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B+History
History · Pocomoke City

Pocomoke City dates to 1865, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #46 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 622 buildings. Below: 23 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1870.

1865founded
6on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
23old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pocomoke City’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pocomoke City began

When was Pocomoke City founded?

1865

Pocomoke City dates its founding to 1865 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.

First census: 1,195 in 18702020 census: 4,295161 years

How historic is Pocomoke City?

B+

More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1810.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Pocomoke City’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pocomoke City is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Pocomoke City’s overall grade.
Founding era1865, from Wikipedia: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194013.8% of homes (±7.6) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register6 listings, 627 historic buildings, 1,423 per 10,000 residents · typical MD town 0.9 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 73%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 83%

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 Pocomoke City’s 1,423 sits above most of its state (97% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 627 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% 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 (±7.6 points). Two sources give 1865.

Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Pocomoke City’s past

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

A historic districtThe Pocomoke City Historic District takes in 622 historic buildings.A town in old photos23 old photos, postcards and papers, 1920–1933.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1895 to 1919, drew every building in Pocomoke City.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

6 listings protect 627 historic buildings

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

places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
627
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Costen House
Costen HouseCrockett HouseMar-Va TheaterLittleton T. Clarke HouseYoung-Sartorius HousePocomoke City Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Second Empire2
Late Victorian2
Queen Anne2
Modern Movement1
Art Deco1
Costen HouseBuilding
Crockett HouseGreek Revival
Mar-Va TheaterModern Movement
Littleton T. Clarke HouseSecond Empire
Young-Sartorius HouseLate Victorian
Pocomoke City Historic DistrictGreek Revival

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

By decade

Pocomoke City, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1930s23 items
Class in First Aid. Pocomoke High School. Pocomoke, Md1920Class in First Aid. Pocomoke High School. Pocomoke, MdBridge entrance to Pocomoke City, from north (1927)1927Bridge entrance to Pocomoke City, from north (1927)Armory building, Pocomoke City, Md (72885)c. 1930Armory building, Pocomoke City, Md (72885)Canning tomatoes at Pocomoke City, Md (70294)c. 1930Canning tomatoes at Pocomoke City, Md (70294)Club house on golf course along Pocomoke River, Pocomoke City, Md (70297)c. 1930Club house on golf course along Pocomoke River, Pocom…High school, Pocomoke City, Md (70295)c. 1930High school, Pocomoke City, Md (70295)Market Street, Residential Section, Pocomoke City, Md (72886)c. 1930Market Street, Residential Section, Pocomoke City, Md…Municipal building, Pocomoke City, Md (70293)c. 1930Municipal building, Pocomoke City, Md (70293)Playgrounds, Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (72883)c. 1930Playgrounds, Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (72883)Post Office, Pocomoke City, Md (70292)c. 1930Post Office, Pocomoke City, Md (70292)Scene in Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (72882)c. 1930Scene in Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (72882)View along Pocomoke River, Pocomoke City, Md (70296)c. 1930View along Pocomoke River, Pocomoke City, Md (70296)View in Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (70298)c. 1930View in Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (70298)Yacht Wharf, Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (72884)c. 1930Yacht Wharf, Pocomoke Park, Pocomoke City, Md (72884)102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow S…102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow S…102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow S…102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow S…102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow S…102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933102 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 102 Willow S…104 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 104 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933104 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 104 Willow S…104 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 104 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933104 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 104 Willow S…104 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 104 Willow Street, Pocomoke City, Worcester County, MD1933104 Willow Street (Commercial Building), 104 Willow S…
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
Every building

Pocomoke City, building by building, 1895–1919

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Pocomoke City fire insurance map, 1895, sheet 11895Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Pocomoke City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pocomoke City.

Read it all →

Beginning in the late seventeenth century, a small settlement called Stevens Landing (sometimes Stevens Ferry) grew at the ferry landing on the south bank of the Pocomoke River. The town was incorporated as Newtown (or New Town) in 1865, but was reincorporated in 1878 as Pocomoke City, after the American Indian name of the river, meaning "black water."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pocomoke City, 1810 to 1943

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1810Post officeThe Newtown post office opens
  3. 1865
    FoundingPocomoke City is established
  4. 1878Post officeThe Newtown post office closes
  5. 1878Post officeThe Pocomoke City post office opens
  6. 1898Born hereHugh Latimer Dryden is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1920In the archiveClass in First Aid. Pocomoke High School. Pocomoke, Md
  9. 1930In the archiveArmory building, Pocomoke City, Md (72885)
  10. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Pocomoke City on the map, 1943 to 1980

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

Pocomoke City on the 1943 USGS mapPocomoke City on the 1953 USGS mapPocomoke City on the 1968 USGS mapPocomoke City on the 1980 USGS map1943Pocomoke City sheet · 1:31,680

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pocomoke City.

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.

Class in First Aid. Pocomoke High School. Pocomoke, Md
Retake this viewClass in First Aid. Pocomoke High School. Pocomoke, Md, 1920

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pocomoke City, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,500188019001920194019601980200020204,295

Grew from 1,195 people in 1870 to 4,295 in 2020, 3 times over.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

Pocomoke City’s post office has been open since 1878. Another post office, Newtown, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Newtown
1810–1878
Pocomoke City
1878–today
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Homewood
Gone or out of use
Saint Johns African Methodist Episcopal Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Pocomoke City
Saint Marys Episcopal

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

Help out

Finish Pocomoke City’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewClass in First Aid. Pocomoke High Schoo…: 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.

West Pocomoke2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Pocomoke City’s history

What year was Pocomoke City founded?

In 1865, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Pocomoke City’s post office opened in 1810, and the census of 1870 counted 1,195 people here.

How does Pocomoke City rank for history?

Pocomoke City is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Pocomoke City?

6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Costen House (listed 1975, the first), and 1 historic district, the Pocomoke City Historic District, with 622 contributing buildings. 627 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Pocomoke City?

14% of Pocomoke City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1973.

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 (22), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.