Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Littleton post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Littleton Station (1853) and Milo (1854), 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 Littleton’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Littleton.
Some say the community derives its name from William Little, a pioneer settler, while others believe it was named after Harrison Little, a local reverend. Littleton was formerly an incorporated town and was dissolved in 2004.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Littleton’s post office has been open since 1883. Two 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).
Passages that mention Littleton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first settler in Clay district was William Little, who settled where the town of Littleton now stands in the year of 1810. The first settler in Church district was Henry Church, who came there in the year of 1782 and settled where the town of Hundred now stands.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Littleton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Littleton post office opened in 1883, 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, 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.