1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 109 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Helmetta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1888.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Helmetta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Helmetta is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Helmetta’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 Helmetta’s 443 sits above most of its state (95% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 109 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1888 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Helmetta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Helmetta's main landmark is the large, abandoned Helme Products Inc. plant that sits adjacent to the Camden and Amboy Railroad line running through the borough. The mill began producing snuff in the 1880s. On February 23, 1900, the mill was bought by the American-Sniff Company in a merger with Helme Products Inc., but the merger was dissolved in 1911. In 1925, the mill became the largest of its kind in the world, and by 1934 it employed 400 people. In 1986, the mill was bought out by American Maize-Products. Finally, in 1993, it was purchased by Swisher International, and operations were moved to Wheeling, West Virginia. In 2012, the mill was purchased by Kaplan Companies and was subsequently transformed into an apartment complex. The transformation was completed in 2017.
Fire 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.
1897Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
People over time
Helmetta, census by census
Grew from 447 people in 1900 to 2,455 in 2020, 5 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Helmetta’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
Famous people close to Helmetta
Nobody well known was born in Helmetta itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Helmetta post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1888.
How does Helmetta rank for history?
Helmetta is more historic than 75% 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.
What is on the National Register in Helmetta?
One place: the Helme, G. W., Snuff Mill District (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Helmetta?
18% of Helmetta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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2026
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2025
