Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1820.
Bozrah dates its founding to 1786 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bozrah is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Bozrah’s 8.7 sits below most of its state (9% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Bozrah had its own post office from 1828 to 1888. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bozrah’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1860 and 1900, then grew 3-fold.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bozrah’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bozrah.
The area that became Bozrah was first settled as part of the original "nine-miles-square" of Norwich as well as part of the Parish of West Farms. The area became its own parish, called "New Concord" or the "Fourth Society of Norwich", in 1737, and was incorporated as the town of Bozrah in 1786.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereReuben H. Walworth is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2024Hopemead State Park entrance
2021Service Members Train on French Swimming Obstacle Cou…
2018Tree growing on Fitchville Branch tracks, December 20…
2018Fitchville Branch embankment, December 2018
2011Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage (parsonage…
2011Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage (church) -…
2010Bozrah CT lgEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bozrah. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bozrah.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1786, according to Wikidata. Bozrah’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1820 counted 1,085 people here.
Bozrah is more historic than 63% 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.
One place: the Bozrah Congregational Church and Parsonage (listed 1991).
17% of Bozrah’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
