Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns · #142 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 41 buildings. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1850.
Madison dates its founding to 1641 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Madison is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #142 of 155 in Connecticut. All 2 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 Madison’s 30.7 sits below most of its state (29% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 54 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltShelley House is built
Born hereThomas Chittenden is born here
BuiltAllis-Bushnell House is built
Born hereClarissa Munger Badger is born here
In the archiveView of Madison, Conn. 1881
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMadison Green
Born hereWilliam Scranton is born here
BuiltState Park Supply Yard is built
Born hereBrad Anderson is born hereMadison’s post office has been open since 1826. 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Madison. 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 Madison.
From Wikipedia’s history of Madison.
Madison was first settled in 1641. Throughout the 18th century, Madison was known as East Guilford until it was incorporated as a town in 1826. It is presently named after James Madison, 4th President of the United States.
From 1935 to 1942, Madison served as the site of Camp Hadley, one of 23 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Connecticut.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1881View of Madison, Conn. 18811905Madison Green
1905Memorial Hall
1905Village Stores
1905Hand Academy
1905Congregational Church
1905Beach scene
1905At the shore
1905Wall Street looking North
1905Cottages along beach
1905E.C. Scranton Library
1906PostcardMadisonCTScrantonLibr1906Postcard
1907–1915Madison (CT) station postcardPostcard
1907–1915Passenger train crossing the Hammonassett River - pos…Postcard
1908Madison or Oakville Apr 30 1908No 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 Madison’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.
Between 1,429 and 18,269 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Madison’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1641, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Madison’s post office opened in 1814, and the census of 1850 counted 1,837 people here.
Madison is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #142 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.
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Allis-Bushnell House (listed 1982, the first), and 1 historic district, the Madison Green Historic District, with 41 contributing buildings. 54 historic buildings in all.
12% of Madison’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1976.
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), the Library of Congress (10), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
