1 of Paramount-Long Meadow’s places is on the National Register
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #97 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Dorsey-Palmer House. Most of Paramount-Long Meadow was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1912 on.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paramount-Long Meadow is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #97 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paramount-Long Meadow’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 Paramount-Long Meadow’s 3.9 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points).
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 →
What stands out about Paramount-Long Meadow’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Paramount, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Good AcresHunter HillLurose EstatesParamountParamount ManorSpring ValleyTerrace Hills
1cemetery inside Paramount-Long Meadow
Longmeadow
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Paramount-Long Meadow on the map, 1912 to 1999
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Paramount-Long Meadow. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1912Hagerstown 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 Paramount-Long Meadow.
The story
How Paramount-Long Meadow came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Paramount-Long Meadow.
The region of Washington County Maryland known today as Long Meadow was originally a large mostly level area covering close to twenty square-miles of agriculturally desirable land west of Antietam Creek. One of the earliest transportation routes through the colony passed near this region, crossing the upper branches of Antietam Creek before turning southwest. This was a route preferred by many of the early German and Swiss immigrant settlers to the Hagerstown area from central Pennsylvania. The name Long Meadow derives from a land grant issued to Thomas Cresap (Sr.) in 1739. Cresap's Long Meadow property would be transferred to investor Daniel Dulaney of Annapolis in 1746 and enlarged from 550 acres to 2131 acres. "Long Meadow" and the region surrounding it would remain mostly agricultural until the mid-20th century. In 1958 the name was revived with the opening of the region's f…
Paramount-Long Meadow is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #97 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 Paramount-Long Meadow?
One place: the Dorsey-Palmer House (listed 1978).
How old are the homes in Paramount-Long Meadow?
8% of Paramount-Long Meadow’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 1991.
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
2020
