Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Ton2cats · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #398 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Most of West Deptford Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listings are the Ladd's Castle. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1920 on, and the census since 1880.
West Deptford Township dates its founding to 1871 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, West Deptford Township is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #398 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 West Deptford Township’s 0.9 sits below most of its state (31% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 West Deptford Township’s history is told.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Deptford Township. 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 West Deptford Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of West Deptford Township.
Ladd's Castle, also known as Candor Hall, is a historic building located in the Colonial Manor section that is Gloucester County's oldest brick home. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, it was constructed c. 1688 by John Ladd, a surveyor who helped William Penn lay out a master design for the city of Philadelphia.
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 archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey (NJ) - Gloucester County - West Deptfo…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. 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 West Deptford Township’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.
Grew from 1,399 people in 1880 to 22,197 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Deptford Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1871, according to Wikidata. West Deptford Township’s post office opened in 1883, and the census of 1880 counted 1,399 people here.
West Deptford Township is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #398 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.
2 listings: 1 building, among them the Ladd's Castle (listed 1972, the first).
6% of West Deptford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (7), 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) 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.
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2026
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2024
2004