Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Cold River Bridge, the Prentiss Bridge and the Langdon Meeting House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1790.
Langdon dates its founding to 1787 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
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 Langdon’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1830 and 1930, then more than doubled.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Langdon’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJohn C. Hall is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Langdon.
First settled in 1773 by Seth Walker, Langdon was incorporated on January 11, 1787, when it was named after Governor John Langdon. The town is home to the Prentiss Bridge, the shortest covered bridge in New Hampshire. Built across Great Brook in 1874, the lattice truss span has a length of 34 feet 6 inches (10.52 m).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Langdon. 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 Langdon.
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 Langdon’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.
Langdon had its own post office from 1822 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 1787, according to Wikidata. Langdon’s post office opened in 1822, and the first U.S. census counted 244 people here in 1790.
Three places: the Cold River Bridge (listed 1973), the Prentiss Bridge (1973) and the Langdon Meeting House (2020).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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) 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.
Date?
2008
