Founding year: the first South Amboy post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives South Amboy’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, South Amboy is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #176 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of South Amboy’s 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 South Amboy’s 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 C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.2 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 South Amboy’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
First settled by the Lenape Native Americans, who called the area around Perth Amboy by the name "Ompoge" (meaning "level ground"), the settlement ultimately became a key port for commerce between Lower New York Bay and Philadelphia, connected first by stagecoach and eventually by railroad. The city was initially founded as a village by Dutch fishermen known as Radford's Ferry, but later become a key city to safeguard New Amsterdam from the British. When settled by Europeans in 1684, the city was named New Perth in honor of James Drummond, Earl of Perth, one of the associates of a company of Scottish proprietaries. The Algonquian language name was corrupted to Ambo, or Point Amboy, and eventually a combination of the native and colonial names was used. South Amboy is mentioned during the Revolutionary War in letters to and from George Washington referring to an "officer stationed on the…
Passages that mention South Amboy, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921 · page 441Read the page →
Read the text
Wynant Wood came to the township about 1800, and spent the remainder of his life there, leaving a large family. Edward Furman, grandfather of the late Noah Furman, of South Amboy, was an early settler on South river, near Old Bridge. He was a large shipper of wood from Old Bridge and South Amboy, and bought and sold much
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-19201921 · page 157Read the page →
Read the text
tary of the Board of Health of South Amboy, his term being one year. From 1917 to 1920 he was city solicitor of South Amboy. During the World War Mr. Coakley enlisted in the army and was assigned for duty at the medical detachment headquarters, port of embarkation, Newport News, Virginia, remaining there until discharged, in January, 1919. After the troops were disbanded and the American Legion was formed, Mr. Coakley became a member of it. He is now past vice-commander of the county association.
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
South Amboy, 1843 to 2020
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.
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.
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.
The South Amboy post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does South Amboy rank for history?
South Amboy is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #176 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 South Amboy?
38% of South Amboy’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (16), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (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), 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.
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