Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #39 of 126 in New Hampshire. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: 22 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1830.
Berlin dates its founding to 1829 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Berlin is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #39 of 126 in New Hampshire. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
New Hampshire towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Hampshire town has 9.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Berlin’s 8.5 sits near the middle of its state (45% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% 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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1929Berlin, New Hampshire-Berlin, Germany telegram
1939Pulpwood for the paper mills
1939Pulpwood for the paper mills
1939Pulpwood for the paper mills
1939Pulpwood for the paper mills
1939Pulpwood for the paper mills
1939Pulpwood for the paper mills
1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Pulpwood for the…
1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Pulpwood for the…
1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Pulpwood for the…
1939Workmen dumping the ice and snow from streets of Berl…
1939Workmen dumping the ice and snow from streets of Berl…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Berlin. 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 Berlin.
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 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Berlin.
Around 11,000 years ago, small groups of Native Americans camped around the area of what is now called Berlin. In later years, the Eastern Abenaki tribes came to Berlin to mine rhyolite in Mt. Jasper.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Berlin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
AMOS GREEN PRIVILEGE Thomas Green was the pioneer mill operator in Berlin, and in the course of his life owned every privilege in Berlin. After the freshet of 1826 forced him to abandon the site at Berlin Mills, he purchased land at Berlin Falls. He built a house on the site now occupied
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Why this name of Berlin was chosen has never been ascertained. Sometime before the Revolution, Benning Went¬ worth granted a township of Berlin in the New Hampshire Grants beyond the Connecticut in what is now Vermont.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Railroad, Station Agents, Etc. — The completion of the railroad to Berlin was the first step to the permanent prosperity of the town. The first station agent was Simon Cole, who was succeeded by Aaron Knight, who served six or seven years. Dexter Wheeler was appointed in 1860, and held this position until 1869. The present efficient agent, Abner K. Cole, began his long term of service February 15, 1870. At that time he did all the work of the station, sold tickets, sent messages, attended to baggage and freight, etc. The next year he had one assistant, and since 1S85 the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Berlin September 1 1829 " gSSSSS, Jr. [Organizing Committee^ Action of first Town Meeting. — "At a legal meeting pursuant to the foregoing warrant duly notified and holden at Berlin in the County of Coos on Tuesday the first day of September, in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, the inhabitants of said town of Berlin having a right to vote in any matter that might come before the town, by a major vote and by ballot: 1, Chose Andrew Cates moderator to preside in said meeting; 2, Chose Thomas Ordway, Town Clerk; 3, Chose Amos Green, Thomas Ordway and Thomas Wheeler, Jr., Selectmen and Assessors; 4, Voted that the Selectmen act as town Treasurer; 5. Chose Peter
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.
In the archiveBerlin Falls
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltSt. Anne Church is builtIn the archiveBerlin, New Hampshire-Berlin, Germany telegramIn the archivePulpwood for the paper mills
In the archiveBerlin, New Hampshire
Born hereElizabeth Raum is born here
Born hereMichael Durant is born hereNo 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 Berlin’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Peaked at 20,018 in 1930; 9,425 people lived here in 2020.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Berlin’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Berlin had its own post office from 1833 to 1862. Another post office, Cascade, 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 1829, according to Wikidata. Berlin’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1830 counted 73 people here.
Berlin is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #39 of 126 in New Hampshire. 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: 4 buildings, among them the Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church (listed 1979, the first), 1 historic district, the Saint Anne Historic District,, and 1 site. 8 historic buildings in all.
50% of Berlin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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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