The Cresaptown post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Cresapsburg (1800), Brady's Mill (1852) and Brady (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 5,442201 years
How historic is Cresaptown?
B
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Cresaptown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cresaptown’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cresaptown is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #71 of 261 in Maryland. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cresaptown’s overall grade.
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 Cresaptown’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 C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.9 points). 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 Cresaptown’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Prior to 1728, Cresaptown was the site of a Shawnee village along the Potomac River. The inhabitants of this region were a portion of the Shawanese tribe, a sub-division of the Algonquian group. The warriors engaged in hunting and fishing for food and furs, while their families were left at home to tend the maize and grass that grew in the rich soil of the Potomac valley. The maize was ground into corn meal and made into Shawnee cake, a popular diet of the Shawnees living in the valley.
The Cresaptown post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cresaptown rank for history?
Cresaptown is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #71 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 Cresaptown?
17% of Cresaptown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.9 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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