Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1836.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Middleton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Middleton is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #235 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Middleton’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 Middleton’s 5.1 sits below most of its state (22% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points). Two sources give 1659.
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 Middleton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before European colonial settlement, the area was home to a number of native settlements. The area fell along an ill-defined "border" region between the Massachusett and Pennacook. The tribes in this region generally spoke the Abenaki language, with major local tribes being the Naumkeag and Agawam. Will's Hill in modern-day Middleton was home to a winter village founded by an Algonquin Sachem.
Middleton was first settled by Europeans in 1659, and was officially incorporated in 1728. Prior to 1728 it was considered a part of Topsfield, and contained territory previously within the city of Salem.
Passages that mention Middleton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, from the earliest settlement known to the present time1880 · page 184Read the page →
Read the text
“Read and Ordered That the Prayer of this Petition be so far granted as that the select men of the said Town of Boxford, have liberty, if they see Cause, to remove six of the french people mentioned that have been fent to them to the Town of Middleton, Vizt Ommer Landerie, his wife and family ; and the Select men of the Said Town of Middleton are hereby directed to receive the said Ommer Landerie and his family Accordingly “Sent up for Concurrence
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, from the earliest settlement known to the present time1880 · page 39Read the page →
Read the text
26 Jan., 1687. Of these sons, Samuel? resided in that part of the town which was afterwards included in the town of Middleton. He was a deacon of the church in Middleton for many years. He married three wives, and, after being the father of more than a dozen children, died 7 July, 1755, at the age of eighty-four years. John? m. Hannah, dau. of Thomas and Mary (Howlett) Hazen, — early settlers of Boxford, and had a large family. He lived in
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
Middleton, decade by decade
4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1990s. 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.
In 1659, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Middleton’s post office opened in 1836, and the first U.S. census counted 682 people here in 1790.
How does Middleton rank for history?
Middleton is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #235 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 Middleton?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Estey Tavern (listed 1989, the first).
How old are the homes in Middleton?
14% of Middleton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 (15), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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