Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #71 of 126 in New Hampshire. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Dr. Solomon M. Whipple House and the Baptist New Meeting House. Its Register listings are the Dr. Solomon M. Whipple House and the Baptist New Meeting House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1790.
New London dates its founding to 1779 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New London is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #71 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 New London’s 4.5 sits below most of its state (35% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 New London’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1840 and 1920, then grew 6-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New London’s Wikipedia page.
New London’s post office has been open since 1806. Another post office, Soo Nipi Park, 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 New London.
In 1753, the Masonian Proprietors of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, granted the area now called New London as "Heidelberg". Although it appears on some New Hampshire maps, the township was never settled, and the 1753 grant lapsed into default.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention New London, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Bordering the Newbury line, in the southwest corner of the town of New London, is Soo-Nipi Park, the property of Professor John D. Qiiackenbos, of Columbia university, New York City, and an honored resident of New London. This park is made up of the old Pike farm and part of the farm of the late Amos B. Currier. It has an area of 400 acres, and stretches northward along the lake shore for some two miles, fully one half of its water front consisting of a gently receding
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"November i8th, 1800: This day finished perambulating "the line between the town of New London and Kearsarge " Gore, begun at the southerly corner of New London at " Sutton corner and renewed the marks and monuments to the " corner of Danbury and New Chester.
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.
Born hereAnthony Colby is born here
Born hereJonathan Everett Sargent is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereNicholas Fairall is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New London. 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 New London.
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 New London’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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1779, according to Wikidata. New London’s post office opened in 1806, and the first U.S. census counted 311 people here in 1790.
New London is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #71 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 Dr. Solomon M. Whipple House (listed 1985) and the Baptist New Meeting House (2005).
22% of New London’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (11), 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), 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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