Sussex County

Known for being one of the smallest counties in New Jersey, Sussex County has a total area of 70.59 sqm and a population of close to 145,000 residents, making it the 17th most populated county in New Jersey. Named for the historic English county Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey was established in 1753 after sections of Morris County were designated to create a new county.

Sussex County has been occupied for approximately 8,000-13,000 years by indigenous peoples, primarily the Munsee Indians, otherwise known as the Delaware Indians. The Munsee are connected to the Lenape people, who inhabited the mid-Atlantic coast along the Hudson and Delaware for thousands of years. During the late 15th century, Dutch and French colonists began to settle in Sussex County due to its proximity to an old Indian trail that later became the Old Mine Road route. In the mid-1750s, residents of the area would ask colonial authorities to form a new county due to the distance between residents and government and business establishments. Around this time, Walpack Township, Newton Township, Greenwich Township, and Hardwick township were created. Sussex County would later be formed from these four townships.

Today, Sussex County is known for being an industry and commerce county, primarily based on agriculture, milling, and iron mining. In the 1950s and 1960s, construction to improve the local highways caused rapid growth within Sussex county, triggering the local population to nearly quadruple by the early 1990s. While dairy farming within Sussex County has decreased in recent years, it still remains one of the area’s primary agricultural production locations. Since the 1980s, trucking has replaced railroads for the transportation of milk products. Other changes have included a switch from heavy industry and mining to optical equipment production, and today Thorlabs, Inc. is one of the largest employers within the county.

Since the creation of their AutoGas program, GasTec has been a proud supplier of propane services for trucking companies throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Within Sussex County, many freights of cross-country trucks choose propane as their first choice for affordable, clean, and reliable fuel. Sussex County has built a strong community from its industrial and agricultural sector, and GasTec has been honored to be a part of this history. From heating local Sussex County homes to powering agriculture and industry, GasTec will continue to aid the residents of Sussex by supplying residential propane and commercial propane services.