Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #61 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Camp Atwater and the North Brookfield Town House. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1850.
North Brookfield dates its founding to 1664 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Brookfield 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 National Register listings lowest.
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 North Brookfield’s 52.5 sits near the middle of its state (50% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 25 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of North Brookfield. 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 North Brookfield.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveStudents in front of the school house in North Brookfield
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archive1899 NorthBrookfield public library Massachusetts
In the archiveNorth Brookfield 1910 postcard
In the archiveNew England hurricane. Pine wood lot near North Brookfield, MassachusettsFire 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 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of North Brookfield.
North Brookfield was first settled in 1664 and was officially incorporated in 1812, splitting from neighboring Brookfield.
The town's lands were formerly a part of the Quaboag Plantation.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention North Brookfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
ness men of this and adjoining towns. A route was surveyed through the town a little north of Centre Village, but the cost of construction was found to be so large that (lie necessary funds could not be raised, and the project was abandoned. After the construction of the North Brookfield Railroad many were in favor of building a branch road to ICast Brooklield, but this had so much opposition that it was given up for a branch road to the depot in town.
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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2026Swamp alongside North Brookfield Rail Trail 2026-07-16
2024Haston Free Public Library
2023North Brookfield Rail Trail sign
2021North Brookfield Rail Trail
2021North Brookfield Rail Trail W
2020Flag of
2014LakeLashaway
2013NorthBrookfieldMA SuckerBrook
2012North Brookfield Junior Senior High School
2009North Main Street
2009MA Route 67 northbound entering
2007NorthBrookfield-ctr
2006NorthBrookfield-air
2006BrooksPond-air
2004Garter snake-tracyNo 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 North Brookfield’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.
Grew from 1,939 people in 1850 to 4,735 in 2020.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Brookfield’s Wikipedia page.
North Brookfield’s post office has been open since 1826.
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 1664, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. North Brookfield’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1850 counted 1,939 people here.
North Brookfield 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.
Two places: the Camp Atwater (listed 1982) and the North Brookfield Town House (2001).
44% of North Brookfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (18), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1938
Date?
