Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #237 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Jonathan Belcher House, the Ponkapoag Camp of Appalachian Mountain Club and the Stetson Hall. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1850.
Randolph Town dates its founding to 1710 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Randolph Town is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #237 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Randolph Town’s 2.3 sits below most of its state (14% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% 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 Randolph Town. 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 Randolph Town.
Lost a third of its people between 1860 and 1890, then grew 8-fold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Randolph Town’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereMary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman is born here
Born hereBenjamin Ide Wheeler is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archive1891 Randolph public library Massachusetts
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey Frank O. Branzetti, Photographer July 16, 1940 (ggg) 1…
Born hereAudie Cornish is born here
In the archiveKona Gold Restaurant
Born hereAugust Grey is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Randolph Town.
It was called Cochaticquom by the local Cochato tribes. The town was incorporated in 1793 from what was formerly the south precinct of the town of Braintree. According to the centennial address delivered by John V. Beal, the town was named after Peyton Randolph, first president of the Continental Congress.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1980s. 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 Randolph Town’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, South Randolph, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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 1710, according to Wikidata. Randolph Town’s post office opened in 1802, and the census of 1850 counted 4,741 people here.
Randolph Town is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #237 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.
Three places: the Jonathan Belcher House (listed 1976), the Ponkapoag Camp of Appalachian Mountain Club (1980) and the Stetson Hall (2011).
14% of Randolph Town’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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