Plympton dates to 1662, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #119 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 25 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1810.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Plympton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Plympton is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #119 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Plympton’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 Plympton’s 85.2 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 25 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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 (±7.3 points). Two sources give 1662.
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 Plympton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Plympton was first settled in 1662 by Reverend Justin P. Daley as the western parish of Plymouth. Lands of the original town included all of Carver and Halifax, as well as small portions of Kingston and Middleborough. The town was officially incorporated in 1707 and named for Plympton, Devon, England. In 1734, the town of Halifax separated and incorporated, and Carver did the same in 1790. The current boundaries of the town were set in 1862.
Early residents of Plympton were mostly farmers, living off the land. The Industrial Revolution brought about factories, which made shoes and shovels, as well as lumber and cotton mills. Today, the town is mostly rural and residential, with very little industry.
Passages that mention Plympton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the early settlement of Bridgewater, in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, including an extensive Family register1840Read the page →
Read the text
and had Sarah 1738, Silence 1740, Barzillai 1741, William 1743, Edward 1745, Marah 1747, Asa 1749, Eli 1751. She d. 17S9; he 1796 ae.°<87. Sarah m. John Ward of Middletown Ct. 1768. — Silence m/Ebenezer Soule of Plympton 1764, and d. 1835, a?. 94, and 8 months. — Marah m. Asaph Soule of Plympton 1767. — Barzillai went to Hartford Ct. and was a respectable bookseller and printer there ; Prentiss Mellen C. J. of S. J. Court Me. m.
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
Plympton, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. 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 1662, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Plympton’s post office opened in 1810, and the first U.S. census counted 956 people here in 1790.
How does Plympton rank for history?
Plympton is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #119 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 Plympton?
One place: the Plympton Village Historic District (listed 2007).
How old are the homes in Plympton?
22% of Plympton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (12), 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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c. 2001
