Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #33 of 37 in Delaware. What drives it
Most of Brookside was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1970.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brookside is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #33 of 37 in Delaware. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Delaware towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Delaware town has 29.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Brookside’s 0.7 sits below most of its state (30% of Delaware towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Another post office, Ogleton, 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brookside’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brookside. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Brookside.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Brookside yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Brookside is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. As of the 2020 census, Brookside had a population of 14,974.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 14,353 to 14,974 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 7,856 and 15,307 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brookside’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Brookside itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Brookside is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #33 of 37 in Delaware. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Robert Ferguson House (listed 1979).
0.0% of Brookside’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 5.9% for a Delaware town; the median home was built in 1968.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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