New England town

The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. A somewhat unique institution that does not quite have a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in that they were originally set up so that the entire territory of the state would be completely covered by them. However, New England towns tend to be of greater importance in local government and civic identity than civil townships are in most of the states where the latter exist. New England towns are legally incorporated and have all the powers that a city in other states would normally have. In addition, virtually all incorporated municipalities in New England are based on the town model; other forms based on the concept of a compact populated place, such as a village or borough, are uncommon. New England is the only region of the country where this is the case. Because virtually all residents live within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality, county government in New England is typically weak or nonexistent. The towns are of much greater importance than the counties are.

Characteristics of the New England Town System

Towns are laid out so that all land is within the boundaries of a town or other incorporated municipality. Except in some very sparsely populated areas of the three northern New England states, the concept of unincorporated territory, even in rural areas, is unknown. With the exception of those very sparsely populated areas, every square inch of land in New England is within the boundaries of a town or other incorporated municipality.

Towns are legally incorporated and have all the powers that a city in other states would normally have. Most towns have traditionally been governed by a town meeting form of government.

Towns are typically centered around a built-up populated place with the same name as the town (a "town center"). However, they usually cover a larger area than said place, encompassing additional built-up places and/or a mixture of extraneous urban and rural territory. There is no unincorporated territory between the towns; leaving a town always means entering another town or other municipality. In most parts of New England, towns are irregular in shape and size and are not laid out on any type of grid (there are some exceptions to this, however; most notably, much of the interior of Maine was originally laid out as surveyed townships).

Since virtually all residents live within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality, residents receive most local services at the municipal level, and county government tends to be very weak. In some areas, county government has been completely abolished.

Residents usually identify very strongly with their town for purposes of civic identity, thinking of the town as a single, coherent community. While it is not unheard of for residents to identify more strongly with villages or sections of a town that with the town itself, this is certainly the exception, not the rule.

While other forms of municipalities besides towns do exist in the New England states -- most notably, cities -- these forms tend to be offshoots of the town concept (most cities are nothing more than former towns that adopted a city form of government due to having grown to large to be administered by a town meeting). Other municipality forms based on the concept of a compact populated place, such as a village or borough, are uncommon (and, where they do exist, remain part of their parent towns and are usually regarded as less important than the towns).

Historical Development

Towns date back to the time of the earliest European colonial settlement of New England, and pre-date the development of counties in the region. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as areas were settled, they would be organized into towns. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn up to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns or natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns was very informal, sometimes connected to local church divisions. By 1700, colonial governments had become more involved in the official establishment of new towns. Towns were typically governed by a town meeting form of government (as many still are today).

The entire areas of Connecticut and Rhode Island had been divided into towns by the late 18th century, and Massachusetts was almost completely covered early in the 19th century. By 1850, the only New England state that still had large unincorporated areas left was Maine, and by the end of the 19th century most areas in Maine that could realistically be settled had been organized into towns.

Early town organization in Vermont and much of New Hampshire proceeded in a somewhat different manner from that of the other New England states. In these areas, towns were often “chartered” long before any settlers moved into a particular area. This was very common in the mid to late 18th century (towns in southeastern New Hampshire whose existence predates that period were not part of this process). Once there were enough residents in a town to formally organize a town government, no further action was necessary to incorporate. This practice can lead to inconsistencies in the dates of incorporation for towns in this region. Dates given in reference sources sometime reflect the date the town was chartered – which may have been long before it was even settled – not the date its town government actually became active. In other parts of New England, it was not unheard of for “future towns” to be laid out along these lines, but such areas would not be formally incorporated as towns until they were sufficiently settled to organize a town government.

Many early towns covered very large amounts of land, and once areas had become settled, new towns were sometimes formed by breaking areas away from the original existing towns. This was an especially common practice during the 18th century and early 19th century. More heavily populated areas were often subdivided on multiple occasions, producing towns that are typically smaller in terms of land area than towns in rural areas. Formation of new towns in this manner slowed in the later part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century, however, and is very rarely seen today; in fact, boundary changes of any type are fairly rare.

Other Types of Municipalities in New England

Although towns are the basic building block of New England municipality system, several other types of municipalities also exist. Every New England state also has cities. Maine also has a unique type of entity called a plantation. Beneath the town level, Connecticut has incorporated boroughs, and Vermont has incorporated villages.

