Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 38 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1850.
Russell dates its founding to 1782 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Russell is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Russell’s 317 sits above most of its state (85% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 38 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 Russell. 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 Russell.
Russell’s post office has been open since 1824. Two 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).
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Russell.
Russell was originally part of the Pocumtuc (also called Deerfield) nation, who spoke an Algonquian language. Like most native peoples, they were decimated by smallpox, then their participation in King Philip's War 1675–1676 proved their undoing as victory by colonial forces led to the dispersal of remnants of this tribe west into New York and north into Canada.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Russell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
their number on the territory set off aggregated about 400 persons. "Were the town records perfect an interesting narrative might be made setting forth the names of nearly all the heads of families who constituted the first settlers, but in Russell, as in many other of the old towns whose history dates back more than a century, the people had greater regard for the comfort and well-beinc of their families than for the formalities of strict attention to public records. This remark, however, must not
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
permanent existfiict.'. Tlic Baptists, aa olVshoot from tlie church at Westfield, appear to have been first on the ground and phvuted their society here in 1786, under the name of the First Baptist cluirch of Russell. A house of worship was built in 1792, but about 1810 the society dissolved, only to be re-established in 1816, with Elder Asa Todd as pastor. The old meeting house was burned in 1820 and was replaced with a new one in 1826.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveApproaching the Berkshire Hills, Russell, Mass
In the archiveWestfield River Near Woronoco [Russell, Massachusetts]
In the archiveStrathmore Paper Mill, Woronoco, Mass3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. 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 Russell’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 521 and 1,775 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Russell’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Russell itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 1782, according to Wikidata. Russell’s post office opened in 1824, and the census of 1850 counted 521 people here.
Russell is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. 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.
One place: the Russell Center Historic District (listed 1996).
34% of Russell’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.9 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.
1908
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