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History · Chatham Township

2 of Chatham Township’s places are on the National Register

Its Register listings are the Boisaubin Manor and the Gibbons, William, Stable and Farm. Most of Chatham Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 4 old photos and papers and maps from 1888 on.

2on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chatham Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Chatham Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18888 editions of the USGS map, 1888 to 1995. Watch Chatham Township change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Chatham Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chatham Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo4 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewCrane House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Chatham Township on the map, 1888 to 1995

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

Chatham Township on the 1888 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1893 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1905 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1921 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1955 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1970 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1981 USGS mapChatham Township on the 1995 USGS map1888Plainfield 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 Chatham Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Another post office, Long Hill, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Long Hill
1838–1905
Green Village
1862–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Floral HillGreen VillageHickory TreeLong Hill

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

The story

How Chatham Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chatham Township.

Read it all →

The newly established, post-Revolutionary War state of New Jersey went through several stages setting out how its local governments would be structured. Townships were drawn that included villages and open land. Once boroughs became available in New Jersey as a form of local government after 1878, between 1889 and 1899 Chatham Township lost all but one of the villages drawn into it, including Chatham (settled in 1710), which had been drawn into the new township in 1806. They seceded as soon as the bourough form of government became available.

Only Green Village, another early town that, like Chatham, dates to colonial times, was left under jurisdiction of "Chatham Township".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chatham Township, 1838 to 1905

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Long Hill post office opens
  3. 1862Post officeThe Green Village post office opens
  4. 1888On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1905Post officeThe Long Hill post office closes
By decade

Chatham Township, decade by decade

Date unknown4 to date
Crane HouseDate?Crane HouseDay-Hamblen House, 142 Main StreetDate?Day-Hamblen House, 142 Main StreetStephen Day House, 62 Elmwood RoadDate?Stephen Day House, 62 Elmwood RoadDay-Munn House, 25 Main StreetDate?Day-Munn House, 25 Main Street
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.

Crane House
Retake this viewCrane House

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Chatham Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Boisaubin Manor
Boisaubin ManorGibbons, William, Stable and Farm
Buildings
Boisaubin ManorBuilding
Gibbons, William, Stable and FarmBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

New Providence1 historic placeBBerkeley Heights Township3 historic placesB+Madison8 historic placesAGreen Village1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSummit5 historic placesA+Chatham2 historic placesAHarding Township4 historic placesB+GilletteIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLong Hill Township3 historic placesB

Questions about Chatham Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Chatham Township?

Two places: the Boisaubin Manor (listed 1976) and the Gibbons, William, Stable and Farm (2005).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.