Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1950.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cliffwood Beach’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cliffwood Beach. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cliffwood Beach.
Peaked at 7,056 in 1970; 3,036 people lived here in 2020.
6 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cliffwood Beach’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cliffwood Beach.
Matawan Township was incorporated on February 23, 1857. This included a portion of Middletown Point (now Matawan Borough), a portion of Mt. Pleasant (renamed Freneau in 1890) and Matawan (or "Matavan" or Matawan Point) beach. The beach area of Matawan Township would later be renamed Cliffwood Beach.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveClara Freudenberg (1889-1959) and Ralph Kohlman (1884-1957) and Louis Julius Freudenberg …
In the archiveRalph Freudenberg (1903-1980) and George Dewey Sanford (1925-1994) at the home of Ada Aug…
Born hereJodi Lyn O'Keefe is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cliffwood Beach’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1917
2011
2011
2007