Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns · #114 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 331 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1790.
Sutton dates its founding to 1704 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sutton is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #114 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 Sutton’s 351 sits above most of its state (87% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 332 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sutton’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.
19 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sutton’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sutton.
A Nipmuc, John Wampas, visited England in 1627 and deeded land in the Sutton area to Edward Pratt, who later sold interests to others. Competing claims involving the Nipmucs led to a Massachusetts General Court case in 1704, which granted Pratt and fellow proprietors an eight-mile-square section of land, which is now Sutton.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sutton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
1st. That the line lately reviewed by the aforementioned Committees and stated to be the original line between the North and South Parishes in Sutton be considered as the line between the towns of Sutton and Millbury. 2ndly. That the valuation of real and personal property in the late town of Sutton be considered the standard for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
August 19th. "Voted to give Each Soldier that shall go o O w into the Sarvis out of the Town of Sutton in the Detachment now called for shall have one Dollar as a Bounty when they shall enlist or be Detached — and also for the Town to make up to Each Soldier forty-Eight Shillings pr. month with that the Congress gives as Wages if they are Called into Sarvis."
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.
Born hereRufus Putnam is born here
Born hereSolomon Sibley is born here
Born hereThomas Blanchard is born here
In the archivePutnam House, 211 Putnam Hill Road
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sutton. 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 Sutton.
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 Sutton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Sutton had its own post office from 1811 to 1901. Another post office, West Sutton, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1704, according to Wikidata. Sutton’s post office opened in 1811, and the first U.S. census counted 2,642 people here in 1790.
Sutton is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #114 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.
5 listings: 1 building, among them the Waters Farm (listed 1985, the first), and 4 historic districts with 331 contributing buildings. 332 historic buildings in all.
13% of Sutton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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