Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #13 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 680 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
The Lambertville post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Coryell's Ferry (1802), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lambertville is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #13 of 468 in New Jersey. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Lambertville’s 1,645 sits above most of its state (99% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 683 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% 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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lambertville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lambertville.
Originally settled by the Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans, a 150,000-acre (230 sq mi; 610 km2) area around Lambertville was acquired for 700 Pounds by the Council of West Jersey and divided into smaller plots. The earliest European settler in present-day Lambertville was John Holcombe, who purchased a lot and built a stone home in 1744.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveRoad from Philadela. to New York, seg. 4-5
Born hereWilliam Holcombe is born hereBuiltLambertville House is builtBuiltJames W. Marshall House is builtBuiltKalmia Club, The is built
Born hereDon Walker is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJohn E. Hunt is born here
Born hereCharles Bradford Smith is born here
In the archiveHouses By A Stream Lambertville by Joseph Pickett2 decades in the archive, from the 1800s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lambertville. 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 Lambertville.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn 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 Lambertville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,417 and 4,660 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lambertville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Lambertville’s post office has been open since 1823. Another post office, Coryell's Ferry, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lambertville post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lambertville is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #13 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the James W. Marshall House (listed 1970, the first), and 1 historic district, the Lambertville Historic District, with 680 contributing buildings. 683 historic buildings in all.
52% of Lambertville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.0 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (9), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (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 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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