Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 49% of U.S. towns · #116 of 126 in New Hampshire. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Joy Farm, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1930 on, and the census since 1860.
Madison dates its founding to 1852 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 49% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Madison is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #116 of 126 in New Hampshire. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Madison’s 14.9 sits near the middle of its state (56% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Madison’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1960, then grew 5-fold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Madison’s Wikipedia page.
Madison’s post office has been open since 1853. Three other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Madison.
The area was one of the first to have land grants set aside for soldiers who had served in the French and Indian War. The land covered by these grants, parts of Eaton and Albany, was incorporated in 1852 as "Madison", named in honor of President James Madison, who was born 100 years earlier.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveMt. Adams and Mt. Madison from Mt. Clay, Presidential Range, White Mountains
In the archiveSoldiers monument
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveJoy Farm, Silver Lake (Carroll County, New Hampshire)3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Madison. 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 Madison.
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 Madison’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1852, according to Wikidata. Madison’s post office opened in 1807, and the census of 1860 counted 826 people here.
Madison is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #116 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.
Two places: the Joy Farm (listed 1971) and the Madison School, District No. 1 (1980).
11% of Madison’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 1982.
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), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
2018
2017
2014
2014
★ Landmark