Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rock Creek Woods Historic District · Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #70 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Most of North Kensington was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1980.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Kensington is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #70 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 North Kensington’s 144 sits above most of its state (86% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 129 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how North Kensington’s history is told.
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.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of North Kensington yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
North Kensington is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 9,497 in 2020.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 9,514 in 2010, 9,497 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of North Kensington. 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 North Kensington.
Between 8,607 and 9,514 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Kensington’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in North Kensington itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
North Kensington is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #70 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.
Two places: the Hammond Wood Historic District (listed 2004) and the Rock Creek Woods Historic District (2004).
2% of North Kensington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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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