New Brunswick dates to 1730, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #24 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
21 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Old Queen's, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 58 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1840.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1776.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Brunswick’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Brunswick is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #24 of 468 in New Jersey. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Brunswick’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 New Brunswick’s 16.0 sits above most of its state (73% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 90 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1730.
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 →
What stands out about New Brunswick’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 New Brunswick. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888New Brunswick 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 New Brunswick.
The area around present-day New Brunswick was first inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans, whose Minisink Trail intersected the Raritan River and followed a route that would be taken by later colonial roads. The first European settlement at the site of New Brunswick was made in 1681. The settlement here was called Prigmore's Swamp (1681–1697), then known as Inian's Ferry (1691–1714). In 1714, with the coronation of King George II of Great Britain, who was also the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the settlement was given the name New Brunswick, honoring the administrative capital of the duchy, Braunschweig (Brunswick in Low German), in the state of Lower Saxony, now located in Germany. Braunschweig was an influential and powerful city in the Hanseatic League.
streets in 1785. | 1792. White St. (heretofore called Church St., now White). it, In 1724-5 the first record of the name, New Brunswick, is found. Then Simon Brinly, of Piscataway, bequeaths “my plantation lying in New Brunswick.” (March 22, 1724-5; see Book A, folio 348, of Deeds, Secretary of State’s office, Trenton). Enoch Vreeland, as Captain of the military company “of
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Before the building of the bridge of 1793 there was a movement made toward a bridge by James Parker and others in the city of New Brunswick, and by Peter Probasco, owner of Livingston Manor, opposite thereto. Again by the inhabitants of the City of New Brunswick and Middlesex and Somerset Counties. John Bayard, John Neilson, Andrew Kirkpatrick, Dr. Lewis Dunham and J. R. Hardenbergh were also a committee to build a bridge in 1791. An Act of 1831 named John
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History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921Read the page →
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John P. Wall, a resident of New Brunswick, New Jersey, is the author of the following works: "When the British Held New Brunswick," "New Brunswick During the War of 1812," "How New Brunswick Became the County Seat," "Before the Railroad Came to Town," "When County Sheriffs Were Hangiren," "New Brunswick's Navy in the Revolution," "New Brunswick at the Critical Period of the Revolution," "The Floods of the Raritan," "When the Irish Came to America," "The Settlement and Progress of the Catholic Church at New
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History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921 · page 420Read the page →
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The village of New Market, in its early settlement, was known as "Quibbletown," and in Gordon's "Gazetteer of New Jersey," he speaks of it by that name, and also of its being called New Market in 183.) It is about seven miles north of New Brunswick, on the left bank of Cedar creek, as it was formerly called, and has a postoffice, school, store, grist mill, hotel, and about 125 dwellings. The Lehigh Valley railroad passes through the centre of the village.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
New Brunswick, 1730 to 1999
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.
In 1730, according to Wikidata. New Brunswick’s post office opened in 1776, and the census of 1840 counted 5,866 people here.
How does New Brunswick rank for history?
New Brunswick is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #24 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.
What is on the National Register in New Brunswick?
21 listings: 20 buildings, among them the Old Queen's (a National Historic Landmark since 1976) and the Queen's Campus, Rutgers University (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Livingston Avenue Historic District, with 58 contributing buildings. 90 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in New Brunswick?
26% of New Brunswick’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (2), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (21), 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.
★ Landmark
