Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #6 of 38 in Rhode Island. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 256 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1790.
Scituate dates its founding to 1710 (Wikipedia’s history). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Scituate is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #6 of 38 in Rhode Island. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
Rhode Island towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Rhode Island town has 94.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Scituate’s 260 sits above most of its state (87% of Rhode Island towns have fewer) while its 273 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 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.
Scituate had its own post office from 1812 to 1816. Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Abel Mowry Lot · Abel Tanner Lot · Abraham Corp Lot Cemetery · Aldrich Wilmarth Lot · Angell - Cornell Lot · Asahel Harris Lot · Atwood - Salisbury Lot · Barden Cemetery · Barnes - Potter Lot · Benedict Whipple Lot · Benjamin Angell Lot Cemetery · Benjamin D M Slack Lot Cemetery · Brownell Lot · Burton Potter Lot · Captain Dean Kimball Lot · Captain Jonathan Knight Lot · Captain Solomon Taylor Lot · Christopher Fenner Lot Cemetery · Christopher Smith Lot · Colonel Clement Smith Lot · Colonel Daniel Relph Lot Cemetery · Colonel Stephen Young Lot · Cottrell Lot Cemetery · Cyriel Simmons Lot · Darius Durfee Lot · Dexter Arnold Lot · Doctor Jeremiah Cole Lot · Elisha Williams Lot · Ezekiel Fenner Lot Cemetery · Gilbert Matteson Lot · Glenford Cemetery · Henry Williams Lot · Hopkins - Tucker Lot · Horton - Hathaway Lot · Isaac Field Lot · James Andrews Lot · Jeremiah and Benjamin Angell Lot · Jeremiah Brown Lot · Jeremiah Harrington Lot · John Blanchard Lot · John Colvin Lot · John Fiske Lot · John Lovell Lot · Joseph Phillips Lot · Joseph Potter Lot · Josiah Westcott Lot · Knight Hill Road Lot · Moses Potter Lot · Moses Potter Lot · Nehemiah Collins Cemetery · Nehemiah Potter Lot · New Rockland Cemetery · Nicholas Thomas Lot · Otis Whitman Lot · Pardon Walker Lot · Peleg Colvin Lot · Roger W Tourtelett Lot Cemetery · Samuel Fenner Lot · Smithville Cemetery · Stephan Mathewson Lot Cemetery · Stephen Dexter Lot · Sweet - Blanchard Lot · Thomas Lawton Lot · Thomas Mathewson Lot · Thomas Mathewson Lot · Thomas Ralph Lot · Thomas Snell Lot · Thomas Weaver Lot · Town Asylum Lot · Walton Cemetery · West Lot · Westcott - Wilkinson Lot · William Brant Lot · William Chappell Lot · William Knight Lot · William T Henry Lot Cemetery · Yeaw - Howard - Philips Lot · Zephaniah Bishop Lot Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Scituate.
Scituate was first settled in 1710 by emigrants from Scituate, Massachusetts. The original spelling of the town's name was "Satuit", a native Indian word meaning "cold brook" or "cold river." The town was a part of Providence until 1731.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Scituate, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Smithfield people considered a journey to the adjoining town of Scituate, one hundred years ago, somewiiat as we regarded a trip to Ohio some fifty years since ; but quite a number of families and some very fine additions to the property, respectability and enterprise of Scituate, nevertheless, removed, and it may have been with a desire to keep them at home that the discomforts of Scituate were magnified. James Aldrich took the farm made vacant, as we have seen, by the unfortunate death of Mr. Wilkinson, and found
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in her arms, but more frequently the "good man" with his wife behind him, going to church or to shopping in the small but thriving village of Providence, which, in the first settlement, was indeed the village of Scituate, as well as Providence. Gideon Harris is a very prominent man in the history of Scituate. He married Damaus Wescott, a noted maiden in her day.
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 hereEsek Hopkins is born here
Born hereElisha Mathewson is born hereBuiltAmos Cooke House is built
Born hereJames Burrill Angell is born here
Born hereAlfred H. Littlefield is born hereBuiltSmithville Seminary is built
In the archiveSmithville Seminary in
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePentecostal Collegiate Institute, North Scituate, R.I. (1905) (cropped)
In the archiveSeagrave Observatory
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey, from lithograph in possession of the Rhode Island His…4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2015ScituateRI BatteyBardenHouse
2015ScituateRI AndrewsLutherFarm
2015ScituateRI AmosCookeHouse
2015Amanita caesarea (American Caesar's mushroom)
2010Scituate RI lg
2008Smithville Seminary
2008Old Congregational Church
2008North Scituate Baptist Church Rhode Island
2008JCT RI 102 on RI 14
2008Hope water towerEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Scituate. 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 Scituate.
Drag across each photo to compare.
18892008Lost half of its people between 1850 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Scituate’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1710, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Scituate’s post office opened in 1812, and the first U.S. census counted 2,315 people here in 1790.
Scituate is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #6 of 38 in Rhode Island. 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.
10 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Old Congregational Church (listed 1974, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Smithville-North Scituate, the Clayville Historic District and the Hope Village Historic District, with 256 contributing buildings. 273 historic buildings in all.
25% of Scituate’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 20% for a Rhode Island town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (16), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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.
1905
1906
