Princeton Maps
Collections available at Princeton Public Library, Princeton University, and online.
Collections available at Princeton Public Library, Princeton University, and online.
The map case in the Princeton Room includes a small but interesting collection of historical Princeton Borough and Princeton Township printed maps. These include zoning maps, street maps, and bicycle maps. Search for a specific map in the library’s online catalog if you know of words from the title of the map. Or view a list of all cataloged maps using this link for the Princeton Public Library Map Collection. In the catalog record, look under “About” and click on “Full Details” to learn more.
Additional printed maps can be found in some of the Polk city directories, in old phone books, as part of individual books that are part of the Local History neighborhood and in the Princeton Architectural Survey. There may also be uncatalogued maps in the Vertical File.
Many of these maps were donations from Princeton University and may be part of their Digital Maps & Geospatial Data collection which also includes the Sanborn Insurance Maps for Princeton. There are quite a number of map collections accessible online that offer fully digitized maps, both historical and more current.
Digitized map collections continue to grow. The map links listed here for these online collections are only a representative sample of what can be found when searching each of the databases, a hint of what you might find. These collections can contain historical as well as more recent maps, property and tax maps, street maps, and war and battle maps. There is quite a bit of duplication between the collections but each has unique items as well. For the best result, when searching for a particular map, all collections should be searched as maps are being added continuously.
Part of the Trentoniana Historic Map Collections at the Trenton Free Public Library and part of RUCore: Rutgers University Community Repository, this digitized book contains 6 detailed map plates (A-F) for the Borough of Princeton and three indices, one of which is an alphabetical listing of street names. PPL has a copy of this book in print in our Map Case in the Princeton Room. It is quite large and fragile and we recommend using the online version. The digital link is also found in the book’s record in the library online catalog.
Many of the older Princeton maps are no longer available on the current town website but can be found using the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive. The links below are a combination of modern maps on the current website and links found through the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive.
Princeton Historic Sites and Districts Map from the Office of Historic Preservation
Older historic maps for Kingston Mill and Tusculum, Mansgrove & Donald G. Herring Estate-Old Arreton Road historic districts can be found on the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive which allows researchers to locate older, archived versions of websites.
Overlay Zoning Map of Historic Preservation Districts and Historic Preservation Buffer Districts, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, prepared by the Princeton Engineering Department. Adopted Dec 8, 2014.
Zoning Maps for former Princeton Township and Borough
Here is the main link to this digitized collection. More information about it can be found on the Historic Maps Collection page. The University's collections are deep and varied and include the Sanborn Insurance Maps as well as historical maps of the campus, Princeton Borough and the Township of Princeton.
A good place to start your search is to use the word Princeton or a subject term such as princeton (n.j.)-maps, the name of a street or location, or choose from the suggested, narrower subject headings in the search box. Listed below are examples of the types of maps found here. There are too many to list individually.
Plan of the operations of George Washington against the kings troops in New Jersey from the 26th of December 1776 to the 3d of January 1777 (also available from the Library of Congress, see below)
Princeton Borough and Township: Extent of Community, 1777 A.D.
Plan of Princeton, 1875
Map of Princeton N.J., 1890
Street, address, and block guide for Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, 1968
Chestnut Street, 18--? (with names of property owners or residents)
Nassau Street, 1880
Map of Broadmead, December 10, 1901
Automobile Driving and Trolley Map, Mercer County, New Jersey, 1905
Princeton, the Lair of the Tiger, 1948 (a humorous map)
Links to online maps as well as the collection of printed maps (viewable on-site only) can be found in the University's library catalog as well. See below for hints on searching the online catalog.
The Sanborn Map Company created detailed building maps for towns and cities, including Princeton, to be used by governments and insurance companies. This collection includes maps for the years 1885, 1890, 1895, 1902, 1906, 1911, 1918, 1927. More Information about the Sanborn maps can be found here. Sanborn maps are not unique to Princeton and include thousands of towns and cities. There is also a link to maps for other New Jersey locales.
Links to online maps, as well as those in the print map collection that can only be viewed on-site, can be found via the University's library catalog, which allows you to search by keyword, subject keyword as well as format such as map. Use this link to go directly to a list of Princeton maps or this link for a subject keyword search for Princeton maps.
