Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #200 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Most of Riviera Beach was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1950.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Riviera Beach is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #200 of 261 in Maryland. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Riviera Beach’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (20% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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.
Another post office, Solley, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Riviera Beach. 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 Riviera Beach.
From Wikipedia’s history of Riviera Beach.
Prior to the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, racially restrictive covenants were used in Maryland to exclude African-Americans and other minorities. A July 8, 1928 advertisement in the Baltimore Sun for houses in Riviera Beach described the community as a "refined, restricted" neighborhood.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveA berry field on Rock Creek. Whites and negroes, old and young, work here from 4-30 A.M. …
In the archiveRiviera Beach Maryland segregation2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Riviera Beach’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,849 and 12,695 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Riviera Beach’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Riviera Beach itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Riviera Beach is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #200 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.
4% of Riviera Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (6), Wikipedia, 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.
1909
1909
1909
2004
