Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns · #109 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 7 buildings between them. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1850.
Melrose dates its founding to 1629 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Melrose is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #109 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 Melrose’s 4.4 sits below most of its state (20% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% 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.
BuiltPhineas Upham House is built
BuiltBeebe Estate is built
BuiltLarrabee's Brick Block is built
Born hereGeraldine Farrar is born here
Born hereSewall Wright is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveWyoming (Melrose) station postcard
BuiltMelrose Public Library is built
In the archiveMelrose station postcard, 1912
In the archiveMary livermore house
Born hereDavid Souter is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Melrose. 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 Melrose.
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.
1887Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Melrose.
Melrose was originally called "Ponde Fielde" for its abundance of ponds and streams or "Mystic Side" because of its location in a valley north of the Mystic River. The area was first explored by Richard and Ralph Sprague in 1628 and became part of Charlestown in 1633 along with a large area of land encompassing most of the surrounding communities.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1900s 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 Melrose’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.
Between 1,260 and 33,180 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Melrose’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Melrose had its own post office from 1850 to 1906. Two 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).
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 1629, according to Wikidata. Melrose’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1850 counted 1,260 people here.
Melrose is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #109 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.
7 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Beebe Estate (listed 1981, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Melrose Town Center Historic District and the Lynn Fells Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, with 7 contributing buildings. 13 historic buildings in all.
52% of Melrose’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 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 (13), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1907–1915
1907–1915
1907–1915
1908
1909
1913
1914
1924
1926
1940
