The road from Toms River to Seaside Heights was part of the Jersey Coast Way, which stretched from Cape May to the Staten Island Ferry. Prior to 1927, the route between present-day
Route 70 in
Lakehurst and present-day
CR 527 in
Toms River was a part of
Pre-1927 Route 18, which was legislated in 1923 to run from
Camden to Toms River. In the
1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 37 was legislated to run from
Route 27 and
Route 30 (now
Business US 1,
US 206, and
Route 31) in
Trenton to
Route 35 (now
Route 88) in
Point Pleasant, passing through
White Horse,
Allentown, Lakehurst, Toms River, and
Seaside Heights. The portion between Trenton and White Horse replaced part of
Pre-1927 Route 2, while the portion between Lakehurst and Toms River replaced part of Pre-1927 Route 18. Following the 1927 renumbering, Route 37 existed in multiple separate sections: one running from the Trenton–
Hamilton line to the
White Horse Circle (
concurrently with US 206), the crossing of Gropp Lake in Hamilton (currently a state-maintained section of
CR 524), a segment between Hamilton and
Upper Freehold west of
Allentown (also current CR 524), a section of current
CR 539 between Burlington Path Road in Upper Freehold and Hornerstown Road in
Plumsted Township, and one running from
Route 40 (now
Route 70) in Lakehurst to Point Pleasant. The remainder of the route between White Horse and Lakehurst remained incomplete. In the
1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 37 was legislated to run along its current alignment from Route 70 in Lakehurst to Route 35 in Seaside Heights. The number was dropped between Trenton and White Horse in favor of US 206, while the section between Seaside Heights and Point Pleasant became a realignment of Route 35. Route 37 was proposed in the late 1960s as a
freeway that was to run from
Route 29 in the
Trenton area to
Seaside Heights. It was suggested that this freeway be completed by 1975 in order to handle a rapid growth of population in Central New Jersey. In 1967, this proposal was altered to build a road that compromised with the proposed
Route 38 freeway between
Camden and
Wall Township. It soon received federal funding and was built as
I-195, running from Trenton to Wall Township. The portion of Route 37 within
Toms River was officially named Little League World Champions Boulevard in 1998 following
Toms River East Little League's victory in the
1998 Little League World Series. ==Major intersections==