Middleborough dates to 1660, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #61 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 508 buildings between them. Below: 20 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1798.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Middleborough’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Middleborough is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #61 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 Middleborough’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 Middleborough’s 209 sits above most of its state (77% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 513 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 (±3.5 points). Two sources give 1660.
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 Middleborough’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
East Middleborough StationlocaleEddyville Post Officepost officeMiddleboro AirportairportMiddleborough StationlocaleNorth Middleborough Post Officepost officeRock Post Officepost officeRock StationlocaleSouth Middleborough Post Officepost officeSouth Middleborough Stationlocale
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Middleborough
Alms HouseCentralNemasket HillParish Cemetery at The GreenPurchadeReedSaint MarysThomastownTiticut Parish
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Middleborough on the map, 1885 to 1977
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Middleborough. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1885Middleboro 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 Middleborough.
The town was first settled by Europeans in 1661 as Nemasket, later changed to Middlebury, and officially incorporated as Middleborough in 1669. From time to time, documents and publications spell the name as Middleboro. The name Nemasket or Namasket came from a Native American settlement along the small river that now bears the same name. Nemasket may have meant "place of fish", due to the large amount of herring that migrate up the river each spring. There are no contemporary records that indicate the name Middlebury was taken from a place in England. The names Middlebury, Middleboro and Middleborough were actually derived from the city of Middelburg, Zeeland, the westernmost province of the Netherlands. Middelburg was an international intellectual center and economic powerhouse. The English religious dissenters known as the Brownists developed their governing institutions in Middelbur…
Passages that mention Middleborough, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the early settlement of Bridgewater, in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, including an extensive Family register1840 · page 21Read the page →
Read the text
Bridgewater ; and so from station to station till it come to the great river on the westward side of a spot of meadow, according to the agreement of the agents of both towns. And the bounds between Middleborough and Bridgewater is the great river, until it come to the north side of Mr. Standish's land, lying on the mouth of AVinnetuxit river, and so from the north side of said Standish's land until it meet with the eastermost line of Bridgewater, being a heap of stones four miles from the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the early settlement of Bridgewater, in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, including an extensive Family register1840 · page 31Read the page →
Read the text
" And from the extent of this seven miles of those on the north, those on the east are to begin on the north line, and to run a line due south till it meets with Mr. Alexander Standish's land, or Middleborough (now Halifax) bounds. All the lands lying easterly betwixt the above said line so run, and the line that was run by the agents of Bridgewater and Middleborough, (now Halifax,) and the Major's purchase, (now Hanson,) belongeth to these fifteen men whose names and lots as they fell
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.
Timeline
Middleborough, 1660 to 1932
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
In 1660, according to Wikidata. Middleborough’s post office opened in 1798, and the first U.S. census counted 4,526 people here in 1790.
How does Middleborough rank for history?
Middleborough is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #61 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 Middleborough?
8 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Peter Pierce Store (listed 1976, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Middleborough Waterworks, the Middleborough Center Historic District and the South Middleborough Historic District, with 508 contributing buildings. 513 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Middleborough?
23% of Middleborough’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (20), Wikidata (4), 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. 1908
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