Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers
How New Egypt began
When was New Egypt founded?
1810
The New Egypt post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 632 in 18802020 census: 2,357216 years
Founding year: the first New Egypt post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about New Egypt’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 Egypt. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Bordentown 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 Egypt.
Every building
New Egypt, building by building, 1895–1911
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
There are several explanations for how New Egypt received its name. One possibility is it was a reference by George Washington in December 1776 after the victory at the Battle of Trenton. Joseph Curtis, Washington's secretary, was sent to the town to retrieve grain for the army, and upon his return from the area, Washington exclaimed, "Joseph has been to Egypt and gotten the corn." ‘New' was added sometime around 1845. Other references have that the town was originally given the name "Egypt" in 1793 and "New Egypt" in 1801, the name is believed to be a biblical allusion about "going to Egypt for corn" that was plentiful in the area.
Passages that mention New Egypt, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Centennial history of Ocean county1878 · page 21Read the page →
Read the text
In 1837, Elder Benjamin Winchester preached the first Mormon sermon in Ocean county, in a school house, in New Egypt. Winchester was from the State of New York, and one of the early disciples of Joseph Smith. He continued for some time to hold regular services here, and in his discourses gave mi-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
New Egypt, 1888 to 1996
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
2026
2015
2007