Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #80 of 126 in New Hampshire. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Pineground Bridge. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1986 on, and the census since 1790.
Chichester dates its founding to 1727 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chichester is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #80 of 126 in New Hampshire. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Chichester’s 3.6 sits below most of its state (31% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chichester’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1830 and 1920, then grew 5-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chichester’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJonathan Pearson is born here
Born hereSamuel Porter Putnam is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Chichester.
Chichester was granted in 1727 to Nathaniel Gookin and others, and was named for Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Earl of Chichester and England's Secretary of State for the Southern Department. The first settlement was commenced by Paul Morrill in 1758.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chichester.
1986Concord sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chichester.
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 Chichester’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Chichester had its own post office from 1818 to 1935. Another post office, North Chichester, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1727, according to Wikidata. Chichester’s post office opened in 1818, and the first U.S. census counted 491 people here in 1790.
Chichester is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #80 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.
One place: the Pineground Bridge (listed 2004).
12% of Chichester’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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