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Seaside Heights Casino Pier with Hydrus in backgroundPhoto: SurFeRGiRL30 · CC BY 2.0
C+History
History · Seaside Heights

Seaside Heights’ post office opened in 1913, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #372 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Seaside Heights Carousel. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1920.

1913first post office
1on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Seaside Heights’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Seaside Heights began

When was Seaside Heights founded?

1913

The Seaside Heights post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 154 in 19202020 census: 2,440113 years

How historic is Seaside Heights?

C+

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Seaside Heights post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Seaside Heights’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Seaside Heights is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #372 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Seaside Heights’ overall grade.
Founding era1913, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 194016.6% of homes (±5.6) · typical NJ town 14.7% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register1 listing, 4.0 per 10,000 residents · typical NJ town 3.7 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 36%
NewerOlder
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 21%

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 Seaside Heights’ 4.0 sits near the middle of its state (52% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 Seaside Heights’ past

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

On the map since 18887 editions of the USGS map, 1888 to 1989. Watch Seaside Heights change.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1933–1978.Old housesHalf of Seaside Heights’ homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · On the map

Seaside Heights on the map, 1888 to 1989

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

Seaside Heights on the 1888 USGS mapSeaside Heights on the 1893 USGS mapSeaside Heights on the 1919 USGS mapSeaside Heights on the 1941 USGS mapSeaside Heights on the 1953 USGS mapSeaside Heights on the 1971 USGS mapSeaside Heights on the 1989 USGS map1888Barnegat 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 Seaside Heights.

By decade

Seaside Heights, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1950s5 items
Barnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 on Barnegat Penninsula, south of Point Pleasant1933Barnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 …Barnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 on Barnegat Penninsula, south of Point Pleasant1933Barnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 …Bus Station, Seaside Union Bus Terminal (NBY 191)1951Bus Station, Seaside Union Bus Terminal (NBY 191)PostcardBoardwalk scene Seaside Heights, New Jersey (NBY 421499)1956Boardwalk scene Seaside Heights, New Jersey (NBY 4214…PostcardBoardwalk scene Seaside Heights, New Jersey (NBY 421500)1956Boardwalk scene Seaside Heights, New Jersey (NBY 4215…Postcard
1970s7 items
1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride1001 Nights ride19781001 Nights ride
1980s–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
The story

How Seaside Heights came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Seaside Heights.

Read it all →

In 1915, Senate Amusement Company of Philadelphia planned to build an ocean-side attraction in Seaside Heights within feet of the border to Seaside Park. Their plan was to build a covered pier to house a carousel. The structure was built in 1915 under the direction of Joseph Vanderslice of Senate Amusement Company. Budget issues stalled the project in 1916, and the amusement ride and building was subsequently sold to Frank Freeman. The combination of the completion of the Toms River Bridge on October 23, 1914, and the DuPont Avenue carousel and boardwalk are what likely led to the 159% population growth shown between the 1920 and 1930 censuses in Seaside Heights.

ChaptersDisasters

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Seaside Heights, 1888 to 1985

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. 1913Post officeThe Seaside Heights post office opens
  5. 1933In the archiveBarnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 on Barnegat Penninsula, south of Poi…
  6. 1935BuiltSeaside Heights Carousel is built
  7. 1951In the archiveBus Station, Seaside Union Bus Terminal (NBY 191)
  8. 1978In the archive1001 Nights ride
  9. 1985Born hereLou Taylor Pucci is born here
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.

Barnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 on Barnegat Penninsula, south of Point Pleasant
Retake this viewBarnegat Peninsula Communities, Along State Route 35 on Barnegat Penninsula, south of Point Pleasant, 1933

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Seaside Heights

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2026
Seaside Heights Carousel
Seaside Heights Carousel, built 1935
Structures
Seaside Heights CarouselBuilt 1935

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

People over time

Seaside Heights, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,500192019401960198020002020Peak: 3,155

Between 154 and 3,155 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Seaside Heights’ Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Seaside Heights’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBarnegat Peninsula Communities, Along S…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Dover Beaches SouthIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townToms River Township11 historic placesB+Berkeley Township2 historic placesC

Questions about Seaside Heights’ history

What year was Seaside Heights founded?

The Seaside Heights post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Seaside Heights rank for history?

Seaside Heights is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #372 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 Seaside Heights?

One place: the Seaside Heights Carousel (listed 2026).

How old are the homes in Seaside Heights?

17% of Seaside Heights’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1955.

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.