The Belmar post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ocean Beach (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 902 in 19002020 census: 5,907137 years
How historic is Belmar?
B−
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Belmar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Belmar’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Belmar is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #330 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 Belmar’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 Belmar’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 (±5.5 points). 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 Belmar’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 Belmar. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Asbury Park 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 Belmar.
The story so far
Belmar, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Belmar yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Belmar is a borough located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 5,907, an increase of 113 (+2.0%) from the 2010 census count of 5,794, which in turn reflected a decline of 251 (−4.2%) from the 6,045 counted in the 2000 census. What is now Belmar was originally incorporated as Ocean Beach borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 9, 1885, from portions of Wall Township, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. On April 16, 1889, it became the City of Elcho borough, which lasted for a few weeks until the name was changed to the City of Belmar Borough on May …
Its first post office opened in 1889. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 5,794 in 2010, 5,907 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Belmar, 1874 to 1996
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Belmar post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Belmar rank for history?
Belmar is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #330 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 Belmar?
32% of Belmar’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1908
1917
2008
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