Cities

In addition to towns, every New England state also has incorporated cities. Generally speaking, a city is just a town by another name, with a larger population than a typical town. Cities differ from towns only in their form of government, and even that distinction has become somewhat blurred in recent decades. Most cities are simply former towns that changed to a city form of government because they grew too large to be administered by a town meeting. Cities are typically governed by a mayor (and/or city manager) and city council or other similar arrangement. Cities and towns are regarded as equivalents under both state law and the attitudes of local residents; in common speech, people often refer to communities which are cities as “towns”, drawing no distinction between the two types.

The presence of incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont has influenced the evolution of cities in those states. In Connecticut in particular, the historical development of cities was quite different from in the other New England states, and at least technically, the relationship between towns and cities is even today different from elsewhere in New England. Just as boroughs in Connecticut overlay towns, so do cities; for example, while Hartford is commonly thought of as a city, there is technically both a coextensive “City of Hartford” and “Town of Hartford”, the latter essentially existing only on paper. In practice, though, most cities in Connecticut today do not function any differently from their counterparts elsewhere in New England. See the section below on boroughs and villages for more background on this topic.

There are far fewer cities in New England than there are towns, although cities are more common in heavily built-up areas, and most of the largest municipalities in the region are titled as cities. Across New England as a whole, only about 5% of all incorporated municipalities are cities. Cities are more common in the three southern New England states than they are in the three northern New England states.

There has never been a bright-line population divider between towns and cities (i.e., no rule that communities that achieve a certain level of population automatically become cities), and there are many instances of towns that have larger populations than nearby cities. The practical threshold to become a city seems to be higher in the three southern New England states than in the three northern New England states. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, every city has at least 10,000 people, and there are only a few that have less than 20,000. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, there are a number of cities with less than 10,000 people, even a couple with fewer than 5,000.

Over time, the distinction between a town and a city has become blurred. Since the early 20th century, towns have been allowed to modify the town meeting form of government in various ways (e.g., representative town meeting, adding a town manager). In recent decades, some towns have adopted what effectively amount to city forms of government, although they still refer to themselves as towns. As a practical matter, one municipality that calls itself a town and another that calls itself a city may have exactly the same governmental structure. With these changes in town government, a reluctance to adopt the title of city seems to have developed, and few towns have officially adopted the title of city since the early 20th century. To an extent, whether or not a community is labeled a city is related more to how large it was relative to the general population a century ago than to how large its population is today.

Plantations

In addition to towns and cities, Maine has a third type of town-like municipality not found in any other New England state, the plantation. A plantation is essentially a town-like community that doesn't have enough population to be a true, full-blown town. Plantations are organized at the county level, and are typically found in sparsely populated areas. There is no bright-line population divider between a town and a plantation, but no plantation currently has any more than about 300 residents. Plantations are considered to be “organized” but not “incorporated”. Not all counties have them; in some southern counties, all territory is sufficiently populated to be covered by a town or a city.

In colonial times, Massachusetts also used the term “plantation” for a community in a pre-town stage of development – in fact, Maine probably originally got the term from Massachusetts, as Maine was once part of Massachusetts – but the term has been out of wide use there since the 18th century. Massachusetts also once had “districts”, which served much the same purpose. Districts were typically municipalities that had been formed by breaking off from existing towns. They were considered to be incorporated, but lacked the full privileges of a town. Maine and Rhode Island are also known to have made limited use of the district concept. Districts have not been at all common since the first half of the 19th century, and there have not been any districts anywhere in New England in over a century.

Boroughs and Villages

Perhaps because the towns themselves are such strong entities, most areas of New England never developed municipal forms based on the compact populated place concept, along the lines of a “town” in the south, a “village” in the midwest/New York State, or a “borough” in Pennsylvania/New Jersey. This is in stark contrast to most states with civil townships, which typically have extensive networks of villages or boroughs that carve out or overlay the townships.

Two of the New England states do have general-purpose municipalities of this type, however, to at least a limited extent. Connecticut has incorporated boroughs, and Vermont has incorporated villages. Such areas remain a part of their parent town, but assume some responsibilities for municipal services within their boundaries. In both states, they are typically regarded as less important than towns, and both seem to be in decline as institutions. In recent decades, many boroughs and villages have disincorporated, reverting to full town control.

