Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #248 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
Its Register listings are the George Robbins House and the Zeb Spaulding House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1790.
Carlisle dates its founding to 1651 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carlisle is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #248 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Carlisle’s 3.8 sits below most of its state (19% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Carlisle’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltGeorge Robbins House is built
BuiltZeb Spaulding House is built
Born hereAlbert Davis Taylor is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAtlas of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, by Geo. H. Walker & Co., 1889, from the Digital…
In the archiveLand Utilization Town of Carlisle - DPLA - 87c84df18dc9c7ae4ac2af1927a3785eEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carlisle. 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 Carlisle.
From Wikipedia’s history of Carlisle.
the town of Carlisle in 1651 on parcels of land of the neighboring towns of Acton, Billerica, Chelmsford and Concord. Carlisle became a district of Concord in 1780 and was incorporated as a town by an act of the legislature in 1805. The town was named for Carlisle, England, the hometown of one of Carlisle's earliest settlers James Adams.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Carlisle, cut from the printed page as they were published.
sheriff of Northumberland county, 1775, and grandson of Nicholas Scull, Surveyor (leneral of Pennsylvania, and a niece of Benjamin Franklin, LL. D. John Pollock was a merchant, distiller, and hotel keeper in Carlisle, lie also engaged largely in land speculation, lie sold a valuable property in Carlisle, for which he got his pay in Continental money, which, becoming greatly depreciated, caused him heavy losses. He was at one time postmaster of Carlisle, lie died July 16, 179J, at
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Carlisle District of Acton was incorporated as a separate town in 1780 ; the easterly part of Old Concord was incorporated in the new town of Bedford in 1729 ; and the southerly part of Old Concord was incorporated in the new town of Lincoln iu 1754, so that from 1754 tO'1780 the township of Acton was larger than that of Concord, though much behind iu wealth and population. At the time of Concord's in-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Bridges. — The act incorporating the District of Carlisle made it incumbent on the district to pay one-sixth part of the chargfs that may arise from the maintaining of the North Bridge over the Concord River, in Concord, until such time as the inhabitants of the district shall build a bridge over said river themselves.
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Carlisle’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Grew from 555 people in 1790 to 5,237 in 2020, 9 times over.
19 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Carlisle’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1651, according to Wikidata. Carlisle’s post office opened in 1834, and the first U.S. census counted 555 people here in 1790.
Carlisle is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #248 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.
Two places: the George Robbins House (listed 1990) and the Zeb Spaulding House (1990).
13% of Carlisle’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1889
2007