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A+History
History · Peterborough

Peterborough dates to 1760, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #11 of 126 in New Hampshire. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them the MacDowell Colony, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 42 buildings. Below: 33 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1790.

1760founded
5on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
33old photos & papers
15famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Peterborough’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Peterborough began

When was Peterborough founded?

1760

Peterborough dates its founding to 1760 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 861 in 17902020 census: 6,418266 years

How historic is Peterborough?

A+

More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1795.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Peterborough’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Peterborough is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #11 of 126 in New Hampshire. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Peterborough’s overall grade.
Founding era1760, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194029.8% of homes (±9.6) · typical NH town 17.5% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register5 listings, 48 historic buildings, 74.9 per 10,000 residents · typical NH town 9.5 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 98%
NewerOlder
New Hampshire towns of 2,500+ (126)Ahead of 92%

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 Peterborough’s 74.9 sits above most of its state (80% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 48 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1760.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.6 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 Peterborough’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos33 old photos, postcards and papers, 1865–1980.A historic districtThe MacDowell Colony, a National Historic Landmark, takes in 42 historic buildings.On the map since 19004 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1997. Watch Peterborough change.A National Historic Landmark5 places on the National Register, including MacDowell Colony, a National Historic Landmark.
★ What stands out · By decade

Peterborough, decade by decade

7 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1900s20 items
Grove Streetc. 1865Grove StreetPhoenix Millc. 1865Phoenix MillSumner & Concord Stsc. 1865Sumner & Concord StsMarian MacDowell in the woods near the log cabin studio1898Marian MacDowell in the woods near the log cabin stud…Unitarian Church1900Unitarian ChurchMorrison Bridge1900Morrison BridgeContoocook River1900Contoocook RiverMain Street1900Main StreetConcord Street1900Concord StreetCunningham Pond1900Cunningham PondThe Petersborough hospital1900The Petersborough hospitalUp the river from granite bridge1900Up the river from granite bridgeMain St. Eastc. 1906Main St. EastView of a garden1909View of a gardenHillcrest1909HillcrestHillcrest1909HillcrestThe bark studio1909The bark studioThe garden, Hillcrest1909The garden, HillcrestThe lower house1909The lower houseThe cabin road1909The cabin road
1910s8 items
Pageant of Peterborough, New Hampshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HampshirePageant of Peterborough, New Hampshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HampshirePageant of Peterborough, New Hampshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HampshirePageant of Peterborough, New Hampshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HampshirePageant of Peterborough, New Hamphshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HamphshirePageant of Peterborough, New Hamphshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HamphshirePageant of Peterborough, New Hamphshire1910Pageant of Peterborough, New HamphshireH. B. Needham Basket Companyc. 1918H. B. Needham Basket Company
1920s–1930s4 items
Edward MacDowell's music room at the MacDowell Colony (?)1920Edward MacDowell's music room at the MacDowell Colony…Album of photographs of the MacDowell Colony1925Album of photographs of the MacDowell ColonyArthur F. Bergeron, Peterborough, N.H (77820)c. 1930Arthur F. Bergeron, Peterborough, N.H (77820)Martyr Hill Guglielmi1933Martyr Hill Guglielmi
1940s–1970snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1980s1 item
Architectural image- window details1980Architectural image- window details
1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Peterborough Town House2007Peterborough Town HouseView from fire watchtower at pack monadnock2005View from fire watchtower at pack monadnockFire watchtower on pack monadnock2005Fire watchtower on pack monadnock
On the National Register

5 listings protect 48 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmark
1
MacDowell Colony
historic buildings protected
48
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
MacDowell Colony
Peterborough Unitarian ChurchAll Saints' ChurchUS Post Office-Peterborough MainPeterborough Town HouseMacDowell Colony★
BuildingsDistricts★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Federal1
Gothic Revival1
Norman Revival1
Neo-Georgian1
Colonial Revival1
★ Landmark
MacDowell ColonyDistrict
Peterborough Unitarian ChurchFederal
All Saints' ChurchGothic Revival
US Post Office-Peterborough MainNeo-Georgian
Peterborough Town HouseColonial Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

On the map

Peterborough on the map, 1900 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Peterborough. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Peterborough on the 1900 USGS mapPeterborough on the 1953 USGS mapPeterborough on the 1987 USGS mapPeterborough on the 1997 USGS map1900Peterboro 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 Peterborough.

