Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns · #186 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Its Register listing is the William L. Black House. Its Register listing is the William L. Black House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
The Hammonton post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Decosta (1857), Rosedale (1891) and Da Costa (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Hammonton was named for John Hammond Coffin, …
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hammonton is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #186 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Hammonton’s 0.7 sits below most of its state (29% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Hammonton’s history is told.
Hammonton’s post office has been open since 1827. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hammonton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hammonton.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hammonton.
Little is known about the area of Hammonton prior to European contact. Archaeological evidence, including stone tools likely dating back to the Woodland period, suggests some form of prehistoric habitation, though the details remain unclear. At the time of European contact, the region was inhabited by the Unalachtigo Lenape people.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hammonton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of New Jersey, because in, or near them, were established two of the first Catholic parishes in New Jersey. They are Pleasant Mills, in Atlantic County, forty-two miles from Philadelphia, and nine miles from Hammonton. The settlement at Pleasant Mills was made about 1718, when a saw mill was erected at the head of the old Fresco pond, now caller Nesco-hague. This drew a colony of sturdy wood choppers, who levelled the original pine forests and white cedars sending the heavy timbers
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
creating Atlantic County. There were then only four large townships or voting places in this county. Egg Harbor, Weymouth, Hamilton and Galloway. Mullica was created later out of Galloway, and the town of Hammonton out of Mullica. Buena- Yista, in 1867, was created out of Hamilton and Atlantic City set off from Egg Harbor Township in 1854. The first deed was recorded by J. H. Collins, the first County Clerk, on Aiay 4th.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereVictor Moore is born here
BuiltWilliam L. Black House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAero view of Hammonton, New Jersey 1926
Born hereJill Biden is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2017Out building in the historic village of Batsto in the…
2017Cottage in the historic village of Batsto in the Pine…
2017Building in the historic village of Batsto in the Pin…
2017Stable in the historic village of Batsto in the Pine …
2017The Pine Barrens
2011Longest Line of Cakes Guiness Record in
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
2008Census Bureau map ofMapFire 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.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hammonton’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,404 and 14,791 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hammonton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Hammonton post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hammonton is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #186 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.
One place: the William L. Black House (listed 1993).
19% of Hammonton’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 1973.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1926
1928