Ocean City’s post office opened in 1881, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #166 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 155 buildings. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1890 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Ocean City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ocean City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ocean City is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #166 of 468 in New Jersey. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ocean City’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 Ocean City’s 144 sits above most of its state (88% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 162 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.9 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Ocean City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before Ocean City was established, local Native Americans set up camps on the island for fishing in the summer months. In 1633, Dutch navigator David Pietersz. de Vries referred to "flat sand beaches with low hills between Cape May and Egg Harbor", possibly the earliest reference to the island that became Ocean City. In 1695, Thomas Budd surveyed the land on behalf of the West Jersey Society.
Passages that mention Ocean City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Cape May County, New Jersey1897 · page 402Read the page →
Read the text
low boroughs to hold on to their government until legislation could be enacted. They all continued their existence excepting Cape May Poi'nt, which became again a part of Lower township. Ocean City was incorporated as a city in 1897, and on April 13 held its first election under its new charter.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Cape May County, New Jersey1897 · page 445Read the page →
Read the text
Ocean City, on Peck's beach, came into existence as a -temperance and Methodist summer resort in 1880. It grew rapidly and is second now only to Cape May City in prosperity. It was beautifully laid out. In 1884 it was organized as a borough government. In 1897 it was made a city, and with the following as its bounds: Beginning at a point in the line of low-water mark on the northerly side of Corson's Inlet at the intersection of low-water mark to said
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
Ocean City, 1881 to 1990
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born 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.
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.
The Ocean City post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ocean City rank for history?
Ocean City is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #166 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 Ocean City?
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Ocean City 34th Street Station (listed 1984, the first), and 1 historic district, the Ocean City Residential Historic District, with 155 contributing buildings. 162 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Ocean City?
16% of Ocean City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (21), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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 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.
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