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276 Main Street, Port Murray, NJ - historic churchPhoto: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Port Murray

24% of Port Murray’s homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1888 on.

1on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Port Murray’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Port Murray’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18886 editions of the USGS map, 1888 to 1971. Watch Port Murray change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Port Murray’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Port Murray’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view54222.BB#001--Land covered by spring ho…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Port Murray on the map, 1888 to 1971

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

Port Murray on the 1888 USGS mapPort Murray on the 1894 USGS mapPort Murray on the 1905 USGS mapPort Murray on the 1943 USGS mapPort Murray on the 1954 USGS mapPort Murray on the 1971 USGS map1888Hackettstown 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 Murray.

The story so far

Port Murray, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Port Murray yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Port Murray is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Mansfield Township in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, that was created as part of the 2010 United States census. As of the 2020 census, Port Murray had a population of 227. The community was long known by this name for its location on the Morris Canal and after Colonel James Boyles Murray, the third president of the Morris Canal and Banking Company. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP Code 07865.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 129 to 227 (+76%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Port Murray, 1888 to 1921

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archive54222.BB#001--Land covered by spring house to be leased to Frank I. Davis--2 miles east o…
  5. 1921In the archive54161.BB#001--Land to be leased to the Port Murray Dairy Company--Port Murray, NJ [1921.0…
By decade

Port Murray, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s2 items
54222.BB#001--Land covered by spring house to be leased to Frank I. Davis--2 miles east of Port Murray, NJ [1910.10.29]191054222.BB#001--Land covered by spring house to be leas…54161.BB#001--Land to be leased to the Port Murray Dairy Company--Port Murray, NJ [1921.01.11]192154161.BB#001--Land to be leased to the Port Murray Da…
1930s–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
Today4 recent
NJ Assemblymember Erik Peterson2024NJ Assemblymember Erik PetersonUntitled photo2024Untitled photoUserMitchazenia - Erie Caboose C1782011UserMitchazenia - Erie Caboose C178Port Murray Post Office2011Port Murray Post Office
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.

54222.BB#001--Land covered by spring house to be leased to Frank I. Davis--2 miles east of Port Murray, NJ [1910.10.29]
Retake this view54222.BB#001--Land covered by spring house to be leased to Frank I. Davis--2 miles east of Port Murray, NJ [1910.10.29], 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 82 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
82
each building in a district counts

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Port Murray

Nobody well known was born in Port Murray itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jimmi SimpsonAmerican film and television actor · b. 1975
Eric MilleganAmerican actor · b. 1974
W
Walt AderRacecar driver · b. 1912
Chris WyldeAmerican actor · b. 1976
Ernest SchellingAmerican conductor · b. 1876
M
Michele Mary SmithSoftball player · b. 1967

Questions about Port Murray’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6) and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.