Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 20 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1790.
Kensington dates its founding to 1737 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kensington is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Kensington’s 114 sits above most of its state (87% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 23 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% 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 Kensington’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1790 and 1920, then grew 5-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kensington’s Wikipedia page.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Kensington.
Once a parish of Hampton, Kensington was incorporated in 1737 by New Hampshire governor Jonathan Belcher. Of the 27 towns granted by Governor Belcher, only three were given names, one of which was Kensington, named for Baron Kensington, owner of Kensington Palace in London.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Kensington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Kensington was one of the first towns in New Hampshire to become interested in establishing a library for the use of its citizens. One town, Peterborough, claims precedence. The Kensington Social Library was incorporatd Dec. 27, 1798.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the following pages living townspeople of Kensington tell, as they recall it, something of the men and women who made the homes of Kensington. They give us a glimpse or the short and simple annals of the poor, of homely joys and destiny obscure, but let not ambition mock, for the greatness of the nation is not in the few leaders, or celebrities in histories, but in the great bulk of humble, earnest lives like these. These pages then have value beyond the mere satisfaction of curiosity; they have historic
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settlement in Kensington is said to have been made by Stephen Green near Green's Brook, about a mile to the south of the meeting-house. When the first house was built, it is said that there was not another dwelling between it and Canada except the wigwams of the savages. People used a ladder, it is said, to enter the house, and at night drew in the ladder to prevent the intrusion of the Indians. Tradition tells us how the Indains were seen sitting on the logs in the clearing, how a large dog stood at the window with his paws on a savage who was trying to enter, and how the Indians when
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Kensington was incorporated in 1737. By the governor and General Assembly. John W'eare, Ezekiel Dow, and Joseph Wadleigh were appointed to call the first parish-meeting in Kensington.
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.
BuiltNorth School is built
Born hereRoland Douglas Sawyer is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveIncident at Exeter mapOne decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kensington. 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 Kensington.
Kensington had its own post office from 1826 to 1909.
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 1737, according to Wikidata. Kensington’s post office opened in 1826, and the first U.S. census counted 800 people here in 1790.
Kensington 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.
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the North School (listed 2013, the first), and 1 historic district, the Kensington Town Center Historic District, with 20 contributing buildings. 23 historic buildings in all.
18% of Kensington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1987.
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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