The term “village” is sometimes used in New England to describe a distinct, built-up place within a town. This may be a “town center” which bears the same name as the town or city (almost every town has such a place), or a name related to that of the town, or a completely unrelated name. The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, for example, includes “villages” called Barnstable, West Barnstable, and Hyannis. Except for the incorporated villages in Vermont, these “villages” are not incorporated municipalities and should not be understood as such. Towns do sometimes grant a certain measure of recognition to such areas, officially referring to them as “villages” and using highway signs that identify them as villages. Many villages also are recognized as places by the United States Postal Service (some villages have their own post offices, with their names used in mailing addresses) or the United States Census Bureau (which recognizes some villages as “Census Defined Places” and tabulates census data for them). For an example of the latter, see West Kennebunk, Maine, which is a constituent part of the town of Kennebunk, Maine. But they have no real legal existence separate from the town, and are usually regarded by local residents as a part of the town in which they are located, less important than the whole.

It is possible for a Connecticut borough or Vermont village to become a city. In Connecticut, cities overlay towns just as boroughs do, and, just like a borough, a city can cover only a portion of a town rather than being coextensive with the town. This is rare today -- there is currently only one such example, Groton -- but it was more common historically. Cities actually developed earlier in Connecticut than in the other New England states, and were originally based on the borough concept. At one time, all cities were non-coextensive; the practice of making cities coextensive with their towns was a later adaptation intended to mimic the city concept that had emerged in the other states. Over time, many non-coextensive cities have expanded to become coextensive with their parent town. As with boroughs, many have also disincorporated and reverted to full town control. These two trends have combined to make non-coextensive cities very rare in recent times.

In Vermont, if a village becomes a city, it does not continue to overlay its parent town, but breaks away and becomes a completely separate municipality. Most cities in Vermont today are actually former villages rather than former towns, and are much smaller than a typical town in terms of land area. The above process has created several instances where there are adjacent towns and cities with the same name. In all cases, the city was a village that was originally the “town center” of the town, but later incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality.

Non-Town Areas

All three of the northern New England states (Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) contain some areas that are unincorporated, not part of any town, city or plantation. Maine has significantly more such area than the other two states. Most non-town areas are located in very sparsely populated regions; much of the barely-inhabited interior of Maine is unincorporated, for example. While it is important to note that such areas do exist, their importance should not overstated; they are certainly the exception rather than the rule in the New England system, and the number of New England residents who live in such areas is extremely small in comparison to those who live in towns and cities, even in Maine. Most non-town areas can be classified under two categories, “unincorporated townships” and “gores, grants, locations, and purchases.”

Unincorporated townships, sometimes called “unincorporated towns”, are town-sized areas that do not have a formal town government. Many have no local government at all (some have no permanent population whatsoever); some may have a very rudimentary organization (e.g., a town clerk’s office exists for the purpose of conducting elections for state or federal offices). Some townships are areas that were drawn up on a map in the 18th and 19th centuries as “future towns” but never saw enough settlement to commence operation of a formal town government. Some townships were once incorporated as towns but disincorporated due to population loss. Much of the interior of Maine is divided into surveyed townships that are identified only by letters and numbers and were probably never seriously intended to ever become towns.

The gores, grants, locations and purchases are areas (typically smaller than a normal-sized town) that were for whatever reason not included in any town back when town boundaries were being drawn up in the 18th and 19th centuries. Sometimes these areas were not included in any town due to survey errors (which is actually the technical meaning of the term “gore”). Sometimes they represent small areas that were left over when a particular region was carved into towns, not large enough to be a town on their own. Some appear to be in areas where it was not contemplated that towns would ever develop. Like the unincorporated townships, these areas typically have either no local government at all, or a very rudimentary form of organization. However, Hart's Location, New Hampshire has incorporated as a town, and Wentworth's Location, New Hampshire was also incorporated as a town at one time. These areas were once more numerous, and were even present in the southern New England states as well, but over the years those located in more populated areas have tended to be annexed to neighboring towns or to simply incorporate as towns in their own right.

