Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1926 on and the census since 1860.
The Ward post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Phillips Creek (1845), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Ward’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ward.
The first settler arrived around 1817. The town of Ward was created in 1856 from parts of the towns of Alfred and Amity.
The only significant community, Phillips Creek, was first settled between 1830 and 1835.
In the summer of 1838, a violent windstorm caused destruction of property and loss of life.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ward, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Ward has always felt in the Ward name and family, and briefly notes the more important of the various "Ward projects" which he has undertaken. These Ward projects are of intimate interest to descendants of William Ward of Sudbury, for every descendant is a spiritual sharer and copartner in the family history which they typify and memorialize.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He was a graduate of Amherst College, B.A., 1867, and a prominent stationer and paper merchant in Boston — president of the Samuel Ward Company to 1913, and after that date treasurer both of the Samuel Ward Manufacturing Company of Atlantic Avenue and "Ward's" of Franklin Street. He was prominent in the First Congregational Church of Newton Center, being eighth in the deaconate in direct descent from John Ward (2), and a tablet to his memory has been placed upon the church wall.
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.
Weddings 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 Ward. 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 Ward.
Between 234 and 877 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ward’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Ward itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Ward had its own post office from 1859 to 1903. Another post office, Phillips Creek, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Ward post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, 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.
