Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register.
The Eastford post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1847. Two smaller post offices, North Ashford (1835) and Phoenixville (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eastford is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Eastford’s 53.6 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% 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 Eastford’s history is told.
Eastford’s post office has been open since 1826. Two 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Eastford.
Eastford was formed in 1847 when it separated from Ashford, Connecticut. The name "Eastford" is locational, for the town is east of Ashford.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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.
The Eastford post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1847.
Eastford is more historic than 80% 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Benjamin Bosworth House (listed 1978, the first). 9 historic buildings in all.
21% of Eastford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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