Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #7 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 429 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1880.
Federalsburg dates its founding to 1823 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Federalsburg is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #7 of 261 in Maryland. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Federalsburg’s 1,523 sits above most of its state (98% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 432 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Federalsburg’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Federalsburg. 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 Federalsburg.
From Wikipedia’s history of Federalsburg.
According to a contemporary source, the town was named for the Federalist Party, which met there in 1812, and was incorporated in 1823. A 1905 source says that Federalsburg was so named because it was settled by people from northern states.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Federalsburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
railroad traffic was suspended. Crops were either destroyed or badly damaged. Boyce Mill, Bloomery, and Pennypacker Bridges were completely wrecked, as was likewise a bridge on the state road near Federalsburg. Falkner Bridge stood intact with a thirty foot gulley cutting the road each side of it. The total damage to roads and bridges was estimated at $60,000, List of Inducted Men Furnished by the Local Board
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The floods left the road in a bad way at Faulkner's bridge, near Federalsburg. In Tuckahoe Neck Pipe bridge is carried away, and at the Sparklin or Elben mill the road is impassable on account of a big cut. There is also a bad washout at Mason's bridge, on the headwaters of the Tuckahoe river. At Bunker Hill branch, north of Denton, on the west side of Choptank river, the big pipe has been swept away.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereRobert Houston Noble is born here
Born hereMadeline Hurlock is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMaryland
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer December 1936 WINDMILL -…2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2011Federalsburg Station
2011Federalsburg Station (cropped)
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
2006FEMA - 25166 - Photograph by Bill Koplitz taken on 06…
2006FEMA - 25165 - Photograph by Bill Koplitz taken on 06…
2006FEMA - 25164 - Photograph by Bill Koplitz taken on 06…
2006FEMA - 25163 - Photograph by Bill Koplitz taken on 06…
2004MDMap-doton-FederalsburgFire 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.
1915Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Federalsburg’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 338 people in 1880 to 2,833 in 2020, 8 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Federalsburg’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1823, according to Wikidata. the census of 1880 counted 338 people here.
Federalsburg is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #7 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: 3 buildings, among them the Exeter (listed 1978, the first), and 1 historic district, the Federalsburg West Historic District, with 429 contributing buildings. 432 historic buildings in all.
29% of Federalsburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (12), 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 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.
1917
1917