Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #233 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of Colts Neck Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1850.
The Colts Neck Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1847. Three smaller post offices, Phalanx (1854), Scobeyville (1874) and Vanderburg (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Colts Neck Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #233 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Colts Neck Township’s 7.0 sits near the middle of its state (64% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Colts Neck Township’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew 9-fold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Colts Neck Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Colts Neck Township.
Colts Neck Township was first settled in the 17th century and formally established as a township in 1847. Its history spans interactions with Native Americans, colonial settlement, wartime significance, and modern suburban development.
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.
BuiltProbasco-Dittner Farmstead is built
In the archiveHolmdel (Village); Marlboro (Village); Edinburg (Village); Atlantic Township Business Not…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAl Golden is born here
In the archiveAerial view of N61 (c. 1970)
Born herePat Light is born here
Born hereJacquie Lee is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Colts Neck Township. 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 Colts Neck Township.
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 Colts Neck Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Colts Neck Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1847.
Colts Neck Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #233 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.
Two places: the Probasco-Dittner Farmstead (listed 2006) and the Laird & Company Distillery Historic District (2024).
5% of Colts Neck Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1982.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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) 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.
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