Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns · #158 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
35 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 14 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1790.
Rehoboth dates its founding to 1636 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rehoboth is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #158 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Rehoboth’s 46.1 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 60 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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.
The 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveDeed 1661 signed at Rehoboth Massachusetts Indian land saleBuiltAbiah Bliss House is builtBuiltAaron Wheeler House is built
Born hereNathan Smith is born here
In the archiveRehobothMA WheelerHomesteadSurvey
Born hereJohn W. Davis is born here
In the archiveThis is the top of a deed for land on which the Hornbine School in Rehoboth, MA was built
In the archiveHeadstone Capt Samuel PeckBuiltBaker House is built
In the archiveSeal ofLost two-thirds of its people between 1790 and 1890, then grew 7-fold.
19 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rehoboth’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rehoboth.
Rehoboth was established in 1643 by Samuel Newman (born 1602), Walter Palmer (born 1585), and William Sabin. It was incorporated in 1645, one of the earliest Massachusetts towns to be incorporated. Newman named the town Rehoboth (Gen. 26:22), the Hebrew scriptural word for "enlargement," (Broad Places) signifying the space settlers enjoyed (God has given us room).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Rehoboth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
John Carpenter, No. 31, her eldest son : ■•■That whereas William Carpenter, late deceased, did by his late Will and Testament give to his beloved wife, Miriam Carpenter, twenty pounds estate of commons, the Proprietors of the Town of Rehoboth both ordered and granted divisions of land to be laid out and surveyed by virtue of an order and agreement made by the Town of Rehoboth, bearing date the 4th of January, 1702 or 1703. Know all men by these presents that I, Miriam Carpenter of the Town of Rehoboth, in the County of Bristol in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, and John Carpenter of the Town of Woodstock in the County of Suffolk in the Province aforesaid: — Know
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
vey, Jr., and was called " Taunton North Purchase."1 This tract was bounded as follows : " Begining on the north-west, att the bounds of the lands formerly sold by us unto the Town of Rehoboth, and to be bounded on the northerly syde by the Massachusetts line, untill it cometh to beare with the Western bounds of the Town of Bridgewater ; and soe from the said Massachusetts line by a south line home to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
deceased, to her son, Nathaniel Carpenter No. 36 : "To all people before whom these presents shall come, Miriam Carpenter of the Town of Rehoboth, in the County of Bristol in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, widow and relict of William Carpenter, late of the said Rehoboth, deceased, that whereas, my beloved husband, the said William Carpenter left unwilled one full quarter of a share of undivided lands in the North Purchase lands of said Rehoboth, commonly so known, now the Township of Attleboro, in the County aforesaid and throughout the land called " thd'mile and a ' half land" annexed to said Attleboro: And I, the said Miriam Carpenter being made the sole
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The court ordered " that all the north lands, both farms and else," should be taxed in a rate separate from the town of Rehoboth, and should pay thirty shillings in a £40 rate to the colony, and in the same proportion in the ministerial and other charges, "until the court shall see cause otherwise to dispose concerning them, until which time they shall be and remain within the constablerick of the township of
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.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1660s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rehoboth. 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 Rehoboth.
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 Rehoboth’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Rehoboth’s post office has been open since 1807. Three other post offices 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 1636, according to Wikidata. Rehoboth’s post office opened in 1807, and the first U.S. census counted 4,710 people here in 1790.
Rehoboth is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #158 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.
35 listings: 31 buildings, among them the Aaron Wheeler House (listed 1983, the first), 1 historic district, the Rehoboth Village Historic District, with 14 contributing buildings, 2 sites, and 1 structure. 60 historic buildings in all.
18% of Rehoboth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (9), Wikidata (9), the National Register of Historic Places (35), 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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