Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #246 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1870.
The Raritan post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Raritan is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #246 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Raritan’s 4.8 sits near the middle of its state (56% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Raritan. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Raritan.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1887Sheet 3 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1720s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1873Raritan (Township)
18801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey (N…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…
1917Industries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MA…From Wikipedia’s history of Raritan.
Raritan was originally established as a subdivision within Bridgewater Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 3, 1868. Despite its size, the town has an extensive history, that encompasses local, national, and even global history.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Raritan, cut from the printed page as they were published.
winter of 1778-79, General Knox was in command of an artillery corps, stationed at Pluckamin while the Commander-in-chief made his headquarters in the Wallace house near Raritan. General Knox's headquarters were in the Van der Veer house near the Bedminster Church where he was joined by Mrs. Knox, who also spent the winter there. The corps, which
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
settlement and development of colonies illustrate the same principle. In the settlement of the colony of New Jersey, the lower courses of her two chief rivers, the Raritan and Passaic, were first occupied. For a generation or longer, the hill country was a natural frontier — the abode of elves and fairies, it may be no less than of witches; a land
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveComplaint by Some Members of the Dutch Reformed Church, Living at Raritan, etc in (...) N…
In the archiveJacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (1736-1790) letter from December 6, 1777
Born hereJoseph S. Frelinghuysen Sr. is born hereIn the archiveRaritan (Township)In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey (NJ) - Somerset County - Raritan - ED …
BuiltRaritan Bridge is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveIndustries of War - Cloth - Rariten Woolen Mills - MAKING CLOTH FOR ARMY UNIFORMS. Rarita…No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Raritan’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 1,009 people in 1870 to 7,835 in 2020, 7 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Raritan’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Raritan’s post office has been open since 1852.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Raritan post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Raritan is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #246 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Gen. John Frelinghuysen House (listed 1971, the first), and 1 structure.
20% of Raritan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1969.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
