Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The Fords post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Fords’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fords.
The area originally known as "Fords Corner" abuts neighboring Edison, part of which was once within Woodbridge Township, until an act of legislature in April 1870 apportioned land to what was then called Raritan Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Fords post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.