Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1822.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Stoddard’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stoddard is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Stoddard’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 Stoddard’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 1774.
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 (±3.9 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 Stoddard’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
This territory was first granted in 1752 to Colonel Sampson Stoddard of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and others as "Monadnock Number 7". It was known locally as "Limerick" before being incorporated as Stoddard in 1774, in honor of Colonel Stoddard.
Colonel Stoddard was appointed to survey southwestern New Hampshire by the colonial government, receiving several land grants for the service. One of his surveying assistants was Benjamin Pierce, father of U.S. President Franklin Pierce. Colonel Stoddard never lived in the town of Stoddard.
The town was first settled in 1768 by John and Martha Taggart, immigrants from Derry, Ireland. Three years later, the Richardson family joined the Taggarts in Stoddard. By 1774, the town had 24 residents.
Passages that mention Stoddard, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the town of Marlborough, Cheshire County, New Hampshire1881 · page 644Read the page →
Read the text
6 6 (3) Stearns Tarbox, b. in Stoddard, Oct. 29, 1807 ; in., Apr. 3, 1881, Nancy Sniitli, b. in Medtield, Mass., Feb. 17, 1808. They resided for many years in Stoddard and Nelson; came to Marl. 1865. Mrs. Tarbox d. Jan. 11, 1879.
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.
By decade
Stoddard, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1830s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
In 1774, according to Wikidata. Stoddard’s post office opened in 1822.
How does Stoddard rank for history?
Stoddard is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. 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 Stoddard?
11% of Stoddard’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
