Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #137 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1900.
The Spring Lake post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Spring Lake Beach (1882) and Lake Como (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spring Lake is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #137 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Spring Lake’s 25.2 sits above most of its state (76% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spring Lake. 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 Spring Lake.
Peaked at 4,215 in 1980; 2,789 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spring Lake’s Wikipedia page.
Spring Lake’s post office has been open since 1877. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Spring Lake.
Spring Lake was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 14, 1892, from portions of Wall Township, based on the results of a referendum held on March 8, 1892. On February 24, 1903, the borough of North Spring Lake was annexed to Spring Lake. The borough was named for a clear spring-fed lake.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveFMIB 34085 Kogia breviceps, (Blainville) Gray Pygmy Sperm Whale
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereKhigh Dhiegh is born here
In the archiveSt. Catharine Church, Spring Lake Beach, N.J
In the archiveCLOSER VIEW OF EAST FACADE LOOKING NORTHWEST - Essex and Sussex Hotel3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. 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 Spring Lake’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Spring Lake post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Spring Lake is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #137 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: 4 buildings, among them the Audenried Cottage (listed 1991, the first). 7 historic buildings in all.
32% of Spring Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1966.
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, 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1911
1917
1917