Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1811.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Chatham’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chatham is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Chatham’s overall grade.
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Chatham’s 47.9 sits above most of its state (68% of New York towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.3 points). Two sources give 1795.
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 →
What stands out about Chatham’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
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 early settlers were Dutch, but later Quakers and New Englanders arrived. The town of Chatham was formed from the towns of Canaan and Kinderhook in 1795. Contradictory of its current condition or image, Chatham was an industrial center of multiple inter-state rail lines in the early 1900s, including the junction of the Boston and Albany Railroad for connections east and west, the Rutland Railroad for connections to Vermont to the north, and the New York Central's Harlem Line for connections to New York City. In 1887 a terminal designed by Henry Hobson Richardson was constructed. Amtrak service on the Lake Shore Limited passes through, east–west, but does not stop. In later years Amtrak has planned to build a rail station in Chatham.
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.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Chatham, 1914–1921
Passages that mention Chatham, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Brief history of Chatham Morris County, New Jersey1914Read the page →
Read the text
1748 a church was built in South Hanover, Hanover Neck, which the members of the Whippany church in this part of the township of Hanover attended. The Presbyterian church at Bottle Hill, Madison, was built in 1765, and was largely composed of patrons from the town of Chatham. The Methodists of this vicinity previous to 1800 were related to the church at Turkey, New Providence, until a union meeting house was built in the year 1808, for the accommodation of both Methodists and Presbyterians.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The selection of Chatham as a station or rendezvous of the militia was largely due to the fact that the Passaic bridge on the main road was considered by the authorities to be a point of vital importance which must be carefully guarded.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Brief history of Chatham Morris County, New Jersey1914Read the page →
Read the text
Day and Peter Raymond to whom references has been made, are definitely located thereon. This little settlement lying peaceably along the Passaic was known until 1775 as John Day's Bridge. The name was changed about this date and the town was henceforth called Chatham after William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham. In consequence of his speeches in Parliament in defence of the colonies many towns throughout the east were given his name. The derivation of Chatham is from the Anglo Saxon — chete, cottage ; ham, village ; a village of cottages.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Chatham, New Jersey1921 · page 283Read the page →
Read the text
About a month before his departure from Chatham, namely, on the 14th of October, 1783, Captain Kollock founded a newspaper at New Brunswick called the Political Intelligencer and New Jersey Advertiser, which he published in partnership with his brother-in-law, Shelly Arnett, who had served an apprenticeship in the printing office at Chatham. This New Brunswick paper was subsequently moved to Elizabeth, where it first appeared April 20, 1785. About
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.
Timeline
Chatham, 1776 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1795, according to Wikidata. Chatham’s post office opened in 1811, and the census of 1820 counted 3,372 people here.
How does Chatham rank for history?
Chatham is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. 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 Chatham?
70% of Chatham’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (17), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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