Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1816.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Boston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Boston is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #102 of 126 in New Hampshire. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Boston’s overall grade.
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 New Boston’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (8% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1763.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points).
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 →
What stands out about New Boston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was first granted in 1736 by colonial governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. At the time, lands to the west of the Merrimack River, disputed between the two provinces, were treated by Belcher as part of Massachusetts, and he granted the town to several Boston families. It was to have been called "Lanestown" or "Piscataquog Township", but by 1751 they called it "New Boston" after their hometown. Not all the grantees took up their claims, and the land was regranted 10 years later to settlers from Londonderry, New Hampshire. When the town was incorporated in 1763, Governor Benning Wentworth formally recognized the long-used name of "New Boston".
Passages that mention New Boston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Address delivered at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of New Boston, New Hampshire, July 4, 18631863 · page 36Read the page →
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36 The Baptist eliurcli and society was organized in 'Nov., 1799, and in 1804 took the name of " The Calvinistic Baptist Church in New Boston." Its first honse of worship was erected in 1805, in the Avesterly part of the town, a distance of about three miles from the lower village, where its present church editice is located. The first settled minister was the Rev. Isaiah Stone. He commenced
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the town of Amherst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire1883 · page 100Read the page →
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In calling the town-meeting held 9 March, 1761, the town was divided into two districts. The voters in that part of the town lying east of the road leading from Lyon's bridge to the meeting-house, and onward east of the New Boston road to New Boston line, were warned by Constable Thomas Clark ; those living west of that line were warned by Constable William Bradford.
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Address delivered at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of New Boston, New Hampshire, July 4, 18631863 · page 26Read the page →
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nings had been made as insured the complete success of the enterprise. At this period the tide of Scotch-Irish mind and muscle from Londonderry begun to set in, and from thence the growth of New Boston went steadily and rapidly forward, until the town i-eached its maturity in 1820. The first census of the settlement was taken under the authority of tlie proprietors in 175G, and is the earliest reliable record to be found. September 24th 1754 the proprietors
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History of the town of Amherst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire1883 · page 170Read the page →
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A survey for a railroad having been made between Danforth's corner and King's mills, in New Boston, a distance of llf miles, and the route being found feasible, the town, at a meeting held 2 January, 1869, voted to give the road the right of way across the town farm, the use of the ledge on the farm, and gravel for building the road. It was also voted — 180 to 66 — to take stock in the road to the amount of five per cent, of the valuation of the town.
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
New Boston, 1763 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.
In 1763, according to Wikidata. New Boston’s post office opened in 1816, and the first U.S. census counted 1,202 people here in 1790.
How does New Boston rank for history?
New Boston is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #102 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.
How old are the homes in New Boston?
13% of New Boston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (7), 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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