100 Towns Founded Before the American Revolution

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21. Swedesboro, New Jersey
> Founded: 1638
> Population: 2,585

Swedesboro, a southern New Jersey town, was founded by a group of Swedes and Finns.

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22. Newport, Rhode Island
> Founded: 1639
> Population: 24,334

Newport was founded by English settlers led by Anne Hutchinson, who was driven out of Massachusetts for her religious views.

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23. Guilford, Connecticut
> Founded: 1639
> Population: 22,133

Native Americans sold land on which Guilford was founded to Puritans led by Henry Whitfield.

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24. Fairfield, Connecticut
> Founded: 1639
> Population: 62,045

Fairfield was one of the four earliest towns founded by the English in Connecticut in the 17th century.

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25. Braintree, Massachusetts
> Founded: 1640
> Population: 37,190

Braintree was named after the English town of the same name.

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26. Stamford, Connecticut
> Founded: 1641
> Population: 129,638

Founded by Puritans, Stamford became a manufacturing hub and is now home to corporations such as Synchrony Financial and Pitney Bowes.

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27. Warwick, Rhode Island
> Founded: 1642
> Population: 81,004

Samuel Gorton founded Warwick after he bought the land from the Narragansett people.

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28. Chester, Pennsylvania
> Founded: 1644
> Population: 34,000

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.

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29. Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
> Founded: 1645
> Population: 5,434

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.

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30. Yonkers, New York
> Founded: 1646
> Population: 200,370

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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