Piscataway Township dates to 1693, and 8 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #156 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of Piscataway Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1804.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Piscataway Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Piscataway Township is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #156 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 Piscataway Township’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 Piscataway Township’s 3.6 sits near the middle of its state (49% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 22 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1693.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size.
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 Piscataway Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1860 and 1890, then grew more than tenfold.
23 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Piscataway Township’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Piscataway Township on the map, 1888 to 1995
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Piscataway Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Plainfield 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 Piscataway Township.
The earliest recorded settlers of the area were the Lenape Native Americans; who lived for generations in what they called Lenapehoking, a region spanning present-day New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and parts of New York. In 1666, European settlers from New England obtained deeds for approximately 40,000 acres of land from Lenape leaders. These transactions were recorded by colonial authorities as land purchases under English law. However, historians note that Lenape concepts of land use emphasized communal stewardship rather than permanent private ownership, differing significantly from European legal traditions. As European settlement expanded, these differing interpretations and power imbalances contributed to the gradual dispossession and displacement of the Lenape from their ancestral lands.
In 1693, according to Wikidata. Piscataway Township’s post office opened in 1804, and the first U.S. census counted 2,261 people here in 1790.
How does Piscataway Township rank for history?
Piscataway Township is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #156 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 Piscataway Township?
8 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Ivy Hall (listed 1971, the first), 1 historic district, the Road Up Raritan Historic District, with 13 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 22 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Piscataway Township?
5% of Piscataway Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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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