Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Old Bridge Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Old Bridge Township

Old Bridge Township’s post office opened in 1809, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 47% of U.S. towns · #318 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Most of Old Bridge Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Its Register listing is the Cedar Grove School. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1870.

1809first post office
1on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Old Bridge Township began

When was Old Bridge Township founded?

1809

The Old Bridge Township post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Cheesequake (1849), Browntown (1893) and Laurence Harbor (1924), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,870 in 18702020 census: 66,876217 years

How historic is Old Bridge Township?

B−

More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Old Bridge Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Old Bridge Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Old Bridge Township is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #318 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Old Bridge Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1809, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19405.2% of homes (±1.3) · typical NJ town 14.7% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 0.1 per 10,000 residents · typical NJ town 3.7 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 47%
NewerOlder
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 32%

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 Old Bridge Township’s 0.1 sits below most of its state (24% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 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 Old Bridge Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Old Bridge Township, and 14 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18888 editions of the USGS map, 1888 to 1995. Watch Old Bridge Township change.Deep rootsA post office since 1809: 217 years of Old Bridge Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Old Bridge
1809–today
Cheesequake
1849–1905
Browntown
1893–1906
Laurence Harbor
1924–1962
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BrowntownBrownvilleBrunswick GardensCheesequakeCottrell CornersEast SpotswoodLaurence HarborMadison ParkMoerls CornerMorristownRedshaw CornerRunyonSayerwood SouthSouth Old Bridge
Gone or out of use
Cedar Grove SchoolschoolCheesequake SchoolschoolGeorge Newman FarmlocaleJ Fountain Junior FarmlocaleJ R Cotrell FarmlocaleLaurence Harbor Public SchoolschoolTranquility Riding AcademyschoolWerner Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Old Bridge Township
Ernst MemorialMount Hebron

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Old Bridge Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Old Bridge Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Old Bridge Township on the map, 1888 to 1995

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Old Bridge Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Old Bridge Township on the 1888 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1893 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1901 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1943 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1954 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1970 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1981 USGS mapOld Bridge Township on the 1995 USGS map1888New 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 Old Bridge Township.

The story

How Old Bridge Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Old Bridge Township.

Read it all →

The first inhabitants of the area known as Old Bridge were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans. Those who settled in Old Bridge and other parts of Central Jersey were known as the Unami, or "people down the river." They migrated to the shore along the Raritan each summer from their hunting grounds in the north. When the English gained control from the Dutch in 1664, the state was divided into two provinces, East Jersey and West Jersey. In 1683, the general assembly of East Jersey defined the boundaries of Middlesex County and the three other original counties (Bergen, Essex and Monmouth) as containing all plantations on both sides of the Raritan River, as far as Cheesequake Harbor to the east, then southwest to the Provincial line, with the southwest line being the border of Monmouth and Middlesex counties and the Township's southern border.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Old Bridge Township, 1809 to 1993

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1809Post officeThe Old Bridge post office opens
  3. 1849Post officeThe Cheesequake post office opens
  4. 1888On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1893Post officeThe Browntown post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1905Post officeThe Cheesequake post office closes
  8. 1906Post officeThe Browntown post office closes
  9. 1969Born hereVitamin C is born here
  10. 1969Born hereDiane Ruggiero is born here
  11. 1990Born hereR. J. Allen is born here
  12. 1993Born hereBrandon Allen is born here
By decade

Old Bridge Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Census Bureau map of Old Bridge Township, New JerseyDate?Census Bureau map of Old Bridge Township, New JerseyMap
Today18 recent
Southern end of Old Bridge, NJ Airport, Sept. 20262026Southern end of Old Bridge, NJ Airport, Sept. 2026Spotswood Outlier John A. Phillips Preserve2025Spotswood Outlier John A. Phillips PreserveOld Bridge, NJ Public Library, Oct. 20252025Old Bridge, NJ Public Library, Oct. 2025Old Bridge, NJ Municipal Complex, Oct. 20252025Old Bridge, NJ Municipal Complex, Oct. 2025Old Bridge Township, NJ Public Schools Administration Building, Oct. 20252025Old Bridge Township, NJ Public Schools Administration…John A. Phillips Park Playground2025John A. Phillips Park PlaygroundEllen McDermott Grade 9 Center, Old Bridge, NJ, Oct. 20252025Ellen McDermott Grade 9 Center, Old Bridge, NJ, Oct. …2025-09-15 16 09 53 Aerial view of western Old Bridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey and surrounding areas from…20252025-09-15 16 09 53 Aerial view of western Old Bridge…Eupatorium pilosum, Old Bridge, NJ, USA imported from iNaturalist photo2024Eupatorium pilosum, Old Bridge, NJ, USA imported from…Wawa oil price2022Wawa oil priceThe Halal Spot2022The Halal SpotRoute 18 Marketplace2022Route 18 MarketplacePure Hair Salon and Spa2022Pure Hair Salon and SpaMidJersey Smiles Dental2022MidJersey Smiles DentalEntrance to Wawa2022Entrance to WawaCloseMainCSMS2013CloseMainCSMSCarlSandburgSchool2013CarlSandburgSchoolCarlSandburgDoorSign2013CarlSandburgDoorSign
On the National Register

1 historic place in Old Bridge Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Cedar Grove School
Cedar Grove School
Buildings
Cedar Grove SchoolBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Old Bridge Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00065,00070,0001880190019201940196019802000202066,876

Grew from 1,870 people in 1870 to 66,876 in 2020, more than tenfold.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Old Bridge Township’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

6 famous people were born in Old Bridge Township

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Vitamin CAmerican singer and actress · b. 1969
R
R. J. AllenAmerican soccer player · b. 1990
Brandon AllenAmerican soccer player · b. 1993
Diane RuggieroAmerican screenwriter · b. 1969
J
John Warne Herbert Sr.American politician · b. 1820
Q
Quinton CrawfordAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1990
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Monroe Township1 historic placeC−Spotswood1 historic placeBEast Brunswick Township2 historic placesB−Laurence HarborIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAberdeen TownshipIts storyC−Sayreville1 historic placeCCliffwood BeachIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMatawan2 historic placesC+Madison ParkIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Old Bridge Township’s history

What year was Old Bridge Township founded?

The Old Bridge Township post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Old Bridge Township rank for history?

Old Bridge Township is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #318 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 Old Bridge Township?

One place: the Cedar Grove School (listed 1976).

How old are the homes in Old Bridge Township?

5% of Old Bridge Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1972.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (19), Wikidata (1), 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.