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B+History
History · Rock Hall

Rock Hall dates to 1707, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1880.

1707founded
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rock Hall’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rock Hall began

When was Rock Hall founded?

1707

Rock Hall dates its founding to 1707 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 221 in 18802020 census: 1,198319 years

How historic is Rock Hall?

B+

More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1806.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Rock Hall’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rock Hall is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rock Hall’s overall grade.
Founding era1707, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194018.1% of homes (±5.4) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MD town 0.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 69%
NewerOlder

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 Rock Hall’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.

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 (±5.4 points). Two sources give 1707.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Rock Hall’s 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.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1910 and 1930, then more than doubled.Older than the countryEstablished in 1707, 69 years before the Declaration of Independence.On the map since 19015 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1973. Watch Rock Hall change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rock Hall’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewUntitled - Companies (NBY 800): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Rock Hall, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018801900192019401960198020002020781 in 1910Low: 405

Lost half of its people between 1910 and 1930, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Rock Hall, 1707 to 1990

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1707
    FoundingRock Hall is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1806Post officeThe Rock Hall post office opens
  5. 1840Post officeThe Eastern Neck post office opens
  6. 1841Post officeThe Eastern Neck post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1901On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1945In the archiveUntitled - Companies (NBY 800)
  10. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 1,584
The story

How Rock Hall came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rock Hall.

Read it all →

Originally called Rock Hall Crossroads, the city is now a fishing, sailing and recreational boating town situated on the upper Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the center of Kent County's maritime industries, and is also a popular tourist destination. It was established in 1707. The city was named for a mansion made of white sandstone, and was incorporated in 1908.

Rock Hall served as a shipping point for tobacco, seafood and other agricultural products, as well as a passenger transport connection for travelers during the Colonial era. Later, fishing and seafood processing became the town's largest industry.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Rock Hall, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Untitled - Companies (NBY 800)1945Untitled - Companies (NBY 800)
1950s–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
Today11 recent
Boats - panoramio (21)2014Boats - panoramio (21)Boats - panoramio (21) (cropped)2014Boats - panoramio (21) (cropped)Workboat2011WorkboatScenic Sunset Cruise2011Scenic Sunset CruiseMain Street Dentist2011Main Street DentistBeach Party2010Beach PartyOyster Tonging Statue 0022008Oyster Tonging Statue 002Daymark2008DaymarkCruises 0502007Cruises 050Oyster Boats2006Oyster BoatsRockHallMDWater2003RockHallMDWater
On the map

Rock Hall on the map, 1901 to 1973

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

Rock Hall on the 1901 USGS mapRock Hall on the 1920 USGS mapRock Hall on the 1943 USGS mapRock Hall on the 1953 USGS mapRock Hall on the 1973 USGS map1901Chestertown 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 Rock Hall.

Every building

Rock Hall, building by building, 1922

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 sheet.

Rock Hall fire insurance map, 1922, sheet 11922Sheet 1 of 4
BrickWoodStone

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

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.

Untitled - Companies (NBY 800)
Retake this viewUntitled - Companies (NBY 800), 1945

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

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

Rock Hall’s post office has been open since 1806. Another post office, Eastern Neck, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rock Hall
1806–today
Eastern Neck
1840–1841
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Gratitude
Gone or out of use
School Number 10school
1cemetery inside Rock Hall
Saint Johns Catholic

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

Questions about Rock Hall’s history

What year was Rock Hall founded?

In 1707, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Rock Hall’s post office opened in 1806, and the census of 1880 counted 221 people here.

How does Rock Hall rank for history?

Rock Hall is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. 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.

How old are the homes in Rock Hall?

18% of Rock Hall’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 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 (12), Wikipedia, 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.