Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Daderot · CC BY 3.0More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #307 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of North Brunswick Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the National Musical String Company. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1790.
North Brunswick Township dates its founding to 1779 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
North Brunswick Township was named for its earlier-established neighbor, South Brunswick.
Brunswick comes from New Brunswick, which was named after the German city of Braunschweig, formerly translated in English as Brunswick or for the British royal Hous…
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Brunswick Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #307 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 North Brunswick Township’s 0.5 sits below most of its state (26% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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 North Brunswick Township’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.
23 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Brunswick Township’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of North Brunswick 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 North Brunswick Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of North Brunswick Township.
The area that would become North Brunswick had been settled by the Lenape Native Americans. European settlers from France and The Netherlands acquired land in 1772 from the Lenape that would become North Brunswick.
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
In the archiveMap of North Brunswick 1876
Born hereBob Andelman is born here
Born hereTim Howard is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
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.
Two 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1779, according to Wikidata. North Brunswick Township’s post office opened in 1850, and the first U.S. census counted 2,312 people here in 1790.
North Brunswick Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #307 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.
One place: the National Musical String Company (listed 1982).
5% of North Brunswick Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (1), 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.
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