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CHistory
History · Chesapeake Beach

Chesapeake Beach dates to 1886, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #136 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Most of Chesapeake Beach was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Chesapeake Beach Railway Station. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1940.

1886founded
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chesapeake Beach’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chesapeake Beach began

When was Chesapeake Beach founded?

1886

Chesapeake Beach dates its founding to 1886 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1940.

First census: 326 in 19402020 census: 6,356140 years

How historic is Chesapeake Beach?

C

More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1899.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Chesapeake Beach’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chesapeake Beach is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #136 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Chesapeake Beach’s overall grade.
Founding era1886, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.3% of homes (±2.1) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 1.5 per 10,000 residents · typical MD town 0.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 32%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 48%

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 Chesapeake Beach’s 1.5 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1886.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Chesapeake Beach’s past

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

On the map since 18926 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1970. Watch Chesapeake Beach change.A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Chesapeake Beach, and 6 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · On the map

Chesapeake Beach on the map, 1892 to 1970

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

Chesapeake Beach on the 1892 USGS mapChesapeake Beach on the 1901 USGS mapChesapeake Beach on the 1910 USGS mapChesapeake Beach on the 1938 USGS mapChesapeake Beach on the 1953 USGS mapChesapeake Beach on the 1970 USGS map1892Prince Frederick 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 Chesapeake Beach.

By decade

Chesapeake Beach, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s6 items
Annual Shad Bake of the District of Columbia, Bar to Bench1916Annual Shad Bake of the District of Columbia, Bar to …Walter Reed outing, Chesapeake Beach, (Maryland), July 19191919Walter Reed outing, Chesapeake Beach, (Maryland), Jul…Walter Reed outing, Chesapeake Beach, (Maryland), July 19191919Walter Reed outing, Chesapeake Beach, (Maryland), Jul…Walter Reed outing1919Walter Reed outingWalter Reed outing1919Walter Reed outingWalter Reed outing1919Walter Reed outing
1920s12 items
Red Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atRed Cross at1920Red Cross atHerald Tour1920Herald TourHerald Tour1920Herald TourLocomotive and tractor on display1921Locomotive and tractor on displayLocomotive and tractor on display1921Locomotive and tractor on display
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Chesapeake Beach’s post office has been open since 1899. Another post office, West Beach, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Chesapeake Beach
1899–today
West Beach
1934–1960
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BaycrestChesapeake StationOld BaysideStinnettWest BeachWindward Key
Gone or out of use
Chesapeake Beach Public SchoolschoolWest Beach Post Officepost office

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

The story

How Chesapeake Beach came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chesapeake Beach.

Read it all →

Chesapeake Beach was established as a resort community at the end of the Chesapeake Beach Railway, a short line railroad from Washington, DC. It was the site of many slot machines in the early twentieth century (despite efforts to prohibit them) as part of the "Little Nevada" area of southern Maryland. Between steamer ships from Baltimore and trains from Washington, the weekend population of Chesapeake Beach reached into the 10,000s during the 1920s, until economic depression, and a bad hotel fire, brought an end to the railroad. The construction of the Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the 1950s enabled many of the visitors who used to spend their summers in Chesapeake Beach to now spend their time in Ocean City, Maryland instead. A museum at the old railroad station still exists today in Chesapeake Beach with many historic photos and an old passenger car from the railroad…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chesapeake Beach, 1886 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886
    FoundingChesapeake Beach is established
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1899Post officeThe Chesapeake Beach post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1916In the archiveAnnual Shad Bake of the District of Columbia, Bar to Bench
  7. 1920In the archiveRed Cross at
  8. 1934Post officeThe West Beach post office opens
  9. 1960Post officeThe West Beach post office closes
Every building

Chesapeake Beach, building by building, 1923

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 sheet.

Chesapeake Beach fire insurance map, 1923, sheet 11923Sheet 1 of 2
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Annual Shad Bake of the District of Columbia, Bar to Bench
Retake this viewAnnual Shad Bake of the District of Columbia, Bar to Bench, 1916

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Chesapeake Beach’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Chesapeake Beach

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Chesapeake Beach Railway Station
Chesapeake Beach Railway Station
Buildings
Chesapeake Beach Railway StationBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Chesapeake Beach, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,000194019601980200020206,356

Grew from 326 people in 1940 to 6,356 in 2020, more than tenfold.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Chesapeake Beach’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAnnual Shad Bake of the District of Col…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

North BeachIts storyC−

Questions about Chesapeake Beach’s history

What year was Chesapeake Beach founded?

In 1886, according to Wikidata. Chesapeake Beach’s post office opened in 1899, and the census of 1940 counted 326 people here.

How does Chesapeake Beach rank for history?

Chesapeake Beach is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #136 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.

What is on the National Register in Chesapeake Beach?

One place: the Chesapeake Beach Railway Station (listed 1980).

How old are the homes in Chesapeake Beach?

4% of Chesapeake Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1993.

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 (12), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.