Founding year: the first Westville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Westville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westville is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #188 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 Westville’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 Westville’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 (±8.3 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 Westville’s past
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 Westville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1891Philadelphia sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Westville.
Every building
Westville, building by building, 1909–1926
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.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Westville, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Westville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Westville is a borough in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,264, a decrease of 24 (−0.6%) from the 2010 census count of 4,288, which in turn reflected a decline of 212 (−4.7%) from the 4,500 counted in the 2000 census. Westville has been called "The Gateway to South Jersey!" Westville was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 7, 1914, from portions of Deptford Township and West Deptford Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 28, 1914. The borough was reincorporated on March 8, 1924. Legislation had been passed in 1900 to create Westville, but it had to h…
Its first post office opened in 1842. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,288 in 2010, 4,264 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Westville, 1842 to 1935
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.
The Westville post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Westville rank for history?
Westville is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #188 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 Westville?
35% of Westville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1949.
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 (12), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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