Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Crownsville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Crownsville

Crownsville’s post office opened in 1851, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1936 on.

1851first post office
4on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Crownsville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Crownsville began

When was Crownsville founded?

1851

The Crownsville post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Cooksville (1824) and Belvoir (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,924175 years

How historic is Crownsville?

B−

More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Crownsville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crownsville is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crownsville’s overall grade.
Founding era1851, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.8% of homes (±9.6) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register4 listings, 22.8 per 10,000 residents · typical MD town 0.9 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 55%
NewerOlder

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 Crownsville’s 22.8 sits above most of its state (76% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.6 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 Crownsville’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 Crownsville, and 11 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.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Crownsville had its own post office from 1851 to 1910. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cooksville
1824–1990
Crownsville
1851–1910
Belvoir
1898–1900
Crownsville
1937–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Belvoir FarmsBelvoir ManorCranberry WoodsFarish FarmsGottsHoneysuckle RidgeKalmia RidgeMaynadierPalisades ParkSummer Hill Trailer ParkSummerhill Park
Gone or out of use
Crownsville Hospital Centerhospital
1cemetery inside Crownsville
Saint Pauls

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

Help out

Start Crownsville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crownsville’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 viewHistoric American Buildings Survey E.H.…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

4 historic places in Crownsville

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1971
Belvoir
BelvoirSt. Paul's ChapelMt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal ChurchMt. Tabor Good Samaritan Lodge #59
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Georgian1
American Gothic Revival1
Colonial Revival1
BelvoirGeorgian
St. Paul's ChapelAmerican Gothic Revival
Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal ChurchColonial Revival
Mt. Tabor Good Samaritan Lodge #59Building

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

The story so far

Crownsville, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Crownsville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Crownsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,757 at the 2010 census. Formally, it is part of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area. It hosts the Anne Arundel County Fair each September, as well as the annual Maryland Renaissance Festival for several summer weekends. A state psychiatric hospital was formerly in Crownsville. The area offers waterfront scenery and easy access to urban metropolitan areas and culture.

Its first post office opened in 1851. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,757 to 1,924 (+10%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Crownsville, 1824 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1824Post officeThe Cooksville post office opens
  3. 1851Post officeThe Crownsville post office opens
  4. 1898Post officeThe Belvoir post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900Post officeThe Belvoir post office closes
  7. 1910Post officeThe Crownsville post office closes
  8. 1936In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey E.H. Pickering, Photographer November 1936 VIEW SHOWIN…
  9. 1990Post officeThe Cooksville post office closes
By decade

Crownsville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
Historic American Buildings Survey E.H. Pickering, Photographer November 1936 VIEW SHOWING BOX HEDGES - Rising Sun Tave…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E.H. Pickering, Ph…
1940s–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
Today5 recent
2019-07-25 09 30 07 View south along Interstate 97 (Patuxent Freeway) from the overpass for Farm Road in Crownsville, A…20192019-07-25 09 30 07 View south along Interstate 97 (P…2019-07-25 09 05 09 View north along Interstate 97 (Patuxent Freeway) from the overpass for Hawkins Road in Crownsville…20192019-07-25 09 05 09 View north along Interstate 97 (P…2019-07-25 09 04 27 View south along Interstate 97 (Patuxent Freeway) from the overpass for Hawkins Road in Crownsville…20192019-07-25 09 04 27 View south along Interstate 97 (P…2016-08-12 14 33 28 View north along Interstate 97 (Patuxent Freeway) just south of Farm Road in Crownsville, Anne Arun…20162016-08-12 14 33 28 View north along Interstate 97 (P…MDMap-doton-Crownsville2004MDMap-doton-Crownsville
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.

Historic American Buildings Survey E.H. Pickering, Photographer November 1936 VIEW SHOWING BOX HEDGES - Rising Sun Tave…
Retake this viewHistoric American Buildings Survey E.H. Pickering, Photographer November 1936 VIEW SHOWING BOX HEDGES - Rising Sun Tave…, 1936

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

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Herald HarborIts storyC−

Questions about Crownsville’s history

What year was Crownsville founded?

The Crownsville post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Crownsville rank for history?

Crownsville is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. 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 Crownsville?

4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Belvoir (listed 1971, the first).

How old are the homes in Crownsville?

11% of Crownsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.6 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1991.

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.