Founding year: the first Secaucus post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1900.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Secaucus’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Secaucus is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #405 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Secaucus’ overall grade.
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 Secaucus’ 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 is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1900.
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 Secaucus’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Sikakes, once an island, was part of the territory purchased by Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant in 1658. The territory was part of what is considered to be the oldest municipality in the state of New Jersey which was first chartered in 1660 as Bergen in the province of New Netherland and, in 1683, became Bergen Township.
Settlement had begun by at least 1733 by the Smith family, whose namesake Abel I. Smith Burial Ground is part of the lore of Secaucus.
Passages that mention Secaucus, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the municipalities of Hudson County, New Jersey, 1630-19231924 · page 534Read the page →
Read the text
stated that he had not forgotten the sidewalks for Paterson Plank road, and said: “I’ll grab the bull by the horns and get the State Legislature to put a bill through so that the Board of Freeholders can do somethng for the people of Secaucus in the matter.” With reference to the town managing its own water supply, Mayor Schmitt said that Bayonne saved $20,000 in 1922 by having its own water plant. Secaucus, the Mayor said, is the only municipality in North Hudson to be so fortunately located that it can easily enough get its water from the Jersey City supply which runs through Secaucus.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Hudson County and of the old village of Bergen1921 · page 233Read the page →
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North Bergen was formed in 1842, and comprised all the territory of old Bergen Township lying north of the New Jersey Railroad, and between Van Vorst Township and Hackensack River. Secaucus is a strip of land lying in the western part of this township, and surrounded by marshes.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the municipalities of Hudson County, New Jersey, 1630-19231924 · page 529Read the page →
Read the text
Before Hudson county was created as a separate county from Bergen county, in 1840, Secaucus was a hamlet in Lodi township, which township was originally known as New Barbadoes Neck, the name being changed by the Legislature in 1825. The inhabitants of Secaucus, North Bergen, New Durham, Weehawken, and other surrounding towns petitioned the Legislature in 1840 to create a new county, on account of the great distance which the petitioners had to travel to reach the county seat, which was at Hackensack. This appeal resulted in the creation of Hudson county, the law being
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.
Timeline
Secaucus, 1873 to 1992
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Secaucus post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1900.
How does Secaucus rank for history?
Secaucus is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #405 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 Secaucus?
15% of Secaucus’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (18), 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 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.
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