The story
Read it all →How Exeter came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Exeter.
Exeter was given the name of the origin of its founders, Exeter, New Hampshire.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Exeter
12% of Exeter’s homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1983 on and the census since 1880.
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
What stands out about Exeter’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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Start Exeter’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Exeter’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Exeter in 1861
Passages that mention Exeter, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Lives of the bishops of Exeter1861 · page 109Read the page →
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two ferlings of land in Mettecombe, within the parish of Ottery, to meet the expenses of such obit, and charge themselves with a payment of ten shillings per annum to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, if they fail in the fulfilment of this obligation. His memory was also perpetuated in Exeter Cathedral, for we find in Queen Elizabeth’s regrant to its church on 5th July, 1585, an estate in the parish of Crediton, which was answerable
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lives of the bishops of Exeter1861 · page 274Read the page →
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of 1309. Bishop Bytton’s ‘ Register,’ which might have supplied the dates of collation in these two instances, has unfortunately perished. Bishop Stapeldon, on 16th April, 1309 (fol. 40), circiter horam vesperarum, granted licence to the Chapter of Exeter to elect one of the canons to the office of dean. On 2nd May following (fol. 40 6), his lordship collated to the prebend and canonry Robert de Stapeldon, Professor of Civil Law, which Master Thomas de Lechlade lately obtained in the Church of Exeter, and which
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.
By decade
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Exeter on the map, 1983 to 1990
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Exeter. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1983Winchester sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Exeter.
People over time
Exeter, census by census
Between 59 and 291 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Exeter’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Exeter
Nobody well known was born in Exeter itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about Exeter’s history
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.