Founding year: the first Keyport post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1908.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Keyport’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Keyport is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #197 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Keyport’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 Keyport’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 A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1908.
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 Keyport’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Keyport. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Sandy Hook 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 Keyport.
Every building
Keyport, building by building, 1884–1923
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.
The Great Fire of September 21, 1877, caused significant damage to Keyport, including extensive sections of the main business district. A total of 31 buildings were destroyed, resulting in losses from the fire of $160,000 (equivalent to $4,800,000 in 2025). Local firefighters only had access to water from a cistern and could not pump water directly from the nearby Raritan Bay. Properties destroyed in the fire included the boyhood home of Garret Hobart, future Vice President of the United States.
Passages that mention Keyport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Monmouth county, New Jersey ..1885 · page 77Read the page →
Read the text
Freehold and Jamesburg Agncultural Railroad Company, incorporated 1851, 379 merger of, 1874, 1878, 382 Freehold and Keyport Plank-Road Company, 676 Freehold and Keyport Railroad, chartered 1841, 382 Freehold Lyceum Library and Reading Room, establishment of, 1883, 480 first public meeting of, 1883 480
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Monmouth county, New Jersey ..1885 · page 25Read the page →
Read the text
1671, 522 Brown's Dock School District No. 70, 550 Brown's Point, (corruption of Bowne's Point), tract at Keyport, 703 Brown's Point, at Keyport, 1830, 704, 705 shipyard, built at, by John Cottrell, 1831, 707 reference to, 1857, 813 mentioned in Matawan Township boundary, 1857, 830
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.
By decade
Keyport, decade by decade
4 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Keyport post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1908.
How does Keyport rank for history?
Keyport is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #197 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 Keyport?
33% of Keyport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (4), 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.
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