Founding year: the first Englewood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Englewood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Englewood is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #207 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 Englewood’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 Englewood’s 4.0 sits near the middle of its state (52% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 12 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 points). 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 Englewood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Englewood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1897Harlem sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Englewood.
Every building
Englewood, building by building, 1884–1922
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Englewood Township, the city's predecessor, is believed to have been named in 1859 for the Engle family. The community had been called the "English Neighborhood", as the first primarily English-speaking settlement on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River after New Netherland was annexed by England in 1664, though other sources mention the Engle family and the heavily forested areas of the community as the derivation of the name. Other sources indicate that the name is derived from "wood ingle", meaning "woody nook", or that the name was coined anew.
Passages that mention Englewood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 602Read the page →
Read the text
City of Englewood March 10, 1896, the village of Englewood became a city by a vote of its citizens who favored the change, five hundred and sixteen votes being cast for the incorporation and three hundred and twenty-eight votes against it. This election was held under the act entitled, "An Act authorizing any town, township or borough or part thereof containing a population exceeding five thousand inhabitants to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Bergen county, New Jersey1900 · page 585Read the page →
Read the text
The township of Englewood was set off from the old township of Hackensack by an Act of the Legislature passed in 1871. By virtue of this act the boundaries of the territory are described as follows: " Beginningat the Hackensack River, where the road leading from New Bridge to Schraalenburgh intersects it, and running thence easterly along the middle of said road to the Schraalenburgh road ; thence southerly along the middle of the Schraalenburgh road to the intersection thereof with the middle of Liberty road; and thence southerly
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.
Timeline
Englewood, 1808 to 1964
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born 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 Englewood post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Englewood rank for history?
Englewood is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #207 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 Englewood?
8 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Peter Westervelt House and Barn (listed 1975, the first). 12 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Englewood?
24% of Englewood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1880
c. 1908
