Wareham dates to 1678, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #175 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 9 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1800.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Wareham’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wareham is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #175 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wareham’s overall grade.
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 Wareham’s 4.3 sits below most of its state (20% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). Two sources give 1678.
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 →
What stands out about Wareham’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
East Wareham Post Officepost officeEast Wareham StationlocaleOnset Post Officepost officeParker Mills StationlocaleSouth Wareham Post Officepost officeSouth Wareham StationlocaleTempest Knob StationlocaleTremont StationlocaleWareham Post Officepost officeWareham StationlocaleWest Wareham Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Wareham
AgawamCentreLong NeckSaint Patricks
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Wareham on the map, 1886 to 1972
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wareham. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1886Plymouth sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Wareham.
Timeline
Wareham, 1678 to 1956
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wareham was first settled in 1678 by Europeans as part of the towns of Plymouth and Rochester. It was officially incorporated in 1739 and named after the town of Wareham in England. Because of its geography, Wareham's early industry revolved around shipbuilding and the related industries. It also served as a resort town, with many smaller resorts scattered around the town, especially in Onset. Like Sandwich, its waterways, especially Buttermilk Bay, were considered as possible pathways for the Cape Cod Canal. Although the canal proper goes through Bourne and Sandwich, the southern approach to Buzzards Bay passes just south of the peninsulas that make up the topography of the town.
Passages that mention Wareham, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts1907 · page 78Read the page →
Read the text
The Wareham section was not technically a precinct of Rochester, but it was sometimes referred to as the "Wareham Precinct," and it received finally (though not without some controversy) its share of the "Ministry Lands." About 1770 the town of Wareham, with Ebenezer Briggs as its agent, successfully upheld in the courts the claims of Wareham. After this, Rochester passed a vote stating that "The Precinct of Wareham's part is to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts1907 · page 55Read the page →
Read the text
Bumpus (now Bump) was an early name in Wareham, along the Weweantit River on which Rumpus's Mill was situated. Among the members of the First Church dismissed in 1739 to form the Wareham Church there were eight persons named Bumpus. The same persons were also leaders in the movement for the incorporation of the town of Wareham.
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.
By decade
Wareham, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1790s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewTremont Station - West Wareham, Mass, c. 1900
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wareham’s page.
In 1678, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Wareham’s post office opened in 1800, and the first U.S. census counted 854 people here in 1790.
How does Wareham rank for history?
Wareham is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #175 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.
What is on the National Register in Wareham?
Three places: the Tremont Nail Factory District (listed 1976), the Tobey Homestead (1986) and the WITCH (catboat) (2008).
How old are the homes in Wareham?
24% of Wareham’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1958.
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), 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.
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1907
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