Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #117 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Wylie School. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1820.
Voluntown dates its founding to 1721 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Voluntown is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #117 of 155 in Connecticut. 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 Voluntown’s 7.7 sits below most of its state (6% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Voluntown’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
19 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Voluntown’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Voluntown. 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 Voluntown.
From Wikipedia’s history of Voluntown.
The town was named for the colonial volunteers in the 1675 King Philip's War who stayed to fight "and went not away". One of the founders of Voluntown was Lieutenant Thomas Leffingwell, who secured the town's approval in the colonial legislature and surveyed its original layout.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereHarvey Campbell is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - New London County - Voluntown - ED …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveStone along the highway, Route 165, near Voluntown, Connecticut painted to look like a dog2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2011Pachaug Trail - Wiclcabouet Marsh
2011Pachaug Trail - Terminus at Green Fall Pond
2011Pachaug Trail - Green Fall Pond northernmost shore lo…
2011Pachaug Trail - Great Meadow Brook Pond
2011Pachaug Trail - 2 Great Meadow Brook Pond
2010Voluntown CT lg
2007Connecticut Town History Sign
2007Connecticut Town History SignNo 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 Voluntown’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.
Voluntown’s post office has been open since 1826.
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.
In 1721, according to Wikidata. Voluntown’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1820 counted 1,116 people here.
Voluntown is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #117 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.
One place: the Wylie School (listed 1991).
13% of Voluntown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1940
1940