Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1870 on and old-book passages.
Erving dates its founding to 1801 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1819.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Erving is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Erving’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.
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 hereNina Browne is born here
In the archiveErving Hermit, John Smith, by an unknown photographer, c. 1870, from the Digital Commonwe…
In the archiveErving, Mass
In the archiveGeneral View of
Born hereWalter Theodore Kostanski is born here
In the archiveAerial view of French King Bridge and rock, Greenfield, Mass (76087)From Wikipedia’s history of Erving.
Erving is located along the Mohawk Trail. The area was part of the Pocomtuc Indian Nation, whose villages included Squawkeag in what is now Northfield, and Peskeompscut in what is now Turners Falls. Eventually, most of the native population was displaced and/or sold into slavery as a result of King Philip's War and a series of massacres of local Indian villages.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Erving, cut from the printed page as they were published.
this time he was associate principal of Thetford, Vt., academy. In 1852 he resumed ministerial labor, being installed at Petersham, Mass., and remaining there three years. His succeeding pastorates were at Erving, Gill, Hanson, Westminster, Vt. In 1863, he assumed charge of the Congregational parish in Bernardston, going thence in 1865 to Orange, Mass.
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 1870s 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 Erving’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Erving’s post office has been open since 1838. Another post office, Erving's Grant, 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 1801, according to Wikidata. Erving’s post office opened in 1819.
Erving is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. 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.
37% of Erving’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
c. 1930
c. 1930