Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Worcester Town Hall and the Worcester Village School. Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1800.
Worcester dates its founding to 1763 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1800.
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 Worcester’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1940, then more than doubled.
23 censuses, 1800–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Worcester’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Worcester.
Worcester was chartered on June 8, 1763, by a Loyalist Governor in New Hampshire. It has been reported that excellent records were kept on file at the first Town Clerk's office when the Town of Worcester was first settled, but today the exact date of the Town's organization remains a mystery. A fire destroyed the Town's early records.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Worcester, cut from the printed page as they were published.
turned to him with the remark, that he believed they had all told where they belonged but him. He replied that he lived in Worcester, Vermont. Oh ! said the other, I have heard of Worcester. I have heard that all the inhabitants of that town except a Mr. Brown left the place, and that he has thrown his family on the town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
town in this State to any other town in the State without an order of removal. It was proved conclusively that all the home they had was in Worcester, that they were visiting in Middlesex, and desired to return, and that the defendant only helped them to return to their house in Worcester. Wm .
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Worcester. 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 Worcester.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1763, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Worcester’s post office opened in 1828, and the census of 1800 counted 25 people here.
Two places: the Worcester Town Hall (listed 2005) and the Worcester Village School (2005).
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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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