Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #64 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
Elkton dates its founding to 1694 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Elkton is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #64 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Elkton’s 2.5 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Elkton’s post office has been open since 1790. Another post office, Head Of Elk, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCoochsBridge1777
Born hereJames Black Groome is born here
Born hereJulian C. Smith is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveView of Elkton, Maryland 1907
Born hereBernard Purdie is born hereFire 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.
1885Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Elkton.
The town was founded by Swedish mariners and fishermen from Fort Casimir who settled the area in 1694. They called their settlement Head of Elk, as it was the head of navigation of the Elk River.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Elkton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
quently ascertained. Clement Holliday and Nathaniel' Ramsay, commissioners appointed to take charge and dispose of confiscated property, laid out that part of the town of Elkton east of the Hollow, upon land before described as belonging to Robert Alexander, and in October, 1782, sold the building lots at public sale. Although the village of the Head of Elk had been in existence for many years before this time, it was quite small and consisted of only a few
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
After being rector of North Elk parish for three years, Mr. Duke, in 1796, resigned and went to Anne Arundel County, but returned to Elkton the next year, and soon afterwards removed to Kent County, where he taught a parochial school, but again returned to Elkton in 1799, and opened a school in Bow street, and during the next three years occasionally preached at North East, in his schoolroom at Elkton, and in the Episcopal church near the vil-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1770s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1907View of Elkton, Maryland 1907
1907View of Elkton, Maryland
1909Court House of Elkton (1909)
1909Davis & Vinsinger Flour Mill (1909)
1909Elkton Methodist Episcopal Church (1909)
1909Gilpin's Falls and Electric Power House (1909)
1909James F. Powers Foundry (1909)
1909Jr. O.U.A.M. Hall of Elkton (1909)
1909Main Street Block of Elkton (1909)
1909Main Street Business Block of Elkton (1909)
1909Main Street Looking East (1909)
1909Miss Finley's Late Residence (1909)
1909North Street Offices of Elkton (1909)
1909Radnor Pulp Mills (1909)
1909Scott Fertilizer Company (1909)Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elkton. 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 Elkton.
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 Elkton’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 1,099 people in 1850 to 15,807 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elkton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1694, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Elkton’s post office opened in 1776, and the census of 1850 counted 1,099 people here.
Elkton is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #64 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.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Mitchell House (listed 1976, the first).
11% of Elkton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1777
1777
