Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Allen House · Photo: ClassicLady · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #152 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 20 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1930.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shrewsbury is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #152 of 468 in New Jersey. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Shrewsbury’s 55.0 sits above most of its state (82% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 23 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shrewsbury’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shrewsbury. 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 Shrewsbury.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shrewsbury.
Shrewsbury was part of the Navesink Patent or Monmouth Tract granted soon after the creation of East Jersey in 1665. The tract included Shrewsbury, along with the other historic communities of Freehold Township in western Monmouth County and Middletown Township in northern Monmouth County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Shrewsbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
William Scott removed his family and settled at Shrewsbury, N. J., in 1682 or 1683. His home here was in that part of Shrewsbury township bordering on Swimming River, near Newman's Spring. Two patents, both for land in Shrewsbury, are on record. One, dated March 25th, 1688, is for 140 acres on
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
5. Peteri Scott, born September 27th, 1687, at Shrewsbury, died October 2d, 1687, at Shrewsbury. 6. Esther^ Scott, born December 6th, 1689, at Shrewsbury ; nothing more is known about her.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Navesink Beach, Normandy and Rumson Beach, all facing the ocean and on the old Sandy Hook route, of railroad facilities; so it was determined to secure the right of way for a distance of four miles along the base of the Highlands, across the Shrewsbury River on a drawbridge, and continue on as before, taking in all the established stations. Many of the property owners conceded the required territory to the railroad people.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Jt Court of Sessions held at Shrewsbury, 1679, farm of, (Brown-Crawford), on road from Middletown to Shrewsbury, 1677, appointed highway commissioner, 1682, mentioned m 1706 road records, appointed to attend to repair of prison, 1692, a first settler, 1664, 549
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Shrewsbury’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 857 people in 1930 to 4,184 in 2020, 4 times over.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shrewsbury’s Wikipedia page.
Shrewsbury had its own post office from 1797 to 1952.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Shrewsbury is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #152 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 Allen House (listed 1974, the first), and 1 historic district, the Shrewsbury Historic District, with 20 contributing buildings. 23 historic buildings in all.
10% of Shrewsbury’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, 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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