Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Ashbel Woodward House. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1910 on and old-book passages.
The Franklin post office opened in 1814, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, North Franklin (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin is more historic than 61% 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 Franklin’s 20.0 sits below most of its state (24% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Franklin’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereUriah Tracy is born here
Born hereLafayette S. Foster is born here
Born hereOrsamus H. Marshall is born here
BuiltAshbel Woodward House is built
In the archiveWilliams Crossing bridge with concrete viaduct, April 1910From Wikipedia’s history of Franklin.
Europeans first settled in what would become Franklin in 1663 as part of the larger division of the town of Norwich. The residents of what would become Franklin first petitioned for an ecclesiastical society in 1710, but were denied. Six years later, their petition was granted and they formed the second ecclesiastical society of Norwich, also called the West Farms.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Franklin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
As this Deed covers every foot of territory now within the limits of the town of Franklin, and as portions of this ancient domain have never been alienated, but are still in the occupancy of the descendants of the original Proprietors, it has been deemed proper to insert it in this place.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Franklin’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Franklin had its own post office from 1814 to 1852. 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Franklin post office opened in 1814, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Franklin is more historic than 61% 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 Ashbel Woodward House (listed 1992).
10% of Franklin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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