Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #93 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 38 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1870.
Maplewood Township dates its founding to 1861 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Maplewood Township is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #93 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Maplewood Township’s 16.4 sits above most of its state (74% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 42 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Maplewood Township’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1870 and 1890, then grew more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Maplewood Township’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Maplewood 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 Maplewood Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Maplewood Township.
When surveying the area now known as Maplewood, Robert Treat found several trails used by Lenape tribes of Algonquian Native Americans, though there was only sparse pre-European settlement. These paths form the basis for what are the township's modern-day thoroughfares.
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.
Born hereAsher Brown Durand is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBird's-eye-view of Maplewood, N.J
Born hereMarques Brownlee is born here
Born hereBea Miller is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Maplewood Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, Hilton, 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.
In 1861, according to Wikidata. Maplewood Township’s post office opened in 1889, and the census of 1870 counted 2,963 people here.
Maplewood Township is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #93 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: 2 buildings, among them the St. Mary's Abbey Church (listed 1972, the first), 1 historic district, the Maplewood Village Historic District, with 38 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 42 historic buildings in all.
56% of Maplewood Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 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 (6), 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) 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.
2007
2007
2007
2005
2005
