Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #103 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
24 places in town are on the National Register, among them six historic districts with 141 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1830.
Brockton dates its founding to 1700 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brockton is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #103 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Brockton ranks #54 on History.
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 Brockton’s 15.1 sits below most of its state (32% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 159 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brockton’s history is told.
Brockton’s post office has been open since 1874. Three 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Brockton.
In 1649, Ousamequin (Massasoit) sold the surrounding Wampanoag land—then known as Saughtucket—to Myles Standish as an addition to Duxbury. Brockton was part of this area, which the English renamed Bridgewater. On June 15, 1821, a portion of the then Bridgewater Township was established as North Bridgewater.
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.
BuiltBrockton Edison Electric Illuminating Company Power Station is built
In the archiveMain & Allen Sts. S.E., Brockton MA, by Caldwell, Artist, 1886, from the Digital Commonwe…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveUS 1893 Brockton to Marlboro Cover frontBuiltBrockton City Hall is builtBuiltMoses Packard House is builtBuiltCurtis Building is built
Born hereJohn Doucette is born here
Born hereRocky Marciano is born here
Born hereAndrew Card is born here
Born hereKristian Alfonso is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brockton. 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 Brockton.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 10Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Brockton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,953 people in 1830 to 105,643 in 2020, more than tenfold.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brockton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1700, according to Wikidata. Brockton’s post office opened in 1816, and the census of 1830 counted 1,953 people here.
Brockton is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #103 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.
24 listings: 16 buildings, among them the Brockton City Hall (listed 1976, the first), 6 historic districts with 141 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 object. 159 historic buildings in all.
32% of Brockton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1960.
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), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (24), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
