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B+History
History · Bridgewater Town

Bridgewater Town dates to 1650, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #261 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it

Its Register listing is the McElwain, William H., School. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1790.

1650founded
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
22famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bridgewater Town’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bridgewater Town began

When was Bridgewater Town founded?

1650

Bridgewater Town dates its founding to 1650 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 4,975 in 17902020 census: 28,633376 years

How historic is Bridgewater Town?

B+

More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1800.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Bridgewater Town’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bridgewater Town is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #261 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bridgewater Town’s overall grade.
Founding era1650, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194011.9% of homes (±2.8) · typical MA town 21.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 0.4 per 10,000 residents · typical MA town 46.0 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 65%
NewerOlder
Massachusetts towns of 2,500+ (283)Ahead of 8%

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 Bridgewater Town’s 0.4 sits below most of its state (6% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1650.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size.

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 →

What stands out about Bridgewater Town’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Bridgewater Town, and 7 old place names are still on the map.Older than the countryEstablished in 1650, 126 years before the Declaration of Independence.On the map since 18857 editions of the USGS map, 1885 to 1977. Watch Bridgewater Town change.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1800 and 1820, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bridgewater
1800–today
South Bridgewater
1816–1831
Scotland
1834–1912
South Bridgewater
1851–1959
State Farm
1887–1951
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BridgewaterCamp TiticutPaper Mill VillageScotlandScotland EstatesSouth BridgewaterStanley
Gone or out of use
Bridgewater Post Officepost officeScotland Post Officepost officeTiticut Stationlocale
18cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bridgewater Town
Conant StreetFirstFirst Roman CatholicFirst Saint Thomas AquinasGreat WoodsHarlowHillsideJennings HillMount ProspectOld Saint Thomas AquinasPine StreetPratt TownScotlandSmallpoxSouth StreetState FarmTrinity ChurchVernon Street

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Bridgewater Town, 1650 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 17th century
  2. 1650
    FoundingBridgewater Town is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1800Post officeThe Bridgewater post office opens
  5. 1816Post officeThe South Bridgewater post office opens
  6. 1828Born hereGeorge Leonard Andrews is born here
  7. 1831Post officeThe South Bridgewater post office closes
  8. 1834Post officeThe Scotland post office opens
  9. 1853In the archive1853 map of North
  10. 1881Born hereJoseph Augustine Cushman is born here
  11. 1885On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 20th century
  13. 1903Born hereMickey Cochrane is born here
  14. 1912Post officeThe Scotland post office closes
  15. 1920In the archiveBowman's Express Delivery Wagon - Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 029
  16. 1992Born hereDennis Clifford is born here
  17. 21st century
  18. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 28,633
On the map

Bridgewater Town on the map, 1885 to 1977

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bridgewater Town. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Bridgewater Town on the 1885 USGS mapBridgewater Town on the 1893 USGS mapBridgewater Town on the 1916 USGS mapBridgewater Town on the 1937 USGS mapBridgewater Town on the 1949 USGS mapBridgewater Town on the 1962 USGS mapBridgewater Town on the 1977 USGS map1885Middleboro sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bridgewater Town.

The story

How Bridgewater Town came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bridgewater Town.

Read it all →

This area was established as a part of Duxbury in 1645 by purchase from the Native Americans by 54 proprietors—most who did not settle there. Bridgewater was established as a Township on June 3, 1656 from Duxbury in Plymouth Colony. The town was placed in Plymouth County when counties were formed in 1685. For a brief time, the town was part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. The township expanded by annexation between 1662 and 1798, and the town proper was bounded in 1846. The town is still in Plymouth County, though was in limbo, until the "Colony" was merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691 that became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Bridgewater Town, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s1 item
1853 map of North18531853 map of NorthMap
1920s5 items
Bowman's Express Delivery Wagon - Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0291920Bowman's Express Delivery Wagon - Bridgewater, Massac…Central Square, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0091920Central Square, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0…Central Square, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0181920Central Square, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0…Central Square, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0221920Central Square, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 0…Four-legged tree, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC004 0861920Four-legged tree, Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC004…
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bowman's Express Delivery Wagon - Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 029
Retake this viewBowman's Express Delivery Wagon - Bridgewater, Massachusetts - VMC022 029, 1920

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bridgewater Town’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Bridgewater Town

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2013
McElwain, William H., School
McElwain, William H., School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Classical Revival1
McElwain, William H., SchoolClassical Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Bridgewater Town, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,000180018501900195020005,200 in 1800Low: 1,700

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1800 and 1820, then grew more than tenfold.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bridgewater Town’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

22 famous people were born in Bridgewater Town

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Mickey CochraneAmerican baseball player · b. 1903
J
Joseph Augustine CushmanAmerican geologist and paleontologist · b. 1881
Dennis CliffordAmerican basketball player · b. 1992
George Leonard AndrewsUnion Army general · b. 1828
B
Brenda MaddoxAmerican biographer and journalist · b. 1932
C
Charles GarryAmerican lawyer · b. 1909
Help out

Finish Bridgewater Town’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBowman's Express Delivery Wagon - Bridg…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Middleborough8 historic placesA+East Bridgewater2 historic placesAHalifaxIts storyBRaynhamIts storyB−West Bridgewater2 historic placesA−Raynham CenterIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bridgewater Town’s history

What year was Bridgewater Town founded?

In 1650, according to Wikidata. Bridgewater Town’s post office opened in 1800, and the first U.S. census counted 4,975 people here in 1790.

How does Bridgewater Town rank for history?

Bridgewater Town is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #261 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.

What is on the National Register in Bridgewater Town?

One place: the McElwain, William H., School (listed 2013).

How old are the homes in Bridgewater Town?

12% of Bridgewater Town’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1984.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.