Atlantic City’s post office opened in 1854, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #164 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Atlantic City Convention Hall, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 9 buildings. Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Atlantic City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Atlantic City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Atlantic City is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #164 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Atlantic City’s overall grade.
New Jersey towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Jersey town has 3.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Atlantic City’s 5.7 sits near the middle of its state (60% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 22 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Atlantic City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Atlantic City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1887Atlantic City sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Atlantic City.
Prior to Atlantic City's founding, the region served as a summer home for the Lenape, a Native American tribe. While the date of European settlement in present-day Atlantic City is not precisely determined, it is commonly thought that it was in 1783, when Jeremiah Leeds built and occupied a year-round home there.
In 1850, present-day Atlantic City was developed into a resort town. Three years later, in early 1853, it was named Atlantic City.
Passages that mention Atlantic City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Atlantic City, New Jersey1884 · page 142Read the page →
Read the text
and report to Council. This committe made a report, declaring the track a public nuisance, and an ordinance to that effect was passed immediately. The closing section of the ordinance reads : Be it ordained by the City Council of Atlantic City in council assembled. That all the railroad tracks in and upon Atlantic avenue, between Indiana and Arkansas avenues, and within the corporate limits of the city of Atlantic City, be and are hereby declared an obstruction to the public use of said street and highway, and adjudged
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
' Such punctuation as that,' continued the Comptroller, ' would be discreditable to the lowest grade of our Atlantic City public schools. -When I showed it to a gentleman the other day, he said it reflected the intelligence of the men who once governed Atlantic City, but it is difficult to believe that the voters of Atlantic City ever elected to office a man so utterly ignorant of the first principles of punctuation. No matter who is at fault in the punctuation, the important fact is that every official document issued by the city of Atlantic City is an advertisement of somebody's ignorance. The city ought to have a new seal at once, and fn the center should be the coat of arms. Around this coat of arms should be encircled the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Daily union history of Atlantic City and County, New Jersey1900 · page 323Read the page →
Read the text
The Democrat was first printed at Absecon, in 1861. The Times was first published by Gen. Joseph Barbiere, at Hanimonton, in 1877, till it was brought to Atlantic City in the interest of the XSrrow Gauge railroad the following year, and purchased by the present owner in August, 1879. The Star originated in Mays Landing, and the Gazette in Egg Harbor City, finally reaching their present hyphenated group in Atlantic City, forming the leading weekly newspaper of Atlantic County. The paper is conducted chiefly by Mr. Ernest Beyer, and owned by the Daily Union Printing Company, of which John F. Hall is manager and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Atlantic City, New Jersey1884 · page 197Read the page →
Read the text
"During the entire year ending June 30th, 1879, the amount of rainfall in New York was 43.68 inches, as against only 40.6 inches at Atlantic City. Taking a series of years, the rainfall in New York City is found to average only a little more than at Atlantic City, though greatly less than at most seaside stations. For instance, during the two years ended June 30th, 1879, there were 135.02 inches of rainfall at Wilmington, N. C, 108.04 inches at Newport, R. I., 103.73 incbes
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Atlantic City, 1854 to 1987
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Atlantic City post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Atlantic City rank for history?
Atlantic City is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #164 of 468 in New Jersey. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Atlantic City?
14 listings: 11 buildings, among them the Atlantic City Convention Hall (a National Historic Landmark since 1987), 1 historic district, the Northside Institutional Historic District, with 9 contributing buildings, 1 structure, and 1 object. 22 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Atlantic City?
29% of Atlantic City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1963.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the National Register of Historic Places (14), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
