Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1776.
History grade
What drives Hamilton Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hamilton Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #167 of 468 in New Jersey. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hamilton 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 Hamilton Township’s 1.3 sits near the middle of its state (36% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 12 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1842.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.7 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Hamilton 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 1870 and 1880, then grew more than tenfold.
21 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hamilton Township’s Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Hamilton Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hamilton Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hamilton Township is a township and the most populous municipality in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest suburb of Trenton, the state's capital, which is located to the township's west. The township is situated within the New York metropolitan area as defined by the United States Census Bureau but directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 92,297, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 3,833 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 88,464, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,355 (…
Hamilton Township was established in 1842. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 88,464 to 92,297 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Hamilton Township, 1709 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hamilton Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Bordentown 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 Hamilton Township.
On the National Register
8 historic places in Hamilton Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
In 1842, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hamilton Township’s post office opened in 1776, and the census of 1810 counted 1,747 people here.
How does Hamilton Township rank for history?
Hamilton Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #167 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 Hamilton Township?
8 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Bow Hill (listed 1973, the first). 12 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Hamilton Township?
14% of Hamilton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 Wikidata (7), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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) 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.
