Roselle was incorporated on December 20, 1894, at the height of the Boroughitis phenomenon sweeping through New Jersey at the time, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier, from portions of Linden.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 240. Accessed July 29, 2012. Roselle's name is derived from the Roselle Land Improvement Company, which was created in 1866 to lay out a community around the Mulford Station on the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The name "Roselle" is said to have been based on the company's founder, John Conklin RoseA Brief History of Roselle, Borough of Roselle. Accessed September 25, 2015. "By 1866, a Mr. John Conklin Rose took advantage of his connections with the railroad, (which was by then known as the Central Railroad of New Jersey) and with the cooperation of several landowners in this area established the Roselle Land Improvement Company. They laid out 'The Village of Roselle' on an area that the railroad had called Mulford Station, a stop on the road named for the many Mulford families who lived here." or from John Pierre Roselle, a friend of the railroad's president.The History of Roselle Park, New Jersey, Borough of Roselle Park. Accessed September 25, 2015. "In 1839, the first railroad began regular routes from Elizabethtown to Plainfield, and soon a stop at Mulford Station, named in honor of a prominent family, was scheduled, where Union Road crossed the tracks to Roselle. The stop was moved to Chestnut street about 30 years later and named Roselle in honor of the railroad president's good friend, John Pierre Roselle."
