Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1820.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Essex’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Essex is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #113 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Essex’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 Essex’s 24.3 sits near the middle of its state (37% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1634.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points).
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 Essex’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Essex was incorporated as a town in 1819. It was previously a part of the town of Ipswich and was then called Chebacco Parish. The first European settlers arrived in 1634. At that time, the land formed part of an area inhabited by Native Americans of the Agawam tribe. The name Chebacco is Agawam in origin and refers to a large lake whose waters extend into neighboring Hamilton. Conomo Point, the easternmost part of the town, is named for the Sagamore or Chief of the Agawams, Masconomo, the leader of the tribe in the late 17th century. Early on, Chebacco Parish lobbied for status as an independent town, asking for permission to build a meeting house. In colonial times, the existence of a meeting house in a settlement conferred de facto autonomy, so Chebacco Parish was denied permission to build such a structure. Popular history tells that one written dictate was issued stating that "no …
Passages that mention Essex, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Essex Institute Historical Collections [Historical Collections of the Essex Institute]1859 · page 242Read the page →
Read the text
-11. 7. 4 £36. 6. 4 Bentley says, in 1801, that the supper was held at J ames Gibson’s house on Essex Street on the east side of Cambridge Street and that Mr. Fairfax lived in Hathorne’s house on the west side of Cambridge street, facing Essex street. Also that Philip English ‘dressed himself in a new suit of cloathes at the supper.’
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Essex Institute Historical Collections [Historical Collections of the Essex Institute]1859 · page 320Read the page →
Read the text
lish Haverhill, penetrated with a small band of followers into what was then a wilderness, and formed a little settlement on the banks of the Merrimac River, in what is now Essex County, Massachusetts. In honor of their devout pastor they named the settlement Haverhill for his home in England.” As an indication of the wildness at that time, it is related that on the front of the first meeting house the heads of wolves were often nailed.
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
Essex, decade by decade
3 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.
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.
In 1634, according to Wikidata. Essex’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1850 counted 1,585 people here.
How does Essex rank for history?
Essex is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #113 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 Essex?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the David Burnham House (listed 1983, the first). 9 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Essex?
35% of Essex’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (23), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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