The Manville post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1929. Another post office, Weston (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 5,441 in 19302020 census: 10,953112 years
How historic is Manville?
C−
More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Manville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1929.
History grade
What drives Manville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manville is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #432 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Manville’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 Manville’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 D− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1929 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 Manville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Manville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Manville is a borough in Somerset County, in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 10,953, an increase of 609 (+5.9%) from the 2010 census count of 10,344, which in turn had reflected an increase of one person from the 10,343 residents counted at the 2000 census. Manville was named after the Johns-Manville Corporation, which maintained a large manufacturing facility in the borough for decades. Historically, many of Manville's residents are of Slavic—mostly eastern Polish (23.1% of the borough's popu…
Its first post office opened in 1914. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 10,344 to 10,953 (+6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Manville, 1832 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Manville’s post office has been open since 1914. Another post office, Weston, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Weston
1832–1915
Manville
1914–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Weston
Gone or out of use
Public School Number 1schoolSacred Heart ConventchurchSacred Heart SchoolschoolSaint Mary's Catholic ChurchchurchSaint Paul's Russian Orthodox Churchchurch
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Manville’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The Manville post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1929.
How does Manville rank for history?
Manville is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #432 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 Manville?
18% of Manville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (11), 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.
1880
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
1936
