Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #71 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and a historic district with 69 buildings. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1790.
Amesbury dates its founding to 1642 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Amesbury is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #71 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Massachusetts towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Massachusetts town has 46.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Amesbury’s 46.5 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 81 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJosiah Bartlett is born here
Born herePaine Wingate is born here
In the archiveMacy House
In the archiveAmesbury Friends Meeting House and streetcar - 1910 postcard
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey Arthur C. Haskell, Photographer Oct. 9, 1935 (a) EXT.-…
In the archiveSeal of Amesbury, Massachusetts (2000–2012)
Born hereJeffrey Donovan is born hereLost a third of its people between 1870 and 1880, then grew 5-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Amesbury’s Wikipedia page.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Amesbury.
At the time of European contact and colonization, the area north of the Merrimack River was inhabited by the Pentucket Tribe of the Pennacook confederation. Several places in Amesbury retain or have been returned to indigenous names including the Powwow River and Hill, and Lake Attitash.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Amesbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
quite a number of deeds. He was chosen viewer of fences, 1695-6 ; constable, 1704-5 ; moderator, May, 1705, and March, 1705-6 ; juryman, 1708-9 and 1714 ; and at a later date his name frequently appears on the Amesbury records, with the title of " Left." On the Mass. records we find mentioned a memorial of Thom. Hoyt, Representative for the Town of Amesbury, respecting a wounded soldier, Nov.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in Amesbury, May 1, 1737, and dismissed to the second chh. in Salisbury, June 21, 1739, — reed, there July 1, 1739. He was residing in that part of Salisbury which was incorporated as South Hampton in 1742. His oldest child's birth is recorded in Amesbury, the second in Salisbury, the three next in S. Hampton, and the two youngest in Brentwood.
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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1905Macy HousePostcard
1907–1915Amesbury station postcard (2)Postcard
c. 1908Main Street, Amesbury, with streetcar - 1908 postcardPostcard
1909Whittier's HomePostcardc. 1910Amesbury Friends Meeting House and streetcar - 1910 p…Postcard
c. 1910Josiah Bartlett's StatuePostcard
1911Friends' Meeting HousePostcard
1911Main Street from Market SquarePostcard
1911–1915Walker-Wells Company and Amesbury Branch - postcardPostcard
1911Lake Attitash
1913Seal of Amesbury, Massachusetts (1913)
1913The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur) - Squire Bagley …
1915–1930Amesbury station postcardPostcard
2024Amesbury Memorial
2023St James Episcopal Church
2023Little Free Library, Main Street Congregational Church
2022Logo of Amesbury, Massachusetts (vertical)
2022Logo of Amesbury, Massachusetts (horizontal)
2022Logo of Amesbury, Massachusetts (arched)
2022AmesburySettlers
2021Little Free Library
2018MVRTA route 51 bus in Amesbury, July 2018
2018AmesburyMass.banner
2017The Doughboy, Amesbury Middle School
2016Vineyardwintersunset
2016Pumpkin Picking (Unsplash)
2016Cider Hill Farm, Amesbury, United States (Unsplash dv…
2016Cider Hill Farm, Amesbury, United States (Unsplash bv…
2014Jewell Towne Vineyards
2012South end of Tuxbury Pond
2012Seal of
2006Mary Baker Eddy Historic HouseEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Amesbury. 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 Amesbury.
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 Amesbury’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Amesbury’s post office has been open since 1821. Two 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 1642, according to Wikidata. Amesbury’s post office opened in 1800, and the first U.S. census counted 1,801 people here in 1790.
Amesbury is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #71 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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.
9 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 8 buildings, among them the John Greenleaf Whittier House (a National Historic Landmark since 1962), and 1 historic district, the Amesbury and Salisbury Mills Village Historic District, with 69 contributing buildings. 81 historic buildings in all.
36% of Amesbury’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (36), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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 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.
1939
Date?
