Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 37% of U.S. towns · #369 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Shadow Lawn, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1910.
The West Long Branch post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 37% 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 Long Branch is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #369 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 West Long Branch’s 3.5 sits near the middle of its state (48% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 3 listings 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 West Long Branch’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Long Branch. 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 Long Branch.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of West Long Branch.
Prior to being called West Long Branch, the area had been called Mechanicsville from the 18th century through the Civil War, and then Branchburg in the 1870s. The name West Long Branch appears in the 1889 Wolverton Atlas of Monmouth County, and seems to have derived its name from its proximity to a section of the Shrewsbury River.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereTrent Hindman is born hereGrew from 879 people in 1910 to 8,587 in 2020, 9 times over.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Long Branch’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
West Long Branch’s post office has been open since 1905.
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.
The West Long Branch post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
West Long Branch is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #369 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.
Three places: the Shadow Lawn (listed 1978), the Murry Guggenheim House (1978) and the MacGregor-Tallman House (1985).
15% of West Long Branch’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 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 (5), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
★ Landmark
Date?
2026
2017
2016
2012