Reviewing a list of map titles can be frustrating and not necessarily indicative of the contents or subject of the map because many of the maps are just titled Princeton, like this one: titled Princeton, N.J. [map], which is actually a railroad map showing the relocation of the station in Princeton in 1916. The University has the print map as well as an online one. Link is in the catalog entry to the online map. The full catalog record gives the most complete information. Because of this unfortunate way of naming maps, this means you may have to open each record and view the map to see exactly what is being depicted.
There are other ways to search the catalog. One is to use the subject headings found in the catalog record. All records have these subject headings. The first step is to locate a map of interest and click on the link for one of the subject headings and discover additional resources that share that same subject heading. Another option is to search by author since many of the maps do have a name attached to them. For example, a number of maps have C. S. Sincerbeaux, Borough engineer as the author. Limit the search results to only maps.
Once a map record is found, click on the title and check the description for an online link. Many catalog records also have an image as part of the record. All of the maps in the Digital Maps and Geospatial Data are also found in the catalog and may be easier to search in the catalog which has sometimes better searching options.
An online exhibit from Princeton University to accompany the book by the same name. This online exhibit includes many, many maps such as Map of the Road from Trenton to Amboy 1762 as well as explanatory text and photos. The book is part of the Atlas collection in the Princeton Public Library's Reading Room.
This collection contains more than just maps, so you will have to search through other items (start by searching "Princeton" or "Mercer County"). Below is only a representative sample of what can be found on the current site. Contains older as well as more modern maps.
1849 J. W. Otley Map of Mercer County, New Jersey, with large scale insets of Princeton and Trenton
Atlas Sheet No. 5: A Topographical Map of the Vicinity of Flemington from Somerville and Princeton Westward to the Delaware (Geological Survey of New Jersey), 1889
Historical USGS (United States Geological Survey) Map, Princeton, 1909, "surveyed in 1885."
Princeton Borough, Mercer County, New Jersey, 2-15-1949. Fire insurance map
Princeton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, 2-15-1949. Fire insurance map
Princeton Borough, Aerial Photograph, 1972
Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, 1974
Most of these maps are also now found in Maps of New Jersey. See the section below for a description of that resource. It is also a product of Rutgers University and part of RUCore.
This collection was originally the gateway to the digitized map collections found in Rutgers University Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives, New Jersey Environmental Digital Library and the New Jersey Digital Highway. In Spring 2021, it looks to have expanded beyond the original contributors to include a number of public libraries, including Trenton Free Public Library. Many of the maps found here were originally part of RUCore or other collections and have been aggregated in this site.
Visit the New Jersey Digital Highway for maps and images.
This is an older website from Rutgers University Geology Department titled Cartography that includes many types of New Jersey maps, including individual towns and counties. It is not currently maintained, with many broken links, but includes maps not found elsewhere. A number of the maps are now part of Maps of New Jersey. In the section for counties, looking under Mercer County yields maps for Princeton, such as these:
Map of the Borough of Princeton, November 1909
Map of the Borough of Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, by William Ulyat, 1926
Looking under sections for adjacent counties or general New Jersey maps will often lead to ones that include Princeton on the map, such as:
Outline Map of New Jersey for Schools, prepared by Ellis A. Apgar, 1872
The Library of Congress Map Collection contains maps from across the globe. From Chile to Italy and the towns in between, including our little town in the heart of New Jersey. Maps include:
Battles of Princeton and Trenton: Read this blog about the materials at the Library of Congress on the Battle of Trenton and Princeton, which includes links to these maps and other collections of interest.
Sketch and Engagement at Trenton by Andreas Wiederholdt
Plan of Princeton 1776 by Colonel John Cadwalader
Cote de York-town a Boston: Marches de l'armee, 1782. Princeton is just right of center in this "map of the route...of Comte de Rochambeau's army from Providence, R.I. to Yorktown, Va., and the return march to Boston."
Map of the State of New York with part of the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey &c., 1817. Princeton can be found on the map and a similar map can be found here.
A new map of East and West New Jersey [sic] being an exact survey, 1706. Does not show Princeton but is an interesting map nonetheless.
The Harvard Geospatial Library includes maps and information from across the globe. There are numerous maps of Princeton and the surrounding area, including:
The NYPL Digital Collections include maps, atlases, and more, many of which include areas of New Jersey.
Geological Survey of New Jersey. Atlas of New Jersey. 1854-89.