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–Not graded
History · Sewaren

Sewaren’s post office opened in 1884, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Sewaren began

When was Sewaren founded?

1884

The Sewaren post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 2,885142 years
Founding year: the first Sewaren post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sewaren’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Sewaren are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Sewaren’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sewaren’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Sewaren, in brief

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

Sewaren (pronounced SEE-waren) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP's population was 2,885. PSE&G's Sewaren Generating Station is a 538-megawatt facility on 152 acres (62 ha) along the Arthur Kill. The facility had five steam generators and one combustion turbine. Four of the steam units were installed during and just after World War II, from 1942 to 1951. Generator 5, which included a gas/oil-fired boiler and two turbine generators, came down in 2002. Seawaren Unit #7 was installed in 2018, 538 MW, combined cycle combustion turbine, with one combustion turbine…

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,756 to 2,885 (+5%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Sewaren in 1921

Passages that mention Sewaren, cut from the printed page as they were published.

MRS. HELEN (GLIDDEN) TOMBS, a resident of Sewaren, New Jersey, traces descent from the early English family long seated at town of Glidden, Hampshire county, England, on the coast of Devonshire, a family of French and Norman descent, who came into England with the Norman Conqueror. Her home, Strath…
History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921 · page 194Read the page →
Read the text

MRS. HELEN (GLIDDEN) TOMBS, a resident of Sewaren, New Jersey, traces descent from the early English family long seated at town of Glidden, Hampshire county, England, on the coast of Devonshire, a family of French and Norman descent, who came into England with the Norman Conqueror. Her home, Strathspey Hall, is the abode of hospitality and culture, her friends being many. On the maternal side, Mrs. Tombs descends from the Fisher family of England.

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

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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Famous people

Famous people close to Sewaren

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

See all →
Jon Bon JoviAmerican musician · b. 1962
David CopperfieldAmerican illusionist · b. 1956
Richie SamboraAmerican rock musician · b. 1959
Jodi Lyn O'KeefeAmerican actress and model · b. 1978
Chris SmithNew Jersey politician from the United States · b. 1953
Stanley Norman CohenAmerican geneticist · b. 1935
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Woodbridge Township3 historic placesB+Perth Amboy8 historic placesAPort ReadingIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sewaren’s history

What year was Sewaren founded?

The Sewaren post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.