The Township of Galloway was created by Royal Patent of King George III of England on April 4, 1774. At that time it was part of Old Gloucester County, and comprised what is now Hammonton, Mullica Township, Egg Harbor City, Port Republic, Brigantine, Atlantic City, and the northern portion of Absecon. Galloway Township was incorporated by the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798.
Historians are uncertain of the source of Galloway Township’s name. One theory is that is was named after an area known as Mull of Galloway in the region of Dumfries and Galloway in southern Scotland. An alternative derivation is that the Township was named for Joseph Galloway, a Loyalist delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774, who was opposed to independence of the Thirteen colonies.