Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #69 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
23 places in town are on the National Register, among them six historic districts with 180 buildings between them. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1790.
Haverhill dates its founding to 1640 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Haverhill is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #69 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Haverhill’s 30.6 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 207 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% 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.
The 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltHazen-Spiller House is built
Born hereJohn Greenleaf Whittier is born hereBuiltSchool Street School is built
In the archiveHaverhill Views, the old First Baptist ChurchBuiltIntervale Factory is built
In the archiveWhittier's birth place
In the archiveWhittier's birthplace
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereSylvia Hitchcock is born here
Born hereJames Rothman is born here
Born hereRob Zombie is born hereHaverhill’s post office has been open since 1793. Four other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Haverhill.
Haverhill has played a role in nearly every era of American history, from the initial colonial settlement, to the French and Indian Wars, and the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Haverhill, cut from the printed page as they were published.
culties, the House of Representatives passed the following resolve in substance: — " Whereas at the anniversary of the town-meeting in the town of Haverhill, in March last, there happened to be two contending parties who assembled at the meeting-house, and did there and then choose two sets of town-officers, whereby great difficulties arose in the said town, and considerable expense occasioned in the law;
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 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Haverhill. 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 Haverhill.
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.
1886Sheet 2 of 23Sanborn 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 Haverhill’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 2,408 people in 1790 to 67,787 in 2020, more than tenfold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Haverhill’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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 1640, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Haverhill’s post office opened in 1793, and the first U.S. census counted 2,408 people here in 1790.
Haverhill is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #69 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.
23 listings: 15 buildings, among them the John Greenleaf Whittier Homestead (Haverhill) (listed 1975, the first), 6 historic districts with 180 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 207 historic buildings in all.
38% of Haverhill’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (23), 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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