Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns · #47 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 60 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1850.
The Andover post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1848.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Andover is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #47 of 155 in Connecticut. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
Connecticut towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Connecticut town has 73.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Andover’s 203 sits above most of its state (75% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 64 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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 Andover’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Andover.
Andover was incorporated on May 18, 1848, from Hebron and Coventry. The name is a transfer from Andover, Hampshire, England.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2017Burnap Skinner Memorial Library
2014CoventryCT HutchinsonRoad
2014AndoverCT HutchinsonRoad W3R Marker
2012AndoverCT PhelpsBinghamHouse
2012AndoverCT CongregationalChurch
2011Burnap Skinner Memorial Library
2011Burnap Skinner Memorial Library in
2010Andover Historical Society
2010Andover CT lg
2007Andover ct highlight
2006US-CT-AndoverThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Andover.
1892Gilead sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Andover.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Andover’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 371 and 3,303 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Andover’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Andover post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1848.
Andover is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #47 of 155 in Connecticut. 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 White's Tavern (listed 1991), the Andover Center Historic District (2003) and the March Route Rochambeau's Army-Hutchinson Road (2002).
21% of Andover’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
