Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #204 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of Edison Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1870.
Edison Township dates its founding to 1651 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edison Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #204 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Edison Township ranks #185 on History.
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 Edison Township’s 0.6 sits below most of its state (27% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% 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.
Five 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 Edison Township’s history is told.
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 archivePlainfieldCC-1909
BuiltRoosevelt Hospital is built
BuiltEdison, Thomas A., Memorial Tower is built
Born hereMike Vallely is born here
Born hereFrank Guinta is born here
Born hereTom Dwan is born here
Born hereAnthony Stolarz is born here
In the archiveMiddlesex County CC-NJFrom Wikipedia’s history of Edison Township.
The earliest residents of the area were the Raritan people of the Lenape Native Americans, who lived there and traveled through it to the shore. In 1646, Chief Matouchin led a group of 1,200 warriors.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2012First Aid Squad building Edison NJ Amboy Avenue
2010Untitled photo
2009Saravana Bhavan
2009Saravana Bhavan Edison NJ (cropped)
2008LAING HOUSE OF PLAINFIELD PLANTATION, MIDDLESEX COUNTY
2008HOMESTEAD FARM AT OAK RIDGE, MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ
2008Blade signs (2 of them)
2007EM Entenmanns-Edison New Jersey
2007Apartment ComplexEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edison 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 Edison 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 Edison 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.
Grew from 3,460 people in 1870 to 107,588 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edison Township’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1651, according to Wikidata. Edison Township’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1870 counted 3,460 people here.
Edison Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #204 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings and 1 structure. 6 historic buildings in all.
6% of Edison Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (11), 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.
