Its Register listings are the Bement Covered Bridge, the Bradford Town Hall and the Bradford Center Meetinghouse. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1812.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bradford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bradford is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bradford’s overall grade.
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 Bradford’s 19.2 sits near the middle of its state (61% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1771.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points).
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 Bradford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Granted by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1765 to John Pierce and George Jaffrey of Portsmouth, it was settled in 1771 by Deacon William Presbury and family. Three years later other settlers arrived, several of them from Bradford, Massachusetts, after which the town was named "New Bradford". Later, it was called "Bradfordton", but upon incorporation by the General Court on September 27, 1787, it was officially named Bradford.
Passages that mention Bradford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the town of Henniker, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, from the date of the Canada grant by the province of Massachusetts, in 1735, to 18801880 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text
These ten persons were then organized and embodied as a branch of the Baptist church of Bradford, with the privilege of choosing their own officers, keeping their own records, disciplining their own members, and receiving additions to their number. When any of the members attended the administration of the Sacrament at Bradford, they were to.be considered equal with the members residing at Bradford.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the town of Henniker, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, from the date of the Canada grant by the province of Massachusetts, in 1735, to 18801880 · page 769Read the page →
Read the text
in Bradford, Aug. 15, 1827 ; md. Almira B. Bowman, of this town, March 21, 1850; resided in Bradford and in Henniker ; d. here April 26, 1874.
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
Bradford, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s 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.
In 1771, according to Wikidata. Bradford’s post office opened in 1812, and the first U.S. census counted 217 people here in 1790.
How does Bradford rank for history?
Bradford is more historic than 93% 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.
What is on the National Register in Bradford?
Three places: the Bement Covered Bridge (listed 1976), the Bradford Town Hall (1980) and the Bradford Center Meetinghouse (2013).
How old are the homes in Bradford?
28% of Bradford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), 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 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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