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B−History
History · Audubon

Audubon’s post office opened in 1891, and 56% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #292 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1910.

1891first post office
0on the National Register
56%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
4famous people
From Audubon’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Audubon began

When was Audubon founded?

1891

The Audubon post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905.

First census: 1,343 in 19102020 census: 8,707135 years

How historic is Audubon?

B−

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Audubon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Audubon’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Audubon is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #292 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Audubon’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 52%
NewerOlder
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 38%

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 Audubon’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (12% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1905.

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 Audubon’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Audubon’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Audubon’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the map

Audubon on the map, 1891 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Audubon. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Audubon on the 1891 USGS mapAudubon on the 1920 USGS mapAudubon on the 1949 USGS mapAudubon on the 1967 USGS mapAudubon on the 1973 USGS mapAudubon on the 1984 USGS mapAudubon on the 1994 USGS map1891Philadelphia 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 Audubon.

The story

How Audubon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Audubon.

Read it all →

The area that was to become Audubon was initially settled in the late 17th Century by various land owners and was primarily used for farms and mills. In 1695 the land now known as the Borough of Audubon was part of Newton Township. By the early 1700s, the area's first families were building their homesteads. Today, two of these original farmhouses remain in Audubon. The Low-Stokes-Nicholson house was built c. 1732 by John Low. Simon Breach built his home, known locally as "The Mansion House", in about 1740. A large addition was built by shipbuilder John Dialogue in c. 1853. Samuel Nicholson Rhodes, a local naturalist and author, owned this farm, which he named "Cedarcroft", from 1898 to 1912. It was Mrs. Rhodes who came up with the name for the town. When the Atlantic City Railroad arrived in the 1880s the local farms were subdivided into the smaller communities of Audubon, Cedarcroft a…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Audubon, 1880 to 1994

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey (NJ) - Camden County - Audubon - ED 4-…
  3. 1891Post officeThe Audubon post office opens
  4. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1914Born hereG. Sieber Pancoast is born here
  7. 1920Born hereNelson Vogel Brittin is born here
  8. 1923Post officeThe Audubon post office closes
  9. 1950Born hereMerl Reagle is born here
  10. 1994Born hereTom Flacco is born here
By decade

Audubon, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

Every building

Audubon, building by building, 1915–1924

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.

Audubon fire insurance map, 1915, sheet 11915Sheet 1 of 12
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey (NJ) - Camden County - Audubon - ED 4-1 to 14
Retake this view1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey (NJ) - Camden County - Audubon - ED 4-1 to 14, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Audubon’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Audubon, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 10,802

Between 1,343 and 10,802 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Audubon’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Audubon

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Audubon had its own post office from 1891 to 1923.

Audubon
1891–1923
18901960today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Audubon’s history

What year was Audubon founded?

The Audubon post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

How does Audubon rank for history?

Audubon is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #292 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.

How old are the homes in Audubon?

56% of Audubon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1938.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (9), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.