OFFICIAL SITE OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEYAbout HPO
A brief history of the modern Historic Preservation Office
Historic preservation within the NJ Department of Environmental Protection evolved from roots in the state park system. In the 1960s, the Historic Sites Section in the Bureau of Parks had a more limited scope. Its responsibilities included the restoration, maintenance and operation of numerous historic houses and museums in the State Park System. Two or three staff crewed this smaller section.
Need for growth
With the advent of the Federal Historic Preservation Program in 1970, a new federal-state partnership formed. This joint effort administered a National Register of Historic Places and a grants-in-aid program. DEP’s Commissioner was designated the State Historic Preservation Officer.
By 1976, it was clear that staff in the small Historic Sites Section were overwhelmed by the workload of a growing program. Review and compliance suffered the most. Inadequate staffing held up hundreds of millions of dollars in federal assistance to New Jersey. In February 1976, the Bureau of Parks transferred review and compliance responsibilities to the Office of Environmental Review within the Commissioner’s office. The two offices merged in 1979 and left the administration of state-owned historic sites with Parks.
A new office
The Office of Historic Preservation was created on June 28, 1982. A year later, it was renamed the Office of New Jersey Heritage. It moved to its current location, 501 East State Street in Station Plaza, in 1988. Several years later it was renamed again, to the Historic Preservation Office, in 1992. The Historic Preservation Office currently operates under Community Investment & Economic Revitalization (CIER), part of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. You may still encounter some of these names and abbreviations, as well as former divisions HPO operated under, in our file and report collections.
| Years | Office Name | Initials | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 to 1945 | NJ Historic Sites Commission | NJHSC | A commission established in 1931 to oversee NJ’s state-owned historic properties. |
| 1945 to 1976 | Historic Sites Section | HSS or HS | The original name for what became the current office. Within the New Jersey Bureau of Parks. |
| 1959 to 1965 | NJ Historic Site Evaluation | NJHSE | The first effort by the Historic Sites Section to spread its reach beyond the state-owned historic properties. |
| 1977 to 1979 | Office of Environmental Review | OER | An early unit within the DEP to which the historic preservation project review functions were briefly transferred. |
| 1976 to 1979 | Office of Historic Preservation | OHP | One of the predecessor names for this office, replacing Historic Sites Section. |
| 1983 to 1992 | Office of New Jersey Heritage | ONJH | One of the predecessor names for this office. |
| 1992 to present | NJ Historic Preservation Office | NJHPO or HPO | The name formally used for this office since December 1992, replacing “Office of NJ Heritage.” This follows federal “State Historic Preservation Office” language and clarifies that we focus on historic preservation. |
Related offices and agencies
While our office often works with the following offices and other organizations, they are not a direct part of our office (or vice versa).
| Name | Alternate Name or Nickname | Initials | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey Historic Sites Council | Sites Council | HSC | They are part of the register review process involving our office. |
| New Jersey State Review Board of Historic Sites | State Review Board | SRB | They are part of the registration process for the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, which also involves our office. |
| New Jersey State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites | Division of Parks & Forestry, State Park Service | P&F | This part of DEP manages the state’s parks, including state-owned historic sites. Our office was formerly located within this division but, since we no longer manage historic sites, we were removed in 2004. |
| New Jersey Historic Trust | Historic Trust or “the Trust” | NJHT | This is a 501c3 charity that manages historic preservation capital grants. It was formerly located within DEP until 1983, when it moved to the Department of State, and is now affiliated with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). |
| Main Street New Jersey | MSNJ | This program was originally run by our office but is now part of the Department of Community Affairs. | |
| New Jersey Historical Commission | Historical Commission | NJHC | Located in the Department of State (DOS). They are involved in funding for historical research and operational costs. |
| New Jersey State Archives | State Archives | NJSA | Located in the Department of State. They manage the state’s historical documents archive and provide access to researchers. |
| Bureau of Archaeology and Ethnology | “State Museum” | Located in the NJ State Museum, also within the Department of State. They manage the state’s archaeological collection, including the registration of archaeological sites. | |
| Preservation New Jersey | PNJ | This nonprofit runs the New Jersey Historic Preservation Awards. |