Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #81 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 72 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1820.
North Stonington dates its founding to 1807 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Stonington is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #81 of 155 in Connecticut. All 3 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 North Stonington’s 149 sits above most of its state (66% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 77 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% 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.
North Stonington’s post office has been open since 1811. Five 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 North Stonington’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1820 and 1910, then grew 4-fold.
19 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Stonington’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of North Stonington yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
North Stonington is a town in New London County, Connecticut. The town was split off from Stonington in 1724. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 5,149 at the 2020 census.
North Stonington was established in 1807.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJohn Denison Baldwin is born here
Born hereJames M. Pendleton is born here
Born hereAlbert Marshman Palmer is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveN&W trolley at
In the archiveSamuelMinerHouse2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of North Stonington. 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 North Stonington.
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 North Stonington’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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1807, according to Wikidata. North Stonington’s post office opened in 1811, and the census of 1820 counted 2,624 people here.
North Stonington is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #81 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Samuel Miner House (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the North Stonington Village Historic District, with 72 contributing buildings. 77 historic buildings in all.
14% of North Stonington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1977.
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), 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.
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