Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 145 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1900.
The Mountain Lake Park post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mountain Lake Park is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Mountain Lake Park’s 674 sits above most of its state (92% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 146 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Mountain Lake Park’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1920, then grew 9-fold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mountain Lake Park’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mountain Lake Park.
Mountain Lake Park Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Creedmore was listed in 1984.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBirds eye view of Mountain Lake Park, Garrett Co., Maryland 1906
In the archiveSen. Todd & Mrs. LaFollette at Mt. Lake Park, Md., (9-29-24) LOC npcc.121602 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mountain Lake Park. 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 Mountain Lake Park.
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 Mountain Lake Park’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Mountain Lake Park itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Mountain Lake Park had its own post office from 1882 to 1964.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Mountain Lake Park post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Mountain Lake Park is more historic than 71% 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.
Two places: the Mountain Lake Park Historic District (listed 1983) and the Creedmore (1984).
14% of Mountain Lake Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.
1909
Date?
2014
2014
