Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1811.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Northborough’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Northborough is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #263 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 Northborough’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 Northborough’s 0.6 sits below most of its state (7% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1672.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 points) is firm at this size.
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 Northborough’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The areas surrounding Northborough were first settled by the Nipmuc people. Europeans set up a plantation on May 14, 1656, following a petition for resettlement from the people of the Sudbury Plantation to the General Court of the Bay Colony. On January 23, 1766, the district of Northborough was established within neighboring Westborough. On August 23, 1775, the district became a town, and on June 20, 1807, part of neighboring Marlborough was annexed to Northborough.
The first meeting house was established in 1746, with the legal governor of the town being called the Town Minister. The first Town Minister was Reverend John Martyn.
Passages that mention Northborough, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the town of Marlborough, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1657 to 18611862 · page 231Read the page →
Read the text
power; its streams being generally small. It is difficult to say when or where the first mill was erected. It is probable, however, that the first was a saw-mill, and was erected in that part of the town now included in Northborough, by John Brigham. It was near the centre of the present town of Northborough, on a stream which constitutes one of the principal tributaries of the Assabet. This mill was erected before Philip's war. Peter Bent erected one on Stony Brook,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the town of Marlborough, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1657 to 18611862 · page 296Read the page →
Read the text
Some time previous to the close of the seventeenth century, some parts of the territory now included within the limits of Northborough had been laid out for farms. The first settler, according to tradition, was John Brigham, from Sudbury, to whom a grant of land was made in 1672, on " Licor Meadow Plain," as stated in the deed, and which we may suppose covered a tract of nearly level ground, extending north from the foot of Liquor Hill, or Mount Assabet, so as to include the site of the saw-mill, which he soon afterwards erected, and of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Northborough, Mass., in various publications and discourses1880Read the page →
Read the text
Northborough became an incorporated district, Jan. 24, 1766, not long after which, viz. April 30, 1767, the Rev. John Martyn, after a short illness, departed this life, in the 61st year of his age, and the 21st of his ministry. His wife died, Sept. 8, 1775, aged 70.
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
Northborough, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. 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 1672, according to Wikidata. Northborough’s post office opened in 1811, and the first U.S. census counted 619 people here in 1790.
How does Northborough rank for history?
Northborough is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #263 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 Northborough?
One place: the First Baptist Church of Northborough (listed 2016).
How old are the homes in Northborough?
11% of Northborough’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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