The Carteret post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1906. Another post office, Chrome (1904), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 5,785 in 19102020 census: 25,326142 years
How historic is Carteret?
C
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Carteret post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1906.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Carteret’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carteret is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #403 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Carteret’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 Carteret’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 C+. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1906.
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 Carteret’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Carteret was originally created as the borough of Roosevelt on April 11, 1906, from portions of Woodbridge Township, based on the results of a referendum approved on May 22, 1906. The name was changed to Carteret as of November 7, 1922. The borough was also called Carteret during the period from December 19, 1921, to January 16, 1922. The borough was named after Sir George Carteret, one of the first proprietors of the province of New Jersey, and his son Philip Carteret, the first royal governor of New Jersey. Their name refers to the first village the De Carteret family had control over, namely Carteret in the French region of Normandy. They are also known to have controlled the island of Jersey, in the English Channel, hence the name of the State of New Jersey.
Passages that mention Carteret, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921Read the page →
Read the text
Woodbridge Toivnship was so called in honor of Rev. John Woodbridge, who, with a number of associates and their families, came from Newbury, Massachusetts, in the latter part of the summer of 1665, and settled in Woodbridge, at the solicitation of Captain Philip Carteret, Governor of the Province of New Jersey and cousin of Sir George Carteret, who with Lord John Berkeley were joint Lords Proprietors of the Province.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921 · page 403Read the page →
Read the text
The first Legislature of the Province met at Elizabethtown (so named in honor of Elizabeth, wife of Sir George Carteret), on May 26, 1668, and was composed of two delegates from each town, Woodbridge being represented by Samuel Moore and Robert Dennis. The second session was held on November 3rd of the same year, and attended by delegates from Newark, Elizabeth, Woodbridge, Bergen, Shrewsbury and Middletown. The latter session was not at all harmonious, and the next meeting did not occur until eight years later. At the first town
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
Carteret, 1884 to 1992
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 Carteret post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1906.
How does Carteret rank for history?
Carteret is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #403 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 Carteret?
15% of Carteret’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (2), 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.
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