From Cape May Point’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Cape May Point began
When was Cape May Point founded?
1878
The Cape May Point post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Sea Grove (1876), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 198 in 18802020 census: 305148 years
Founding year: the first Cape May Point post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Cape May Point’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1930, then more than doubled.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cape May Point’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Cape May Point on the map, 1888 to 1995
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cape May Point. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Cape May 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 Cape May Point.
Cape May Point was known as Stites Beach until 1876 when the name was changed to Seagrove. It was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 19, 1878, from portions of Lower Township, following the results of a referendum held three days earlier. It was reincorporated on August 19, 1891 and then returned to Lower Township on April 8, 1896. Cape May Point re-emerged as an independent municipality on April 6, 1908, based on the results of a referendum held on April 21, 1908. The borough's name derives from Cape May, which was named for the 17th-century Dutch captain Cornelius Jacobsen May who explored and charted the area between 1611 and 1614, and established a claim for the province of New Netherland.
Passages that mention Cape May Point, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Cape May County, New Jersey1897 · page 449Read the page →
Read the text
Cape May Point was set off as a political division in 1878, and continued to be a borough until 1896. Its borough government, after 1890. became a matter of uncertainty, its final abandonment of local government being the outcome of the unconstitutionality of the law under which it existed. It is now a part of Lower township. It has an electric light works, a water plant, four or five hotels, several boarding houses, a public school, a Baptist, a Catholic
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Cape May County, New Jersey1897 · page 403Read the page →
Read the text
Military Academy at West Point, N. Y. He began teaching school in 1877, and taught twelve years, being stationed at Dennisville, Rio Grande, Cape May Point and Cape May City. He was one of the most efficient principals of the schools of the latter place, and resigned the position to enter into the newspaper business in 1889. From 1880 to 1887 he resided at Cape May Point, and was tax collector and teacher there six years. He was also a merchant there. In 1887 he removed
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
Cape May Point, 1876 to 2020
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.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.
1983
1983
1983
1985
2020
2020
2017
2008
2008
2004
2004