Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. What drives it
25 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 31 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1820.
Norfolk dates its founding to 1758 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Norfolk is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs put Norfolk near the top nationally; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest.
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 Norfolk’s 400 sits above most of its state (90% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 69 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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.
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.
Norfolk’s post office has been open since 1804. 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 Norfolk’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Norfolk.
Norfolk incorporated as a town in 1758. Although the town was named after Norfolk in England, the name of the town may be pronounced various ways by residents.
The Norfolk Historic District includes the historic center of the village of Norfolk.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Norfolk, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Whereas, the Honorable General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut aforesaid, did at their session held at New Haven upon the second Thursday of October, A.D. 1758, enact, decree and declare that the township of Norfolk should be incorporated, and did incorporate said township of Norfolk and ordered and decreed that Mr. George Palmer and Mr. Ezra Knap should warn all the inhabitants of said Norfolk to meet at some suitable place in said Norfolk on
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"But two out of 256 voters of this town appear to oppose the line through the Green. A petition signed by 204 of 256 voters of this town reads as follows: 'We the undersigned, voters and tax-payers of the town of Norfolk, being desirous of promoting the best interests of the town in the location of the Railroad through said town, and fully believing that the business interests, the protection to private property, the safety to public travel, and proper depot facilities, require that the road be laid out and located on
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltAmos Baldwin House is built
Born hereWilliam Henry Welch is born here
In the archiveMap of the town of Norfolk, Litchfield County, Ct
In the archive1888 blizzard in
In the archiveGymnasts inBuiltMoss Hill is built
BuiltWorld War I Memorial is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Norfolk. 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 Norfolk.
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 Norfolk’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 2,156 in 1980; 1,588 people lived here in 2020.
19 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Norfolk’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1758, according to Wikidata. Norfolk’s post office opened in 1804, and the census of 1820 counted 1,422 people here.
Norfolk is among the most historic 1% 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.
25 listings: 22 buildings, among them the Tamarack Lodge Bungalow (listed 1977, the first), 1 historic district, the Norfolk Historic District, with 31 contributing buildings, 1 structure, and 1 object. 69 historic buildings in all.
52% of Norfolk’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (25), 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), 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.
c. 1897