Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #56 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 60 buildings. Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1830.
Dennis Township dates its founding to 1827 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dennis Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #56 of 468 in New Jersey. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Dennis Township’s 113 sits above most of its state (88% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 70 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Dennis Township’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dennis Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Dennis Township.
Dennis Township had been a dry town, where alcohol could not be sold, until 2001 when voters passed a referendum allowing liquor to be sold; the township council authorized the sale of a single license, which netted the township $1.1 million.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dennis Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Dennis Township was formed in 1826, out of Upper. It was thirteen miles long, with an average width of about six. It is bounded N. by Upper Township, E. by the ocean, S.
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.
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
2025Dennis Township, NJ Township Hall, Sept. 2025
20252025-04-28 14 59 32 View northwest down Sluice Creek …
20252025-04-28 14 59 14 View southeast up Sluice Creek fr…
2020Dennis Creek
2010Thomas Ludlam House NJ
2008Census Bureau map of Dennis Township, New JerseyMap
2004Map of Cape May County highlighting Dennis TownshipMapEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dennis 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 Dennis Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Dennis Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1827, according to Wikidata. Dennis Township’s post office opened in 1802, and the census of 1830 counted 1,513 people here.
Dennis Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #56 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.
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Calvary Baptist Church (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the Dennisville Historic District, with 60 contributing buildings. 70 historic buildings in all.
21% of Dennis Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (7), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, 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 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.
