Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #19 of 37 in Delaware. What drives it
Most of Middletown was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Below: 19 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Middletown is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #19 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 Middletown’s 112 sits above most of its state (68% of Delaware towns have fewer) while its 276 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% 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.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Middletown’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Middletown yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Middletown is a town in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the town is 24,164.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 18,871 to 23,192 (+23%).
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.
Born hereJohn P. Cochran is born here
Born hereSilas Simmons is born here
Born hereHarris B. McDowell, Jr. is born here
In the archiveEpiscopal Church Foundation Inc
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMyles Cale is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Date?Locust Grove, 749 Middletown-Odessa Road (Delaware St…
Date?Greenlawn, Carriage Barn, Route 896 (North Broad Stre…
Date?Greenlawn, Main House, Route 896 (North Broad Street)…
Date?Naudain House, Route 896
Date?Eliason Cartshed, Route 896
Date?Hedgelawn, U.S. Route 301
Date?St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Route 896
Date?Noxontown Mill, Noxontown Road (County Road 38)
Date?Hedgelawn, Smokehouse, Saint Georges Hundred, State R…
Date?Rothwell Farm, Barn, Route 458 near Route 42
Date?Hedgelawn, Crib Barn & Granary, Route 301 at Route 10
Date?Cochran Grange, U.S. Route 301, West of Route 71
Date?Woodside Cartshed, R.D. 1, P.O. Box 437 Choptank Road
Date?Cochran Grange, Granary, U.S. Route 301, West of Rout…
Date?Cochran Grange, Main House, U.S. Route 301, West of R…
Date?Cochran Grange, Bank Barn, U.S. Route 301, West of Ro…
Date?Cochran Grange, Threshing Barn, U.S. Route 301, West …
Date?Greenlawn, Tenant House, State Route 896, 1 mile sout…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Middletown. 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 Middletown.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Middletown’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 368 people in 1850 to 23,192 in 2020, more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Middletown’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Middletown’s post office has been open since 1793.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Middletown is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #19 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.
25 listings: 22 buildings, among them the Middletown Academy (listed 1972, the first), 3 historic districts, the Middletown Historic District, the Achmester and the Odessa Historic District, with 233 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 276 historic buildings in all.
3% of Middletown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Delaware town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 the Library of Congress (19), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (26), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
