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–Not graded
History · Rawlings

Rawlings’ post office opened in 1880

Most of Rawlings was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1898 on.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rawlings’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rawlings began

When was Rawlings founded?

1880

The Rawlings post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rawling's Station (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 687146 years
Founding year: the first Rawlings post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rawlings’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18986 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1998. Watch Rawlings change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rawlings’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rawlings’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewThe Potomac near Rawlings: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Rawlings on the map, 1898 to 1998

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

Rawlings on the 1898 USGS mapRawlings on the 1901 USGS mapRawlings on the 1950 USGS mapRawlings on the 1974 USGS mapRawlings on the 1981 USGS mapRawlings on the 1998 USGS map1898Frostburg 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 Rawlings.

The story so far

Rawlings, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rawlings yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Rawlings is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, on the McMullen Highway (U.S. Route 220). As of the 2010 census, the Rawlings CDP had a population of 693. The community was named after Moses Rawlings, an officer in the Revolutionary War. It was originally known as "Rawlings Station" after a post office was established on the railroad there on March 7, 1856.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 693 in 2010, 687 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Rawlings, 1856 to 1898

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Rawling's Station post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Rawling's Station post office closes
  4. 1880Post officeThe Rawlings post office opens
  5. 1892In the archiveThe Potomac near Rawlings
  6. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rawlings, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
The Potomac near Rawlings1892The Potomac near Rawlings
1900s–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.

The Potomac near Rawlings
Retake this viewThe Potomac near Rawlings, 1892

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Rawlings

Nobody well known was born in Rawlings itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Lenore KightAmerican swimmer, Olympic silver medalist · b. 1911
Lefty GroveAmerican baseball player · b. 1900
J. Glenn BeallPolitician and United States Army soldier · b. 1894
Binger HermannAmerican politician · b. 1843
Charles J. ColganPolitician · b. 1926
J
James SpriggAmerican politician · b. 1802
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Rawlings’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Rawling's Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rawling's Station
1856–1880
Rawlings
1880–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
PortersRawlings Heights

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

BierIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Rawlings’ history

What year was Rawlings founded?

The Rawlings post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (1), 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.