Ipswich dates to 1633, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #33 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
32 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and six historic districts with 251 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1793.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ipswich’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ipswich is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #33 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ipswich’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 Ipswich’s 320 sits above most of its state (86% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 446 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
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 (±3.7 points). Two sources give 1633.
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 Ipswich’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Ipswich was inhabited for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. The Bull Brook archaeological site in Ipswich provided among the oldest signs of human habitation in New England, dated to between 9000 and 11,000 years before present. Later stone tools and shell mounds found in Ipswich attest to continued human occupation in Ipswich in the intervening 10,000 years. Early English explorers and colonizers encountered a Native American settlement on Ipswich Bay they rendered variously as Aggawom, Agawam, and Angoam.
Passages that mention Ipswich, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men1888 · page 488Read the page →
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any others constructed at the special instance and request of the inhabitants. The district, containing about three hundred acres, was bounded by a line commencing at Crane River Bridge on the Ipswich Road (Ash Street) ; thence following the river channel to Lieutenant Thomas Stevens' land (about at the southerly end of the railroad bridge) ; then straight across Fox Hill to the high-water mark on the south
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The history of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, from the earliest settlement known to the present time1880 · page 23Read the page →
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In 1652, for the convenience of Andover, Ipswich, and the other towns mentioned, the General Court ordered that a highway should be laid out from Ipswich to Andover, and from Andover to Newbury, passing over the Village lands. The following spring, Richard Barker of Andover, Thomas Hale of Newbury, James Howe of Ipswich, and John Pickard of Rowley, the committee appointed for the work, laid out the road from Andover to Ipswich, as fol-
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History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men1888 · page 649Read the page →
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studies as he had intended. But from the time of his approbation to that of his settlement he preached every Sabbath but one or two. It was on September 22, 1805, that he preached for the first time in Ipswich, and June 17, 180(i, that the First Church, without a dissenting voice, made choice of him as pastor, in which action the parish concurred with great unanimity, only one dissenting, and he a Baptist in prin-
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The history of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, from the earliest settlement known to the present time1880 · page 227Read the page →
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March 109, 1776, the East Parish “gave leave to Deacon Symonds to take out the dirt under the meeting-house for the use of the saltpetre; he leaving the same as good as he finds it.” Linebrook Parish (Ipswich) also “voted, that Daniel Chapman of Boxford, should have the dirt under their meeting-house, to make saltpetre.’* Thus we see that the business was carried on to some extent in this town, and perhaps more instances could be found on
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
Ipswich, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1810s to the 1880s. 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ipswich. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Salem sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ipswich.
Every building
Ipswich, building by building, 1887–1916
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 1633, according to Wikidata. Ipswich’s post office opened in 1793, and the first U.S. census counted 4,562 people here in 1790.
How does Ipswich rank for history?
Ipswich is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #33 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 Ipswich?
32 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 25 buildings, among them the John Whipple House (a National Historic Landmark since 1960), 6 historic districts with 251 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 446 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Ipswich?
28% of Ipswich’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (32), 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.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
1810![Ipswich Pond about 12 miles from Newbury Port [?]](https://images.townratings.com/story/23826/f090033664a48df6b6ee-s.jpg)
1810
1810
