Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #272 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of Manchester Township was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Hangar No. 1, Lakehurst Naval Air Station, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 28 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
The Manchester Township post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1865. Five smaller post offices, Manchester (1841), Whiting (1867) and Wheatland (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manchester Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #272 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Manchester Township’s 6.1 sits near the middle of its state (61% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 28 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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.
Five 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manchester Township’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Manchester Township.
Manchester Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 6, 1865, from portions of Dover Township (now Toms River Township). The township was named by William Torrey for Manchester, England. Portions of the township were taken to form Lakehurst on April 7, 1921.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2026Ocean County Library, Manchester, NJ Branch, March 20…
2026Manchester Township, NJ municipal building, March 2026
2026Entrance to Leisure Knoll, Manchester, NJ, March 2026
2026Community Baptist Church, Beckerville, NJ, March 2026
2018Harry Wright Lake
2016Cedar Glen West, NJ
2015Wheatland, NJ
2005Pine ridge at crestwood cdp nj 029
2005Manchester twp nj 029Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Manchester Township. 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 Manchester Township.
Grew from 1,102 people in 1870 to 45,115 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Manchester Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Manchester Township post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1865.
Manchester Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #272 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.
Two places: the Hangar No. 1, Lakehurst Naval Air Station (listed 1968) and the Whitesbog Historic District (1988).
1% of Manchester Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (10), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) 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.
★ Landmark
Date?