Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1800.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dracut’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dracut is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #276 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 Dracut’s overall grade.
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 Dracut’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (3% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1653.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to A−. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 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 Dracut’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before Europeans arrived in the mid-17th century, Dracut and the surrounding area were known as Augumtoocooke. Important Pennacook Native American settlements were served by fishing at Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River and abundant game in the surrounding marsh areas. From the late 16th to mid-17th centuries, the powerful Sachem, Passaconaway and his family spent much of their lives on this land.
Passages that mention Dracut, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Dracut, Massachusetts, called by the Indians Augumtoocooke and before incorporation, the wildernesse north of the Merrimac. First permanment settlement in 1669 and incorporated as a town in 17011922 · page 85Read the page →
Read the text
no persons shall make sale of his or their lot or lots taken up as above said without leave first had and obtained power from the General Courts committee then being or the selectmen of the said Town of Dracut or the major part of them, and that these residents or said proprietors as to the selling of the above said shall cause and determine their being accepted and approved of as settled inhabitants of the said Town of Dracut.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Dracut, Massachusetts, called by the Indians Augumtoocooke and before incorporation, the wildernesse north of the Merrimac. First permanment settlement in 1669 and incorporated as a town in 17011922 · page 101Read the page →
Read the text
then called the "Path," as the highway was not laid out until 1792; while Dracut Meeting House refers to the first church structure erected in Dracut and stood on Varnum avenue. The Peter Coburn house, which is the old house south of the Clement farm and still in existence, was undoubtedly the first house built in this neighborhood and the "path" led past these houses. We quote from the diary: "At the end of 274 poles from the path we came to a pond called Long Pond the general bearings
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.
By decade
Dracut, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
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.
In 1653, according to Wikidata. Dracut’s post office opened in 1800, and the first U.S. census counted 1,217 people here in 1790.
How does Dracut rank for history?
Dracut is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #276 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.
How old are the homes in Dracut?
11% of Dracut’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1975.
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), 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
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2008