Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers
How Farmingdale began
When was Farmingdale founded?
1854
The Farmingdale post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1903.
First census: 416 in 19102020 census: 1,504172 years
How historic is Farmingdale?
C
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Farmingdale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1903.
History grade
What drives Farmingdale’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Farmingdale is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Farmingdale’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 Farmingdale’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (12% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1903.
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 Farmingdale’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 Farmingdale. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Asbury Park 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 Farmingdale.
The story so far
Farmingdale, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Farmingdale yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Farmingdale is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,504, an increase of 175 (+13.2%) from the 2010 census count of 1,329, which in turn reflected a decline of 258 (−16.3%) from the 1,587 counted in the 2000 census. Farmingdale was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1903, from portions of Howell Township. The borough is named for its location at the center of an agricultural area.
Its first post office opened in 1854. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,329 to 1,504 (+13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Farmingdale in 1885
Passages that mention Farmingdale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Monmouth county, New Jersey ..1885 · page 71Read the page →
Read the text
chartered in 1830, Farmers' Transportation Company, chartered 1865, Farmhouse, Dutch, description of, Farmingdale, fossils found at, population of, 1880. railroad passed through.
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
Farmingdale, 1854 to 1951
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Between 416 and 1,587 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Farmingdale’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Farmingdale’s history
What year was Farmingdale founded?
The Farmingdale post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1903.
How does Farmingdale rank for history?
Farmingdale is more historic than 30% 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.
How old are the homes in Farmingdale?
14% of Farmingdale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 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.
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