Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Sarah and Samuel Nicholson House · Photo: Smallbones · Public domainMore historic than 88% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Abel and Mary Nicholson House, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1810.
Elsinboro Township dates its founding to 1798 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1810.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Elsinboro Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Elsinboro Township’s 47.6 sits above most of its state (81% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elsinboro Township’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1920, then more than doubled.
22 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elsinboro Township’s Wikipedia page.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Elsinboro Township.
At the time of European colonization in the 17th century the Delaware River was known as the South River and the Salem River was known as Varkens Kill, or Hogg Creek. In 1641, without having a patent, a group of 60 settlers (20 families) from the New Haven Colony (in today's Connecticut) purchased land along the kill from indigenous Lenape.
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.
BuiltBenjamin Holmes House is built
Born hereGeorge Hires is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - New Jersey - Salem County - ED 17-1, ED 1…
In the archiveNicholson (Abel) House, Elsinboro (Salem County, New Jersey)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elsinboro 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 Elsinboro 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 Elsinboro Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1798, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1810 counted 517 people here.
Elsinboro Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. 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: 4 buildings, among them the Abel and Mary Nicholson House (a National Historic Landmark since 2000) and the Sarah and Samuel Nicholson House (listed 1975, the first).
23% of Elsinboro Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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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