The story

How Peterborough came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Peterborough.

Read it all →

Granted by Massachusetts in 1737, it was first permanently settled in 1749. The town suffered several attacks during the French and Indian War. Nevertheless, by 1759, there were fifty families settled. Incorporated on January 17, 1760, by Governor Benning Wentworth, it was named after Lieutenant Peter Prescott (1709–1784) of Concord, Massachusetts, a prominent land speculator.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Peterborough in 1885

Passages that mention Peterborough, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The building of the Peterborough Railroad, from Wilton to Greenfield (it never got to Peterborough), and the Monadnock Railroad, from Winchendon, Mass., to Peterborough, subsequently gave depots within some six or seven miles, respectively, of Hancock Centre before the town had railroad facilities …
History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire1885 · page 398Read the page →
Read the text

The building of the Peterborough Railroad, from Wilton to Greenfield (it never got to Peterborough), and the Monadnock Railroad, from Winchendon, Mass., to Peterborough, subsequently gave depots within some six or seven miles, respectively, of Hancock Centre before the town had railroad facilities of its own. Prior to 1870 a survey of a route for a railroad from .Manchester to Keene had been made

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
" That as to the said Town of Peterborough your petitioners beg leave to observe, that a tract of land unincorporated, called Society, lies adjoining to Said Peterborough on the North — that this Tract is also surrounded by incorporated places And may very
History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire1885 · page 670Read the page →
Read the text

" That as to the said Town of Peterborough your petitioners beg leave to observe, that a tract of land unincorporated, called Society, lies adjoining to Said Peterborough on the North — that this Tract is also surrounded by incorporated places And may very

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

Peterborough, 1759 to 1982

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1759Born hereJeremiah Smith is born here
  3. 1760
    FoundingPeterborough is established
  4. 1795Post officeThe Peterboro post office opens
  5. 19th century
  6. 1865In the archiveGrove Street
  7. 1865Post officeThe West Peterboro post office opens
  8. 1898In the archiveMarian MacDowell in the woods near the log cabin studio
  9. 20th century
  10. 1900In the archiveUnitarian Church
  11. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1901Born hereIsaac D. White is born here
  13. 1910In the archivePageant of Peterborough, New Hampshire
  14. 1920In the archiveEdward MacDowell's music room at the MacDowell Colony (?)
  15. 1930In the archiveArthur F. Bergeron, Peterborough, N.H (77820)
  16. 1942Born hereFrancis Joseph Christian is born here
  17. 1962LandmarkMacDowell Colony named a National Historic Landmark
  18. 1982Born hereSam Huntington is born here
Every building

Peterborough, building by building, 1884–1911

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.

Peterborough fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 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.

Grove Street
Retake this viewGrove Street, c. 1865

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Peterborough’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Peterborough, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,000180018501900195020006,418

Grew from 861 people in 1790 to 6,418 in 2020, 7 times over.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Peterborough’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

15 famous people were born in Peterborough

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Sam HuntingtonAmerican actor · b. 1982
Jeremiah SmithAmerican lawyer, jurist and politician · b. 1759
F
Francis Joseph ChristianCatholic bishop · b. 1942
Isaac D. WhiteUnited States Army general · b. 1901
J
James WilsonAmerican politician from New Hampshire · b. 1766
James WilsonAmerican politician from New Hampshire · b. 1797
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Peterboro
1795–today
West Peterboro
1865–today
17901910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DruryHappy ValleyMacDowell ColonyNooneNorth VillageWest Peterborough
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Peterborough
East HillMacDowellMacLaurin FamilyOld TownPine HillSaint Peters Cemetery NewSaint Peters OldSeccombVillage

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Peterborough’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGrove Street: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Temple2 historic placesADublin67 historic placesA+Greenfield1 historic placeB+Sharon1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHancock2 historic placesAHarrisville31 historic placesA+

Questions about Peterborough’s history

What year was Peterborough founded?

In 1760, according to Wikidata. Peterborough’s post office opened in 1795, and the first U.S. census counted 861 people here in 1790.

How does Peterborough rank for history?

Peterborough is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #11 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.

What is on the National Register in Peterborough?

5 listings: 4 buildings and 1 historic district, the MacDowell Colony, with 42 contributing buildings. 48 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Peterborough?

30% of Peterborough’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.6 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1970.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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), the Library of Congress (25), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.