–Not graded

History · Fairmount

Fairmount’s post office opened in 1849, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 22 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1903 on.

1849first post office

5on the National Register

13%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Fairmount began

When was Fairmount founded?

1849

The Fairmount post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Breretown (1849), Fair Mount (1849) and Jamestown (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 408177 years

Founding year: the first Fairmount post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Fairmount’s past

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

Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Fairmount, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Fairmount are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19033 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1972. Watch Fairmount change.A historic districtThe Upper Fairmount Historic District takes in 20 historic buildings.

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Fairmount had its own post office from 1856 to 1963. Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Breretown

1849–1849

Fair Mount

1849–1849

Jamestown

1849–1850

Fairmount

1856–1963

Upper Fairmount

1875–today

Fords Wharf

1889–1908

Landonville

1893–1918

Inverness

1895–1924

Upper Hill

1927–1987

18401930today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Fords WharfIvernessLandonvilleUpper FairmountUpper Hill

Gone or out of use

Fairmount AcademyschoolSaint Stephens Churchchurch

4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fairmount

ChristFairmountSaint Stephens EpiscopalUpper Fairmount

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

Help out

Start Fairmount’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the map

Fairmount on the map, 1903 to 1972

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

1903Deal Island 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 Fairmount.

The story so far

Fairmount, in brief

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

Fairmount is a census-designated place (CDP) in Somerset County, Maryland, United States. The population was 537 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1849. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 457 to 408 (-11%).

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

Timeline

Fairmount, 1849 to 1903

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

19th century
1849Post officeThe Breretown post office opens
1849Post officeThe Breretown post office closes
1849Post officeThe Fair Mount post office opens
1849Post officeThe Fair Mount post office closes
1849Post officeThe Jamestown post office opens
1850Post officeThe Jamestown post office closes
1868Born hereFrederick Asbury Cullen is born here
20th century
1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.

Add from your album

On the National Register

5 listings protect 26 historic buildings

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

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1974

Tudor Hall

BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Federal3

Greek Revival2

Italianate1

Late Victorian1

Georgian1

Academy Grove Historic DistrictItalianate

Upper Fairmount Historic DistrictFederal

All 5 listings

Tudor HallBuilding · listed 1974 Schoolridge FarmBuilding · listed 1984 Maddux HouseBuilding · listed 2002

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Frenchtown-RumblyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Fairmount’s history

What year was Fairmount founded?

The Fairmount post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Fairmount?

5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Tudor Hall (listed 1974, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Academy Grove Historic District and the Upper Fairmount Historic District, with 22 contributing buildings. 26 historic buildings in all.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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