Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #120 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1850.
Fairhaven dates its founding to 1659 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairhaven is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #120 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 Fairhaven’s 5.7 sits below most of its state (23% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% 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.
In the archiveA Deed Appointed to be Recorded (Dartmouth Purchase) 1652
Born hereJohn C. Bennett is born here
Born hereAbbie Gifford Rogers is born here
In the archiveWilliam Bradford, Stowing Sails off
Born hereFrederick Slocum is born here
In the archiveOld Colony Railroad Passenger Station at
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAcushnet River (Massachusetts) map
In the archiveUS 1901 Fairhaven MA Town Clerk Cover
BuiltFairhaven High School and Academy is built
In the archiveFairhaven station 1911 postcardLost a third of its people between 1850 and 1870, then grew 6-fold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairhaven’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairhaven. 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 Fairhaven.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fairhaven.
Fairhaven was first settled in 1659 as "Cushnea," the easternmost part of the town of Dartmouth. It was founded on land purchased by English settlers at the Plymouth Colony from the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit, and his son, Wamsutta.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Fairhaven, cut from the printed page as they were published.
"Section 2. Tho inhabitants of said town of Acushnet shall be hidden to pay to the collector of taxes of the town of Fairhaven all the arrearages of taxes legally assessed upon them before this act takes effect, and also their proportion of State and county taxes as may be assessed upon them before taking the next State valuation, said proportion to be ascertained and determined by the last valuation of the said town of Fairhaven ; and said town of Acushnet to pay four twenty-thirds of the debts due and owing from the town of Fairhaven at the lime of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
other Act was passed incorporating Samuel Borden and others as "The Proprietors of Crow Island Bridge," and "empowered to erect a Bridge from the easterly side of Crow Island, in Acushnet river, aforesaid, to Fairhaven vilhige, in the town of New Bedford aforesaid, a few feet south of the dwelling of the widow Elizabeth Adams, to the land of the said Samuel Borden." This bridge was "to have a draw of at least twenty-eight feet in width, which draw shall be raised up for all vessels without toll
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It retained its original area until Feb. 22, 1812, when the town of Fairhaven was set off. A part of Dartmouth was annexed March 20, 1845, and a part of Acushnet April 9, 1875.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
February 23, 1787, the town of New Bedford was set off from Dartmouth, and included the present towns of Acushnet and Fairhaven and the city of New Bedford. In 1795 the villages of Fairhaven and Oxford were connected by a bridge across Herring river and the layout of Mdin street north to North street. In 179G the old toll bridge between New^ Bedford and Fairhaven, crossing Fish island and Popes island was built.
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.
7 decades in the archive, from the 1650s to the 1940s. 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 Fairhaven’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Fairhaven’s post office has been open since 1820. Another post office, North Fairhaven, 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 1659, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Fairhaven’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1850 counted 4,304 people here.
Fairhaven is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #120 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.
8 listings: 7 buildings and 1 structure. 9 historic buildings in all.
40% of Fairhaven’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.
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c. 1916
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