Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1891 on and the census since 1790.
The Halifax post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Grove (1884), Hale (1896) and Valley (1899), 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 Halifax’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1810 and 1960, then more than doubled.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Halifax’s Wikipedia page.
Halifax had its own post office from 1816 to 1954. Three other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Halifax.
Halifax was the second town chartered, west of the Connecticut River on May 11, 1750, by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth, meaning Halifax is the second oldest town in the state after Bennington. The town was named for George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereAugustus Wade Dwight is born here
Born hereNorton Prentiss Otis is born here
Born hereFrancis Fisher Browne is born here
Born hereRussell J. Waters is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Halifax.
1891Brattleboro sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Halifax.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Halifax post office opened in 1816, 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 Wikimedia Commons (4), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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