Carroll dates to 1832, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Mount Washington Hotel, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1830.
Land was granted by Governor John Wentworth on February 8, 1772, to Sir Thomas Wentworth, Samuel Langdon, and 81 others. Sir Thomas Wentworth resided in West Bretton, England, on his estate called Bretton Hall, after which the township was named "Bretton Woods". On the 1816 Carrigain map of New Hampshire, it appears as "Breton Woods". On June 22, 1832, the town was incorporated by the General Court as Carroll, in honor of Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Passages that mention Carroll, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Carroll County, New Hampshire1889 · page 69Read the page →
Read the text
Portland and Ogdensburgh railroad. A charter was granted July •;, I (succeeding others granted earlier and Lapsed), for a railroad from the west line of Maine through Conway, Bartlett, White Mountain Notch, Carroll, Bethlehem, and Littleton, with the proviso if a route from Littleton to Si Johnsbury, N't, was found impracticable, the company could build the road from Carroll to Whitefield, Dalton, and Vermont line. This road runs about thirty-five miles in Carroll, through the picturesque Saco valley and the wildly romantic scenery of the White Mountain Notch. It was completed to Fabyan's
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to many, building up quite a settlement of his employes which bore the name of " Brown City." His investments in real estate continued, and at the time of his death, November 25, 1880, he was by far the largest landowner in Carroll county. He was connected with various matters of financial magnitude : was an incorporator and director of the Portsmouth, Great Falls, and Conway railroad, and in numerous and differing ways exercised a most beneficial influence in business circles throughout all this region. He was a keen and sagacious financier, forecasting events with great precision, and acquired
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.
Timeline
Carroll, 1832 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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.
1898
1898
1898
2007
★ Landmark
