Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Port Monmouth. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Sandy Hook 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 Port Monmouth.
The story so far
Port Monmouth, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Port Monmouth yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Port Monmouth is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Middletown Township, situated on the Raritan Bayshore of northern Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2020 United States census, the CDP's population was 3,745, a decrease of 73 (−1.9%) from the 2010 census count of 3,818.
Its first post office opened in 1861. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,818 in 2010, 3,745 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Port Monmouth, 1885–1923
Passages that mention Port Monmouth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Monmouth county, New Jersey ..1885 · page 170Read the page →
Read the text
Port Monmouth Hotel, built by Transportation Company, about 1855, Port Monmouth Methodist Church, built 1866, Port Monmouth Transportation Company, incorporated 1855, Port Washongton Dock, at Oceanic, about 1845, Port Washington Hotel, Oceanic, built by Thomas Hunt,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Liberty, Staten Island’s villages and shores, including South Beach, the Kills; then Raritan and Middletown’s shores and the pretty villages fringing them and the railroad line —Lorillards, Keansburg, Port Monmouth, Belford, Leonardville, aud last from the western direction, Leonard Avenue station, etc., Brevent Park with its ever-growing increase of cottages, till down nearly to your feet lie the symmetrical avenues of Atlantic Highlands’ Hubbard tract and the fair
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in those times until the old Southern railroad was built with its terminal at Port Monmouth. “The winter of 1857 was the most severe that I can remember. Sleighing parties went from Highlands to Red Bank on the ice on the river and that winter I took my first iceboat sail, going from Highlands to Red Bank.
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.
By decade
Port Monmouth, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1873
Date?
2005
