Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1835.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Newton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newton is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #89 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 Newton’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 Newton’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 1749.
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 (±6.1 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 Newton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The sixth town to be granted from the Masonian land purchase of 1746, Newton was originally part of Salisbury, Massachusetts; later, part of Amesbury, Massachusetts; then part of the West Parish of Amesbury; then part of New Town or South Hampton, Massachusetts (now South Hampton, New Hampshire). A number of the residents felt they were too far away from its church for their convenience, and the town was incorporated by colonial governor Benning Wentworth as "Newtown" in 1749, simply because it was a new town. In 1846, the New Hampshire legislature voted to contract the name to "Newton".
Passages that mention Newton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire1915 · page 582Read the page →
Read the text
Newton was settled about 1700; it was then called Amesbury Newtown. Name changed to Newton in 1846. The State of Massachusetts was bounded three miles from IMerrimac River; on the final settlement of the line this part of the territory was left off from Massachusetts.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire1915 · page 583Read the page →
Read the text
P. Richardson the present incumbent became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Newton and also of Newton Junction. The latter church was organized in 1872.
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
Newton, 1749 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Newton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1935Hampstead sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Newton.
Every building
Newton, building by building, 1894–1924
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewPostcard of streetcar tracks in, 1907–1915
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Newton’s page.
In 1749, according to Wikidata. Newton’s post office opened in 1835, and the first U.S. census counted 530 people here in 1790.
How does Newton rank for history?
Newton is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #89 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 Newton?
20% of Newton’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 1983.
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 (9), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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