy, which occupied the site of the former Stratford Military Academy, served students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade until 2015, when it closed.[96]
As of May 2010[update], the borough had a total of 26.09 miles (41.99 km) of roadways, of which 21.77 miles (35.04 km) were maintained by the municipality, 3.21 miles (5.17 km) by Camden County and 1.11 miles (1.79 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.[97]
U.S. Route 30 (White Horse Pike) runs from Laurel Springs in the borough's southeast corner and heads towards the northern tip of the borough along the border between Stratford to the southwest and Somerdale to the northeast before heading into Somerdale.[98][99]
^Home page, Borough of Stratford. Accessed October 12, 2012. "The Borough is bordered by the Borough of Hi-Nella on the north and Gloucester Township on the north and east, the Borough of Somerdale and the Borough of Lindenwold is to the west, and the Borough of Laurel Springs and the Borough of Lindenwold to the south."
^Index-analysis of the Statutes of New Jersey, Borough of Stratford. Accessed October 10, 2015. "In 1888 or 1889, Charles S. King saw the possibility of creating a pleasant and ideal He, along with Zimmerman, Twitchell, Smith and Rogers, formed the Rural Land Improvement Company. The development was roughly triangular in shape. The name they chose for this new community was Stratford--after Stratford-on-Avon in England."
^Council Members, Borough of Stratford. Accessed June 8, 2023. "The Borough of Stratford is governed under a Mayor-Council form of government. The Council consists of six (6) members elected at large for three year terms. The Mayor is elected to a four year term."
^Full Biography, Congressman Donald Norcross. Accessed January 3, 2019. "Donald and his wife Andrea live in Camden City and are the proud parents of three grown children and grandparents of two."
^Borough of Stratford School District Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2016, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed February 5, 2017. "The addition of Hi-Nella students through a five-year phase-in send/receive agreement that began with the 2012-13 school year will increase total enrollment, at the end of the five years, by 100 students.... In addition, the School District provides educational services for students received on a tuition basis in grades 7 and 8 from the Laurel Springs School District and in grades Pre-K through 8 from the Hi-Nella School District."
^Sterling High School 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed June 2, 2016. "Sterling High School District is a regional district serving Hi Nella, Laurel Springs, Magnolia, Somerdale and Stratford. Sterling is a suburban residential community, approximately 7 miles southeast of Camden, NJ and part of the Philadelphia, PA metropolitan area."
^Annual Comprehensive Financial Report For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2011, Sterling High School District. Accessed December 8, 2014. "The purpose of the School District is to provide educational services for resident students in grades 9 through 12 that reside in the Borough's of Magnolia, Somerdale and Stratford. In addition, the School District provides educational services for students in grades 9 through 12 received, on a tuition basis, from the Laurel Springs School District and the Hi-Nella School District."
^Schools, South Jersey Catholic Schools. Accessed February 20, 2023.
^About Us, John Paul II Regional School, Accessed February 20, 2023. "Beginning its ninth year, St. John Paul II Regional is a premier Catholic school serving students from Preschool Three to Eighth Grade. What was originally the product of three merged schools prior to 2008 (Our Lady of Grace, St. Luke and St. Lawrence), is now widely regarded and accepted as a community resource for academic excellence, high school preparedness and well-rounded young men and women that truly live the Christian values they are taught."
^Fast Facts, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Accessed July 1, 2013.
^"Stratford's History", Stratford Times, Fall 2017. Accessed November 17, 2023. "The Academy closed about 1974 and the buildings were abandoned until the early 80's, when the property was purchased by the YWCA. After the YWCA left in 2006, the Stratford Classical Christian Academy purchased the property and held classes from Preschool to 12th grade until it closed in 2015."
^D'Alessandro, Dave. "D'Alessandro: Tamika Catchings becomes WNBA star by overcoming adversity", The Star-Ledger, September 17, 2011. Accessed November 6, 2013. "She didn't remember her first home — the tiny Jersey town of Stratford, outside Camden — but she was smart enough to know that this was home for as long as her parents said it was going to be, and that was that."
^Mike Daniels, Green Bay Packers. Accessed November 17, 2014. "Given name Michael Wayne Daniels Jr. …Born in Stratford, N.J."
^"Getting a Grip", The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 12, 1983. Accessed September 22, 2019. "'We have a lot of Penn State players going Ito the Stars, and it would be nice to play close to home,' said Kelley, whose family lives in Stratford, N.J."
^Staff. "Philly Birthday Girl: Kelly Ripa", The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 26, 2011. Accessed November 6, 2013. "We already know there's nothing she can't do - host, mother, act, dance, sing (kinda), toss food miraculously into the right spots in her Electrolux kitchen - so we're hoping Stratford, N.J.-native and Eastern High School grad Kelly Ripa takes a breather on her birthday off-air on Sunday."