Clifton’s post office opened in 1869, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #157 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 11 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1910.
The Clifton post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Richfield (1878), Athenia (1883) and Delawanna (1895), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 11,869 in 19102020 census: 90,296157 years
How historic is Clifton?
B+
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Clifton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Clifton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clifton is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #157 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clifton’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 Clifton’s 4.3 sits near the middle of its state (54% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 38 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Clifton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The City of Clifton turned 100 years old in April 2017, but documented European settlements in the area date back to 1679, when a leader of the Lenape Native Americans gave a deed for 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) along the shores of the Passaic River to Hans Frederick. The name "Clifton" was derived from the cliffs of Garrett Mountain, which borders the Albion Place neighborhood in the western part of the city. Clifton was once an agricultural hub, and home to the U.S. Animal Quarantine Station, which was operated in Clifton by the United States Department of Agriculture, starting in 1903. It was served by the Newark Branch of the Erie–Lackawanna Railroad. It was the primary location on the East Coast where animals like poultry, horses, cattle, and zoo animals, were held in quarantine after being brought into the United States, to ensure that the animals were not infected with diseases that …
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.
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 Clifton post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Clifton rank for history?
Clifton is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #157 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 Clifton?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the U.S. Animal Quarantine Station (listed 1981, the first), and 1 historic district, the Dundee Canal Industrial Historic District, with 11 contributing buildings. 38 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Clifton?
31% of Clifton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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
1941
