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B+History
History · Merrimac

Merrimac dates to 1638, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #259 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it

Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.

1638founded
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Merrimac’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Merrimac began

When was Merrimac founded?

1638

Merrimac dates its founding to 1638 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 2,237 in 18802020 census: 6,723388 years

How historic is Merrimac?

B+

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1827.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Merrimac’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Merrimac is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #259 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Merrimac’s overall grade.
Founding era1638, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194019.5% of homes (±6.3) · typical MA town 21.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MA town 46.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 66%
NewerOlder
Massachusetts towns of 2,500+ (283)Ahead of 9%

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 Merrimac’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (3% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1638.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.3 points).

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 Merrimac’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Older than the countryEstablished in 1638, 138 years before the Declaration of Independence.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Merrimac, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1885 to 1918, drew every building in Merrimac.
★ What stands out · Timeline

Merrimac, 1638 to 1974

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 17th century
  2. 1638
    FoundingMerrimac is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1827Post officeThe West Amesbury post office opens
  5. 1846Post officeThe Merrimack post office opens
  6. 1847Post officeThe Merrimack post office closes
  7. 1850Born hereGeorge W. Weymouth is born here
  8. 1875In the archiveMerrimac Square, looking East
  9. 1876Post officeThe West Amesbury post office closes
  10. 1876Post officeThe Merrimac post office opens
  11. 1887Born hereDennis Berran is born here
  12. 1889In the archiveMerrimac, Mass
  13. 20th century
  14. 1907In the archiveMain Street in Merrimac postcard
  15. 1911In the archiveMain Street East from Square
  16. 1920Born hereGeorge S. Odiorne is born here
  17. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  18. 1949Born hereRichard P. Gabriel is born here
  19. 1974In the archivePatch of the Merrimac Police Department (1974)
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Merrimac’s post office has been open since 1876. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

West Amesbury
1827–1876
Merrimack
1846–1847
Merrimac
1876–today
Merrimacport
1876–1942
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Merrimacport
Gone or out of use
Merrimac Post Officepost officeMerrimacport Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Merrimac
Church StreetLocust GroveLower Corner

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Every building

Merrimac, building by building, 1885–1918

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.

Merrimac fire insurance map, 1885, sheet 11885Sheet 1 of 3
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Merrimac came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Merrimac.

Read it all →

Settled by the English in 1638 as a part of Salisbury and later as a part of Amesbury around the village of Merrimacport, it was known throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as an agricultural and fishing community, with a small amount of shipbuilding. When Amesbury separated from Salisbury in 1666, Merrimac was referred to as the West Parish of Amesbury, or simply West Amesbury, although it was unincorporated. When a border dispute between the Massachusetts and New Hampshire colonies was settled in 1741, the new border sliced off the parts of Amesbury that were further from the Merrimack River, with the area then associated with West Amesbury becoming the "new town" of Newton, New Hampshire.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Merrimac, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1910s5 items
Merrimac Square, looking East1875Merrimac Square, looking EastMerrimac, Mass1889Merrimac, MassMerrimac, Mass1889Merrimac, MassMain Street in Merrimac postcard1907–1915Main Street in Merrimac postcardPostcardMain Street East from Squarec. 1911Main Street East from Square
1920s–1960snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1970s3 items
Patch of the Merrimac Police Department (1974)1974Patch of the Merrimac Police Department (1974)Patch of the Merrimac Police Department (c. 1974)1974Patch of the Merrimac Police Department (c. 1974)Seal of the Merrimac Police Department1974Seal of the Merrimac Police Department
1980s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
Annual report of the town officers of the Town ofDate?Annual report of the town officers of the Town ofBook
Today9 recent
Jay McLaren Memorial Trail, bridge over Harriman Rd2021Jay McLaren Memorial Trail, bridge over Harriman RdJay McLaren Memorial Trail2019Jay McLaren Memorial TrailBridge, Jay McLaren Memorial Trail2019Bridge, Jay McLaren Memorial TrailLamppost in Night Snow2011Lamppost in Night SnowThomas H Hoyt Memorial Library2010Thomas H Hoyt Memorial LibraryThe Coach House sign2010The Coach House signPilgrim Congregational Church2010Pilgrim Congregational ChurchMerrimac Public Library2010Merrimac Public LibraryMerrimac, Mass2008Merrimac, Mass
On the map

Merrimac on the map, 1943 to 1972

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Merrimac. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Merrimac on the 1943 USGS mapMerrimac on the 1955 USGS mapMerrimac on the 1972 USGS map1943Haverhill sheet · 1:31,680

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Merrimac.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Merrimac Square, looking East
Retake this viewMerrimac Square, looking East, 1875

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Merrimac’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Merrimac, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,0007,500188019001920194019601980200020206,723

Grew from 2,237 people in 1880 to 6,723 in 2020, 3 times over.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Merrimac’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Merrimac

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
George W. WeymouthAmerican politician, Massachusetts · b. 1850
R
Richard P. GabrielAmerican writer and academic · b. 1949
Dennis BerranMajor League Baseball outfielder · b. 1887
George S. OdiorneAmerican academic and management theorist · b. 1920
Help out

Finish Merrimac’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewMerrimac Square, looking East: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

West Newbury6 historic placesA−Amesbury9 historic placesA+Haverhill23 historic placesA+

Questions about Merrimac’s history

What year was Merrimac founded?

In 1638, according to Wikidata. Merrimac’s post office opened in 1827, and the census of 1880 counted 2,237 people here.

How does Merrimac rank for history?

Merrimac is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #259 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.

How old are the homes in Merrimac?

20% of Merrimac’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1982.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (18), 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.