Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1880 on and old-book passages.
The Monument Beach post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monument Beach’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Monument Beach.
On February 5, 2015, Adrian Loya murdered Lisa Trubnikova and injured her wife Anna at their house in Monument Beach. He also injured an officer he was engaged in a shootout with.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monument Beach, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Monument Beach is a summer resort between Buzzards Bay and Wenaumet station on the Woods Holl branch, and is now increasing in growth and importance more rapidly than any other village in Bourne. Its long rows of pretty residences, as seen from the bay or passing train, create within the traveler a desire to enjoy its loveliness. It has summer hotels and every convenience for recreation.
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1950s. 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 Monument Beach’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Monument Beach itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Monument Beach post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia 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.
1880
1950s
2026
2017