Maine has significantly more unincorporated territory than Vermont or New Hampshire. Fewer than 100 Vermont residents and fewer than 250 New Hampshire residents live in unincorporated areas. In Maine, by contrast, about 10,000 residents live in unincorporated areas (not including residents of plantations, which are technically “unincorporated” but have much more of a municipal organization than the areas being discussed in this section). As a result, Maine has developed more of an infrastructure for administration of unincorporated areas than the other New England states. The existence of this fallback is probably explains why Maine has had significantly more town disincorporated over the years than any other New England state. There have been several instances of towns in Maine with a few hundred residents disincorporating; while these are certainly not large communities, they are large enough to realistically operate a town government if they want to, but apparently elected not to do so. In the other New England states, disincorporation has generally not been brought up unless a town’s population has fallen into single digits.

Census Treatment of the New England Town System

Because they are conceptually similar to civil townships from a geographic standpoint, the United States Census Bureau treats New England towns as “Minor Civil Divisions” (MCDs), the same category into which civil townships fall. The Census Bureau also treats plantations in Maine as MCDs. Cities, by contrast, are treated as "incorporated places", the same category into which most incorporated municipalities in other states fall.

This above Census classifications should not be understood to imply that New England towns are not incorporated, that towns and cities in New England represent two fundamentally different concepts, or that New England towns are necessarily identical to MCDs in other states (such as civil townships) in terms of governmental function or civic-identity importance. The above classifications are based on the Census Bureau's perceptions of population-distribution patterns, and which entities in other states are most comparable. New England towns are not considered to be "incorporated places" because they do not represent a single compact, populated place in the same manner that most incorporated municipalities in other states do; it's not that they aren't "incorporated", but that, in Census terms, they are not "places". The fact that New England towns serve essentially the same function as incorporated places in other states, but are not treated as incorporated places by the Census Bureau, can be a source of confusion.

To fill in some of the “place” data, the Census Bureau sometimes recognizes Census Designated Places (CDPs) within towns. These often correspond to town centers or villages, although not all such areas are recognized as CDPs (in many towns, there are no recognized CDPs; essentially, from a Census standpoint, there is no such "place"). In cases where a town is entirely or almost entirely built up, the Census sometimes recognizes a CDP which is coextensive with the entire town. Data users from outside New England should be aware that New Englanders usually think in terms of entire towns (i.e., MCD data), and as a result CDP data is often of only marginal interest to New Englanders.

In New Hampshire and Vermont, the Census Bureau treats each individual non-town area (township, gore, grant, etc.) as an MCD. In Maine, apparently due to the extent of unorganized territory, the Census Bureau typically lumps contiguous townships, gores and the like together into “unorganized territories”, which are then recognized as MCDs. In a few cases where a township or gore does not border any other unorganized territory, it is treated as its own MCD. Incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont are treated as incorporated places.

List of New England towns

For a list of all New England towns and other town-level municipalities, see List of New England towns. That page also includes links to historical census population statistics for New England towns.

Statistics and Superlatives

Note: all population statistics are from the 2000 United States Census.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts contains 40 incorporated cities and 311 incorporated towns. Collectively, these 351 municipalities cover the entire state; there is no unincorporated territory.

(Note: Different sources will quote varying numbers of cities and towns in Massachusetts, due to apparent attempts to classify certain communities that call themselves "towns" as "cities", based on having a form of government that is essentially a city form of government. While other New England states have towns with similar arrangements, only in Massachusetts has any attempt been made to classify communities along these lines. The United States Census Bureau claims that there are 45 cities and 306 towns; the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office claims that there are 50 cities and 301 towns. There are only 40 municipalities which consistently identify themselves as cities, however. For purposes of this article, only those 40 municipalities are recognized as cities.)

The largest municipality in Massachusetts, by population, is the city of Boston (pop. 589,141).
The largest which is a town and not a city is Framingham (pop. 66,910).
The smallest which is a city and not a town is North Adams (pop. 14,681).
The smallest overall is the town of Gosnold (pop. 86).
The largest municipality by land area is the town of Plymouth (96 square miles).
The smallest town by area is the town of Nahant (1.24 square miles).

Rhode Island

Rhode Island contains 8 incorporated cities and 31 incorporated towns. Collectively, these 39 municipalities cover the entire state; there is no unincorporated territory.

The largest municipality in Rhode Island, by population, is the city of Providence (pop. 173,618).
The largest which is a town and not a city is Coventry (pop. 33,668).
The smallest which is a city and not a town is Central Falls (pop. 18,928).
The smallest overall is the town of New Shoreham (pop. 1,010).
The largest municipality by land area is Coventry (59 square miles).
The smallest is Central Falls (1.21 square miles).

