Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1880.
The Westport post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westport is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Indiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Indiana town has 7.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Westport’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Westport’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Westport.
Westport was laid out in March 1836. Simeon Sharp and Hockersmith Merryman were the founders of Westport when 20 lots were laid out based around a center point at the intersection of Main and Poplar Streets. The Westport post office was established in 1839, but first spelled West Port.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Westport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The township of Westport, as well as that of Dartmouth, is chiefly an agricultural district, for which New Bedford affords a ready market for all manner of produce. The village of Westport * The orthography of this word varies in the old surveys of land.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Westport is the westernmost portion of the old township of Dartmouth, and was separately incorporated at the time of the division in 1787. It is about thirteen miles in length, and about four miles average breadth. Its Indian name was Acoaxet, and it was early settled by a hardy and industrious body of yeomen. Agriculture is still the chief employment of the inhabitants, and there
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
though it had belonged to the state since the confiscation of Skene's property.* It was also often called the "Crown Point bed," and it lies upon territory which belonged to, the town of Westport until 1819. The "piropjue" of the Plattsburgh proprietors was the same khid of vessel c;dled in Cooper's novel, the "Water Witch," a "periagua," and thus described : "The periagua, as the craft was called, partook of a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"I, John Ferris, Jr., of the town of Westport and state of New York, do swear that I will faithfully perform all the duties required of me, and abstain from everything forbidden by the law in relation to the establishment of Post Oitices and Post Pioads within the United States.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Westport. 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 Westport.
Between 212 and 1,515 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Westport’s Wikipedia page.
The Westport post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Westport is more historic than 67% 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.
28% of Westport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.2 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana 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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.
2011
2011