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B+History
History · Pikesville

Pikesville’s post office opened in 1817, and 8 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #50 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Most of Pikesville was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 87 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1960.

1817first post office
8on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pikesville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pikesville began

When was Pikesville founded?

1817

The Pikesville post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Stevenson Station (1867), Sudbrook (1890) and Roslyn (1902), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 18,737 in 19602020 census: 34,168209 years

How historic is Pikesville?

B+

More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Pikesville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Pikesville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pikesville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #50 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 Pikesville’s overall grade.
Founding era1817, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19404.5% of homes (±1.2) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register8 listings, 97 historic buildings, 28.9 per 10,000 residents · typical MD town 0.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 71%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 81%

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 Pikesville’s 28.9 sits above most of its state (77% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 97 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 Pikesville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Pikesville, and 41 old place names are still on the map.A historic districtThe Dumbarton Historic District takes in 72 historic buildings.On the map since 18943 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1943. Watch Pikesville change.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1880–1936.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Pikesville had its own post office from 1817 to 1896. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pikesville
1817–1896
Sykesville
1832–today
Stevenson Station
1867–1880
Stevenson
1880–today
Sudbrook
1890–1891
Roslyn
1902–1922
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Anton NorthAnton WoodsBonnie RidgeBrightwoodBrookwoodCanterbury EstatesCedarwood EstatesCranwoodDumbartonEden RocFalls GableFields of StevensonFishtownGarrison FarmsGlenmarGreene TreeGreengateHalcyon GateHelmsley CourtHillsteadJones ValleyKeyser WoodsKnollcrest FarmsLong Meadow West
Gone or out of use
Greenspring QuarryminePikesville Public Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Pikesville
Druid Ridge

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the National Register

8 listings protect 97 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
8
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
97
each building in a district counts
first listed
1971
Fort Garrison
Fort GarrisonRockland Historic DistrictMettam Memorial Baptist ChurchCloisters, TheRocklandPikesville ArmoryDumbarton Historic DistrictGrey Rock Mansion
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Federal1
Gothic Revival1
Greek Revival1
Ranch1
International Style1
Neo-French1
Fort GarrisonBuilding
Rockland Historic DistrictFederal
Mettam Memorial Baptist ChurchBuilding
Cloisters, TheGothic Revival
RocklandGreek Revival
Pikesville ArmoryBuilding
Dumbarton Historic DistrictRanch
All 8 listings
Grey Rock MansionBuilding · listed 2023

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

On the map

Pikesville on the map, 1894 to 1943

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pikesville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Pikesville on the 1894 USGS mapPikesville on the 1904 USGS mapPikesville on the 1943 USGS map1894Baltimore 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 Pikesville.

The story

How Pikesville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pikesville.

Read it all →

Pikesville, Maryland, was named for the American soldier and explorer Zebulon Pike (1779–1813). While there are places named for Pike in many other states, Pikesville, Maryland, is the only contemporary place named "Pikesville".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pikesville, 1803 to 1983

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1803Born hereJames M. Buchanan is born here
  3. 1817Post officeThe Pikesville post office opens
  4. 1832Post officeThe Sykesville post office opens
  5. 1854Born hereWilliam Thomas Councilman is born here
  6. 1867Post officeThe Stevenson Station post office opens
  7. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Maryland - Baltimore County - Pikesville - ED 3-3…
  8. 1880Post officeThe Stevenson Station post office closes
  9. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1896Post officeThe Pikesville post office closes
  11. 20th century
  12. 1936In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 CAST IRON PORC…
  13. 1957Born hereMarc Platt is born here
  14. 1983Born hereAllyn Rachel is born here
By decade

Pikesville, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Maryland - Baltimore County - Pikesville - ED 3-33, ED 3-3518801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Maryland - Ba…
1890s–1920snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1930s11 items
Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 CAST IRON PORCH ON COMMANDANTS HOUSE. SOUTH …1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 ENTRANCE DETAIL OF COMMANDANTS HOUSE, VIEW O…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 ENTRANCE DOOR OF POWDER MAGAZINE - U.S. Arse…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 HISTORIC MARKER - U.S. Arsenal, Reisterstown…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 INTERIOR OF ARMORY - U.S. Arsenal, Reisterst…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 MAIN GATE SOUTH WEST VIEW FROM COURT - U.S. …1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 POWDER MAGAZINE, INTERIOR VIEW - U.S. Arsena…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 POWDER MAGAZINE, VIEW FROM INSIDE OF WALL - …1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 POWDER MAGAZINE, VIEW FROM OUTSIDE - U.S. Ar…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 QUARTERMASTERS BUILDING, SOUTH WEST ELEVATIO…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer July 1936 QUARTERS WEST CORNER - U.S. Arsenal, Reister…1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Maryland - Baltimore County - Pikesville - ED 3-33, ED 3-35
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Maryland - Baltimore County - Pikesville - ED 3-33, ED 3-35, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pikesville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pikesville, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,0001960198020002020Peak: 34,168

Between 18,737 and 34,168 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pikesville’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

5 famous people were born in Pikesville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Marc PlattAmerican film, television and theatre producer · b. 1957
A
Allyn RachelAmerican actress · b. 1983
William Thomas CouncilmanAmerican pathologist · b. 1854
James M. BuchananAmerican politician · b. 1803
Maury UhlerAmerican baseball player · b. 1886
Help out

Finish Pikesville’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Garrison1 historic placeCBaltimore307 historic placesA+Towson18 historic placesARandallstown1 historic placeB−Lochearn1 historic placeB−

Questions about Pikesville’s history

What year was Pikesville founded?

The Pikesville post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Pikesville rank for history?

Pikesville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #50 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 Pikesville?

8 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Fort Garrison (listed 1971, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Rockland Historic District and the Dumbarton Historic District, with 87 contributing buildings. 97 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Pikesville?

5% of Pikesville’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 1975.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (8), Wikipedia, 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.