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C−History
History · Carney

Carney’s post office opened in 1888

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #182 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Most of Carney was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1950.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Carney’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Carney began

When was Carney founded?

1888

The Carney post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Cub Hill (1840) and Harleigh (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,523 in 19502020 census: 29,363138 years

How historic is Carney?

C−

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Carney post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Carney’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carney is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #182 of 261 in Maryland. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Carney’s overall grade.
Founding era1888, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19403.7% of homes (±1.3) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical MD town 0.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 19%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 30%

Few Maryland towns list much on the Register (a typical Maryland town has 0.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Carney’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (20% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →

What stands out about Carney’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Carney, and 33 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18946 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1974. Watch Carney change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Carney had its own post office from 1888 to 1905. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cub Hill
1840–1896
Harleigh
1886–1889
Carney
1888–1905
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Britinay HillsCarney GroveCloverfield ManorCoventryCowpenCromwell StationCromwell WoodsCromwoodCub HillCub Hill FarmsCub HillsGlenside ParkHarford FarmsHarford HillsHarrington ManorHaver HillHunting LodgeJoppa HeightsJoppa ManorKnoll AcresLoch RavenLowell RidgeNorth WindNorth Wind Farms
Gone or out of use
Gunpowder Quarrymine
1cemetery inside Carney
Graham Memorial Park

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Carney’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Carney’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewOldHarford Lakewoodb: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Carney on the map, 1894 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carney. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Carney on the 1894 USGS mapCarney on the 1904 USGS mapCarney on the 1944 USGS mapCarney on the 1957 USGS mapCarney on the 1966 USGS mapCarney on the 1974 USGS map1894Baltimore sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Carney.

The story

How Carney came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Carney.

Read it all →

In 1880, Thomas Carney immigrated to the United States from Ireland and settled in Texas, Maryland. Soon after his arrival, he married the former Mary McDermot and bought forty and one-half acres on the southeast side of the Baltimore and Harford Turnpike.

Several years later (circa 1885), the Carney family moved to what is now Harford and Joppa roads, where Thomas Carney opened a general store which is believed to have served as the Eight Mile House on the turnpike. The store was located on the site presently occupied by the Das Bierhalle Restaurant. In the 1880s and 1890s, the store also served as the Carney family home.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Carney, 1840 to 1991

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840Post officeThe Cub Hill post office opens
  3. 1886Post officeThe Harleigh post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Carney post office opens
  5. 1889Post officeThe Harleigh post office closes
  6. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1896Post officeThe Cub Hill post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1905Post officeThe Carney post office closes
  10. 1991In the archiveOldHarford Lakewoodb
By decade

Carney, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1990s1 item
OldHarford Lakewoodb1991OldHarford Lakewoodb
Today23 recent
2020-07-02 10 13 11 View south along Maryland State Route 147 (Harford Road) just south of Northwind Road in20202020-07-02 10 13 11 View south along Maryland State R…2020-07-02 10 07 49 View north along Maryland State Route 147 (Harford Road) just north of Interstate 695 (Baltimore Be…20202020-07-02 10 07 49 View north along Maryland State R…2020-07-02 09 57 00 View south along Maryland State Route 147 (Harford Road) at the exit for Interstate 695 WEST (Towso…20202020-07-02 09 57 00 View south along Maryland State R…2020-07-02 09 53 45 View north along Maryland State Route 147 (Harford Road) at the exit for Interstate 695 WEST (Towso…20202020-07-02 09 53 45 View north along Maryland State R…2019-07-24 16 41 03 View east along Interstate 695 (Baltimore Beltway) from the overpass for Maryland State Route 147 (…20192019-07-24 16 41 03 View east along Interstate 695 (B…2019-07-24 16 38 06 View west along Interstate 695 (Baltimore Beltway) from the overpass for Maryland State Route 147 (…20192019-07-24 16 38 06 View west along Interstate 695 (B…2019-07-24 16 29 09 View east along Interstate 695 (Baltimore Beltway) from the overpass for Old Harford Road on the ed…20192019-07-24 16 29 09 View east along Interstate 695 (B…2019-07-24 16 28 21 View west along Interstate 695 (Baltimore Beltway) from the overpass for Old Harford Road on the ed…20192019-07-24 16 28 21 View west along Interstate 695 (B…2019-06-14 14 35 33 View west along the Outer Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 29B-A (Maryland St…20192019-06-14 14 35 33 View west along the Outer Loop of…2019-06-14 14 30 23 View west along the Outer Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 30A (Maryland Stat…20192019-06-14 14 30 23 View west along the Outer Loop of…2019-06-14 14 27 47 View west along the Outer Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 30B (Maryland Stat…20192019-06-14 14 27 47 View west along the Outer Loop of…2019-06-14 14 24 58 View west along the Outer Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 31A (SOUTH Marylan…20192019-06-14 14 24 58 View west along the Outer Loop of…2019-06-14 14 23 41 View west along the Outer Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 31B (Maryland Stat…20192019-06-14 14 23 41 View west along the Outer Loop of…2019-06-14 12 51 42 View east along the Inner Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 31A-B (Maryland St…20192019-06-14 12 51 42 View east along the Inner Loop of…2019-06-14 12 47 41 View east along the Inner Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 30B (Maryland Stat…20192019-06-14 12 47 41 View east along the Inner Loop of…2019-06-14 12 45 33 View east along the Inner Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 30A (Maryland Stat…20192019-06-14 12 45 33 View east along the Inner Loop of…2019-06-14 12 43 33 View east along the Inner Loop of the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695) at Exit 29B (Maryland Stat…20192019-06-14 12 43 33 View east along the Inner Loop of…BLink050452018BLink050452016-07-28 13 13 21 View south along Maryland State Route 542 (Loch Raven Boulevard) just north of Interstate 695 (Balt…20162016-07-28 13 13 21 View south along Maryland State R…2016-07-27 18 27 10 View south along Maryland State Route 41 (Perring Parkway) at Waltham Woods Road in20162016-07-27 18 27 10 View south along Maryland State R…Maryland State Route 147 2012-06-24 16 382012Maryland State Route 147 2012-06-24 16 38Bale Maze2012Bale MazeMDMap-doton-Carney2004MDMap-doton-Carney
People over time

Carney, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,0001960198020002020Peak: 29,941

Between 1,523 and 29,941 people in every census since 1950.

6 censuses, 1950–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Carney’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Carney

Nobody well known was born in Carney itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
F
Frank ZappaAmerican musician · b. 1940
Michael PhelpsAmerican swimmer · b. 1985
N
Nancy PelosiAmerican politician · b. 1940
John RawlsAmerican philosopher, philosophy teacher · b. 1921
Tom ClancyAmerican author · b. 1947
Babe RuthAmerican baseball player · b. 1895
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Perry Hall1 historic placeC−OverleaIts storyC−Hampton3 historic placesBParkvilleIts storyC−

Questions about Carney’s history

What year was Carney founded?

The Carney post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Carney rank for history?

Carney is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #182 of 261 in Maryland. 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.

How old are the homes in Carney?

4% of Carney’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1980.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (24), Wikipedia, 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.