Mount Rainier’s post office opened in 1904, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #45 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1,001 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1910.
Founding year: the first Mount Rainier post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1910.
History grade
What drives Mount Rainier’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Rainier is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #45 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Rainier’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 Mount Rainier’s 1,214 sits above most of its state (97% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 1,001 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% 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 (±8.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1910 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Mount Rainier’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
On the map
Mount Rainier on the map, 1900 to 1979
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Rainier. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1900Washington 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 Mount Rainier.
The story so far
Mount Rainier, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mount Rainier yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mount Rainier () is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, bordering Washington, D.C. The population was 8,333 at the 2020 census. Mount Rainier is contained between the Northwest Branch Anacostia River, Cedar Lane Alley, and 34th Street to the north, 37th Street and 37th Place to the northeast, Upshur Street and Queens Chapel Road to the west, the CSX Capital Subdivision train tracks to the east, and Eastern Avenue NE to the south. Mount Rainier got its start as a streetcar suburb, when tracks were laid for the 82 Streetcar Line. According to local tradition, surveyors from the Pacific Northwest named the town, giving the streets names such as Shasta and Cascade. Histor…
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 8,080 to 8,333 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Mount Rainier, 1900 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Mount Rainier post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1910.
How does Mount Rainier rank for history?
Mount Rainier is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #45 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.
What is on the National Register in Mount Rainier?
2 listings: 1 historic district, the Mount Rainier Historic District, with 1,001 contributing buildings. 1,001 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Mount Rainier?
30% of Mount Rainier’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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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