Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #36 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 132 buildings between them. Below: 21 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1790.
Ware dates its founding to 1717 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
Ware’s name derives from the word "weir" and is thought to derive from the Nipmuc word "nenameseck" for the weirs the Nipmuc constructed for trapping fish on the Ware River.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ware is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #36 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Ware’s 133 sits above most of its state (69% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 134 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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 Ware. 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 Ware.
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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1931Ware River, Otis Co., dam at Ware, just above Ware-Gi…
1931Boston & Albany Railroad bridge, below West Ware, War…
1931Boston & Albany Railroad bridge, downstream side, bel…
1932Car involved in accident on Ware-Belchertown Highway,…
1932Car involved in accident on Ware-Belchertown Highway,…
1932Car involved in accident on Ware-Belchertown Highway,…
1932Scene of accident on Ware-Belchertown Highway, showin…
1932Scene of accident on Ware-Belchertown Highway, showin…
1932Ware River, Gilbert Manufacturing Co., dam, from east…
1932Ware River, Otis Co., Ware dam looking upstream from …
1932Ware River, Ware Woolen Co., dam, looking upstream, W…
1932Ware River, southwest of Ware, behind house #110 on t…
1933Muddy Brook at bridge on Ware Center, Gilbertville Ro…
1935Beaver Lake dam, Ware, Mass., Sep. 30, 1935 - DPLA - …
1936Beaver Brook, weir below Pepper's mill pond, Ware, Ma…From Wikipedia’s history of Ware.
Ware was first settled on Equivalent Lands in 1717 and was officially incorporated in 1775. Its name derives from the word "weir" and is thought to derive from the Nipmuc word "nenameseck" for the weirs the Nipmuc constructed for trapping fish on the Ware River. The English settlers pronounced the word "ware."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ware, cut from the printed page as they were published.
You are sensible that for some time I have wanted to be released from my relation to Ware River Parish as a minister, and as the major part of the voters have dismissed me from my relation to them as a minister, I gladly accept the opportunity of releasing myself from you, especially as the major part of my church have this day invited me to accompany them into a new settlement of which I have accepted, and I therefore do now release you from your relation to me as a minister from this day forward, as witness my hand, Jan. 30, 1754.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
have been regular preaching for some time. The poverty of the people rendered it exceeding difficult to collect the taxes. It appears the precinct u voted Jan. 1, 1755, that the collectors of Ware River Parish that are behind in their collections, pay in and make up their collection to the Parish Committee, excepting so much as the court assigned to Mr.
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.
BuiltOtis Company Mill No. 1 is built
In the archive1876 Concert Thanksgiving WareMABuiltWare Town Hall is builtBuiltWare-Hardwick Covered Bridge is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMain Street, Ware, with streetcar - 1906 postcard
In the archiveEast Congregational ChurchIn the archiveWare River, Otis Co., dam at Ware, just above Ware-Gilbertville Highway bridge looking up…Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1887Sheet 2 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Ware’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 773 people in 1790 to 10,066 in 2020, more than tenfold.
19 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ware’s Wikipedia page.
Ware’s post office has been open since 1816. Another post office, Enfield, 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 1717, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ware’s post office opened in 1816, and the first U.S. census counted 773 people here in 1790.
Ware is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #36 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.
6 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Otis Company Mill No. 1 (listed 1982, the first), 3 historic districts, the Ware Center Historic District, the Church Street Historic District and the Ware Millyard Historic District, with 132 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 134 historic buildings in all.
37% of Ware’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (18), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1906
1907–1915
1912