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CHistory
History · Plainsboro Township

Plainsboro Township’s post office opened in 1848

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #410 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Most of Plainsboro Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1920.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Plainsboro Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Plainsboro Township began

When was Plainsboro Township founded?

1848

The Plainsboro Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1919.

First census: 460 in 19202020 census: 24,084178 years

How historic is Plainsboro Township?

C

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Plainsboro Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1919.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Plainsboro Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Plainsboro Township is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #410 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Plainsboro Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1848, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19401.6% of homes (±1.1) · typical NJ town 14.7% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical NJ town 3.7 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 12%

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 Plainsboro Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (12% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1919.

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 Plainsboro Township’s past

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

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 Plainsboro Township change.Lost villages4 hamlets and corners are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of Plainsboro Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Plainsboro Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFood Machinery and Chemical Laboratory,…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Plainsboro Township on the map, 1888 to 1995

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

Plainsboro Township on the 1888 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1894 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1906 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1942 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1954 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1970 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1981 USGS mapPlainsboro Township on the 1995 USGS map1888Princeton 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 Plainsboro Township.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
PlainsboroPlainsboro CenterPrinceton MeadowsSchalks
Gone or out of use
Forrestal Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Plainsboro Township
Old Bethel Methodist ChurchPrinceton Abbey and

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

The story

How Plainsboro Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Plainsboro Township.

Read it all →

The original residents of Plainsboro were the Unami people, a subtribe of the Lenape Native Americans. In the 17th century, the Dutch settled the area for its agricultural properties.

The oldest developed section of Plainsboro is at the intersection of Dey and Plainsboro Roads. It is thought that the road was named after a Dutch-built tavern that sat at the intersection, called "The Planes Tavern", in the early 18th century or earlier. The building still stands and was featured on HGTV's If These Walls Could Talk along with the historic Plainsboro Inn building (circa 1790) that was built adjacent to "Planes Tavern" at Plainsboro Road and Dey Road.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Plainsboro Township, 1848 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Plainsboro post office opens
  3. 1888On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1957In the archiveFood Machinery and Chemical Laboratory, Route 1 and Plainsboro Rd. LOC gsc.5a25411
By decade

Plainsboro Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s1 item
Food Machinery and Chemical Laboratory, Route 1 and Plainsboro Rd. LOC gsc.5a254111957Food Machinery and Chemical Laboratory, Route 1 and P…
1960s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Poor stick2009Poor stickDelaware and Raritan Canal, Thanksgiving Day 2009 - panoramio (6)2009Delaware and Raritan Canal, Thanksgiving Day 2009 - p…Delaware and Raritan Canal, Thanksgiving Day 2009 - panoramio (5)2009Delaware and Raritan Canal, Thanksgiving Day 2009 - p…Spring in Plainsboro, NJ2007Spring in Plainsboro, NJSpring in Plainsboro2006Spring in Plainsboro
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Food Machinery and Chemical Laboratory, Route 1 and Plainsboro Rd. LOC gsc.5a25411
Retake this viewFood Machinery and Chemical Laboratory, Route 1 and Plainsboro Rd. LOC gsc.5a25411, 1957

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Plainsboro Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Plainsboro Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00019201940196019802000202024,084

Grew from 460 people in 1920 to 24,084 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

West Windsor Township3 historic placesB−Princeton Junction1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPrinceton MeadowsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEast Windsor TownshipIts storyCSouth Brunswick Township4 historic placesBCranbury Township2 historic placesB+Monmouth JunctionIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPrinceton20 historic placesA+

Questions about Plainsboro Township’s history

What year was Plainsboro Township founded?

The Plainsboro Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1919.

How does Plainsboro Township rank for history?

Plainsboro Township is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #410 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.

How old are the homes in Plainsboro Township?

2% of Plainsboro 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 1986.

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 (6), Wikipedia, 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.