Bloomfield Township dates to 1812, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #33 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 181 buildings. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1820.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1816.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bloomfield Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bloomfield Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #33 of 468 in New Jersey. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bloomfield Township’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 Bloomfield Township’s 34.9 sits above most of its state (78% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 188 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1812.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Bloomfield Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Bloomfield Township, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1830 and 1840, then grew more than tenfold.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bloomfield Township’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Bloomfield Township on the map, 1888 to 1995
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bloomfield Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Paterson 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 Bloomfield Township.
The earliest settlers of the area were the Lenape Native Americans. The initial patent for European settlement of the land that would become Bloomfield Township was granted to the English Puritan colonists of Newark, and the area assigned to Essex County in 1675, and Newark Township in 1693. From the 1690s to about the 1720s, much of the northern and eastern land was sold to descendants of New Netherland colonists who had settled Acquackanonk, and the remainder mostly to English families. Speertown (now Upper Montclair), Stone House Plains (now Brookdale), and Second River (now Belleville and Nutley) were essentially Dutch and Jersey Dutch-speaking, while Cranetown, Watsessing, and the Morris Neighborhood (now North Center) were predominantly English. Starting in the mid-18th century, the English and Dutch neighborhoods gradually integrated, with Thomas Cadmus being among the first Dutc…
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.
In 1812, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bloomfield Township’s post office opened in 1816, and the census of 1820 counted 3,085 people here.
How does Bloomfield Township rank for history?
Bloomfield Township is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #33 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 Bloomfield Township?
5 listings: 4 buildings and 1 historic district, the Bloomfield Green Historic District, with 181 contributing buildings. 188 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Bloomfield Township?
38% of Bloomfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1950.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (8), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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) 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.
1907
c. 1908
1911
1912
1917
1919
1940
1940
c. 1942
1942
1942
1942
2005