The six federally financed public emergency junior colleges in New Jersey, part of the temporary relief program of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the Great Depression, all ceased operations as public junior colleges after only a few years in existence. Yet their study is of import for many reasons: (1) Monmouth University and Union County Community College originated from these junior colleges; (2) Returning World War II veterans obtained a liberal arts education at Paterson's New Jersey State Normal School due to the absorption of Passaic County Junior College into the normal school in 1936; and (3) Their origin provides insight into both the development of junior colleges and the nature of the federal role. To gain some understanding of these matters, this article shares the story of old New Jersey, including prior attempts to create junior colleges.