New England town
| Town | |
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Also known as: New England town New England City and Town Area (U.S. Census term) |
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| Category | Municipal corporation |
| Location | |
| Found in | U.S. states in New England |
| Created by | Various colonial agreements followed by state constitutions |
| Created | 1620 (Plymouth, Massachusetts) |
| Number | More than 1,500 (as of 2016) |
| Populations | 41 (Hart's Location, New Hampshire) - 68,318 (Framingham, Massachusetts) |
| Areas | 1.2 sq mi. (Nahant, Massachusetts) - 291.2 sq mi. (Pittsburg, New Hampshire) |
| Government | Town meeting |
The New England town (generally referred to simply as a town in New England) is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns overlay the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but are fully functioning municipal corporations, possessing powers similar to cities in other states; New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns and cities is the most similar system to New England's. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting legislative body. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place, which is prevalent elsewhere in the U.S., are uncommon. County government in New England states is typically weak at best, sometimes even nonexistent. Connecticut, for example, has no county governments, nor does Rhode Island. Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, while Massachusetts has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far. With few exceptions, counties serve mostly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems.
Towns date back to the time of the earliest English colonial settlement, which predominated in New England, and they pre-date the development of counties in the region. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as areas were settled, they were organized as towns. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns, often affected by natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns was very informal, sometimes connected to local church divisions.
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