Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Freeholdman12 · CC BY 4.0More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #265 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of Spotswood was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1967. Its Register listing is the St. Peters Church and Buildings. Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1910.
The Spotswood post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1908.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spotswood is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #265 of 468 in New Jersey. Its age holds 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 Spotswood’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (49% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Spotswood’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spotswood. 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 Spotswood.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Spotswood.
Its first settler James Johnston originally called the place "Spottiswoode", named for his old place of residence in Scotland, and dates back to its original settlement in 1685. It was also historically spelled Spottswood.
The Bordentown and South Amboy Turnpike, a stagecoach route built in 1816, passed through Spotswood.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Spotswood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Borou-gh of Spotswood — This borough, created April 15, 1908, is on the southeast border of East Brunswick, near the mouth of Machaponix creek, and is a station on the Camden & Amboy branch of the Pennsylvania railroad, about eleven miles south of Perth Amboy. Among the earliest residents, of whom there is any record, were David Carnegie (Lord Rosehill), John Lewis Johnston, James Rue, Samuel Neilson, David Stout, Richard Lott, James Abrams and James and John Perrine, referred to in the charter of St. Peter's Church, granted November 23,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
some of it having been found well adapted for ship-building and commanding a ready and profitable sale. The Camden & Amboy branch of the Pennsylvania railroad runs along the northwestern border of the township for some distance. Old Bridge and Spotswood being convenient stations. It is probable that settlement began at Cheesequake, near the head of navigation on Cheesequake creek, and that there, and in the Browntown neighborhood, the majority of the pioneers located. The first
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.
2025Spotswood, NJ post office, May 2025
2025Spotswood, NJ Reformed Church, May 2025
2025Spotswood, NJ Municipal Building (2), May 2025
2025Spotswood, NJ Municipal Building (1), May 2025
2025Spotswood, NJ Fire Department, Oct. 2025
2025Spotswood, NJ Fire Department memorial, May 2025
20252025-09-15 16 09 10 Aerial view of Spotswood, Middles…
2024Spotswood Public Library
2021World War Two Memorial
2021Camden and Amboy Railroad Memorial
2008Census Bureau map ofMapFire 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.
1897Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 623 and 8,257 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spotswood’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Spotswood itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Spotswood post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1908.
Spotswood is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #265 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.
One place: the St. Peters Church and Buildings (listed 1979).
5% of Spotswood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, 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.
