Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli from Pennsylvania, USA · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers
How Fredon Township began
When was Fredon Township founded?
1829
The Fredon Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1904. Two smaller post offices, Hardwick (1820) and Fredon (1829), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 150 in 18702020 census: 3,235197 years
How historic is Fredon Township?
B−
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Fredon Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1904.
History grade
What drives Fredon Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fredon Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #325 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fredon Township’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 Fredon Township’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 C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1904.
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 Fredon Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fredon Township’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Fredon Township on the map, 1891 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fredon Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1891Wallpack 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 Fredon Township.
The story so far
Fredon Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fredon Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fredon Township ( FREE-dən) is a township in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 3,235, a decrease of 202 (−5.9%) from the 2010 census count of 3,437, which in turn reflected an increase of 577 (+20.2%) from the 2,860 counted in the 2000 census. In 1800, Isaac V. Coursen named the Stillwater Township area "Coursen's Corners" after establishing a post office in his store, the Coursen House, but changed the name to Fredon Village before his death in 1855. Stillwater Township's Bicentennial Committee obtained information from the Postmaster General which "states that 'Fredon' is derived from the German word "fredoni…
Its first post office opened in 1829. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,437 to 3,235 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Fredon Township, 1820 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Fredon Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1904.
How does Fredon Township rank for history?
Fredon Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #325 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.
How old are the homes in Fredon Township?
11% of Fredon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (6), 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.
2014
2013
2012
2011
2005
2005