Connecticut

Put into terms that are equivalent to the other New England states, Connecticut contains 19 incorporated cities and 150 incorporated towns. Collectively, these 169 municipalities cover the entire state; there is no unincorporated territory. (As discussed in Section 2.2.3 of this article, the relationship between towns and cities in Connecticut is different from the other New England states, at least on paper; thus, technically, all 169 of the above municipalities are really towns, with 19 overlaid by a coextensive city of the same name).

Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs. There are about 10 in the state. They were once somewhat more numerous, and many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has one remaining city that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town (Groton).

The largest municipality in Connecticut, by population, is the city of Bridgeport (pop. 139,529).
The largest which is a town and not a city is West Hartford (pop. 63,589).
The smallest which is a city and not a town, only including cities which are coextensive with their towns, is Derby (pop. 12,391); the city-within-a-town of Groton is however smaller (pop. 10,010).
The smallest town is Union (pop. 693).
The largest municipality by land area is the town of New Milford (61 square miles).
The smallest town-level municipality is Derby (4.98 square miles).

New Hampshire

New Hampshire contains 13 incorporated cities and 221 incorporated towns. Collectively, these 234 municipalities cover the vast majority of, but not all of, the state's territory. There are some unincorporated areas in the sparsely populated northern region of the state. Most of the unincorporated areas are in Coos County, the state's northernmost county. Carroll and Grafton counties also contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. The remaining seven counties in the state are entirely incorporated. Fewer than 250 of the state's residents live in unincorporated areas.

The largest municipality in New Hampshire, by population, is the city of Manchester (pop. 107,006).
The largest which is a town and not a city is Derry (pop. 34,021).
The smallest which is a city and not a town is Franklin (pop. 8,405).
The smallest incorporated municipality overall is the town of Hart's Location (pop. 37), which, despite its name, is an incorporated town.
The largest municipality by land area is the town of Pittsburg (282 square miles).
The smallest the town of New Castle (0.83 square miles).

Vermont

Vermont contains 9 incorporated cities and 237 incorporated towns. Collectively, these 246 municipalities cover the vast majority of, but not all of, the state's territory. There are some unincorporated areas in the sparsely populated mountainous regions of the state. Most of the unincorporated areas are in Essex County, in the northeastern part of the state. Bennington, Windham and Chittenden counties also contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. The remaining ten counties in the state are entirely incorporated. Fewer than 100 of the state's residents live in unincorporated areas.

Vermont is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated villages. There are about 40 in the state. There were once nearly double that number, and most of those that remain are very small.

The largest municipality in Vermont, by population, is the city of Burlington (pop. 38,889).
The largest which is a town and not a city is Essex (pop. 18,626).
The smallest which is a city and not a town is Vergennes (pop. 2,741).
The smallest incorporated town is Granby (pop. 86).
The largest municipality by land area is the town of Chittenden (73 square miles).
The smallest town-level municipality is the city of Winooski (1.43 square miles).

Maine

Maine contains 22 incorporated cities and 434 incorporated towns. There are also 34 plantations. Collectively, these 490 municipalities cover much of, but certainly not all of, the state's territory. Only four of Maine's sixteen counties are entirely incorporated, although a few others are nearly so, and most of the unincorporated areas are in very sparsely populated regions. Only about 1% of the state's population lives in unincorporated areas.

(The number of cities, towns and plantations shown above is as of the 2000 Census. Since then, two towns, Madrid and Centerville, have disincorporated. Thus, at present, Maine has 22 cities, 432 towns, and 34 plantations, for a total of 488 organized municpalities.)

The largest municipality in Maine, by population, is the city of Portland (pop. 64,249).
The largest which is a town and not a city is Brunswick (pop. 21,172).
The smallest which is a city and not a town is Eastport (pop. 1,640).
The smallest town is Frye Island, a resort town which reported no year-round population in the 2000 Census; one plantation, Glenwood, also reported a permanent population of zero.
The smallest town aside from Frye Island is Centerville (pop. 26). (As noted above, Centerville has disincorporated since the 2000 Census; the smallest town reported in the 2000 Census aside that is still in existence, aside from Frye Island, is Beddington, pop. 29)
The largest municipality by land area is the town of Allagash (128 square miles).
The smallest Monhegan Plantation (0.86 square miles).