Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #169 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1870.
Everett dates its founding to 1630 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Everett is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #169 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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 Everett’s 0.2 sits below most of its state (6% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 hereHermon Atkins MacNeil is born here
Born hereVannevar Bush is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveVan Voorhees house, Everett
In the archiveEverett Square
In the archiveOrdnance - Manufacture [165-WW-356B-9]
Born herePaul L. Smith is born here
Born hereEllen Pompeo is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Everett. 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 Everett.
From Wikipedia’s history of Everett.
Everett was originally part of Charlestown, and later Malden. It separated from Malden in 1870. The community was named after Edward Everett, who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State. He also served as President of Harvard University.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Everett, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Woburn, is of very recent date. From the local papers we learn that the first meeting took place November 18, 1886, at the residence of Saunders Sims, on Everett Street. On the 5th of July, 1887, the organization was effected with seventeen members, and on the 17th of May, 1888, the church was formally recognized by delegates from other churches.
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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 16Sanborn 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 Everett’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 2,220 people in 1870 to 49,075 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Everett’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Everett had its own post office from 1868 to 1900. Another post office, South Malden, 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 1630, according to Wikidata. Everett’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1870 counted 2,220 people here.
Everett is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #169 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.
One place: the Revere Beach Parkway-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston (listed 2007).
53% of Everett’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1938.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
c. 1906
1907–1915
1907–1915
