Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #34 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
25 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, a National Historic Landmark, and ten historic districts with 782 buildings between them. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1790.
Norwalk dates its founding to 1640 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Norwalk is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #34 of 155 in Connecticut. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age 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 Norwalk’s 86.5 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 797 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% 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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveGeneralViewOfTheGreenNorwalkCT1855
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltNorwalk River Railroad Bridge is built
In the archiveSelleck Overlook Military Academy, Norwalk, Conn
In the archiveBay State Limited taking on water at Rowayton - postcard
BuiltGreens Ledge Lighthouse is builtBuiltRock Ledge is built
Born hereHorace Silver is born here
BuiltMerritt Parkway is built
Born hereGeorge Smith is born here
Born hereD.J. Caruso is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Norwalk.
Roger Ludlow purchased the areas east of the Norwalk River from Chief Mahackemo of the Norwaake (or Naramauke) Indians in 1640. Norwalk was settled in 1649, incorporated September 1651, and named after the Algonquin word noyank, meaning "point of land", or more probably from the Native American name "Naramauke".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1898Selleck Overlook Military Academy, Norwalk, ConnPostcard
1899Norwalk, South Norwalk, and East Norwalk, Conn1901–1907Bay State Limited taking on water at Rowayton - postc…Postcard
1901–1907South Norwalk station postcard (3)Postcard
1905PostcardGroveRotonPtNorwalkCT1905Postcard
c. 1906PostcardMainStRowaytonNorwalkCT1906Postcard
c. 1906South Norwalk station 1906 postcardPostcard
1907PostcardNorwalkCTFranklinStreetSchool1907Postcard
1909PostCardEastAvenue1909postmarkPostcardEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Norwalk. 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 Norwalk.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1891Sheet 1 of 8Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Norwalk’s page.
Retake this view · +15Lost two-thirds of its people between 1790 and 1810, then grew more than tenfold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Norwalk’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Norwalk’s post office has been open since 1773. 10 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).
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 1640, according to Wikidata. Norwalk’s post office opened in 1773, and the first U.S. census counted 11,942 people here in 1790.
Norwalk is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #34 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.
25 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion (a National Historic Landmark since 1970), 13 historic districts with 782 contributing buildings, and 3 structures. 797 historic buildings in all.
19% of Norwalk’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (10), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
