Special Report
100 American Towns Founded Before the American Revolution
January 23, 2020 11:20 am
Last Updated: March 13, 2020 2:40 pm
21. Swedesboro, New Jersey
> Founded: 1638
> Population: 2,606
Swedesboroy, a southern New Jersey town, was founded by a group of Swedes and Finns.
22. Newport, Rhode Island
> Founded: 1639
> Population: 24,570
Newport was founded by English settlers led by Anne Hutchinson, who was driven out of Massachusetts for her religious views.
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
23. Guilford, Connecticut
> Founded: 1639
> Population: 22,375
Native Americans sold land on which Guilford was founded to Puritans led by Henry Whitfield.
24. Fairfield, Connecticut
> Founded: 1639
> Population: 59,404
Fairfield was one of the four earliest towns founded by the English in Connecticut in the 17th century.
24/7 Wall St.
25. Braintree, Massachusetts
> Founded: 1640
> Population: 37,066
Braintree was named after the English town of the same name.
26. Stamford, Connecticut
> Founded: 1641
> Population: 127,410
Founded by Puritans, Stamford became a manufacturing hub and is now home to corporations such as Synchrony Financial and Pitney Bowes.
Source: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons
27. Warwick, Rhode Island
> Founded: 1642
> Population: 81,881
Samuel Gorton founded Warwick after he bought the land from the Narragansett people.
Source: Smallbones / Wikimedia Commons
28. Chester, Pennsylvania
> Founded: 1644
> Population: 34,056
Originally settled in 1644 by the Swedes, Quakers led by William Penn made Chester a colonial settlement in 1681. It is the oldest city in Pennsylvania.
29. Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
> Founded: 1645
> Population: 5,136
Manchester-by-the-Sea, backdrop to many movies, was founded by English settlers. The name changed in 1990 to distinguish it from other towns named Manchester.
Source: DenisTangneyJr / Getty Images
30. Yonkers, New York
> Founded: 1646
> Population: 199,725
Dutch founder Adrian Van der Donck was the first lawyer in the New Netherlands colony that would become New York in 1664.
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