Rockville dates to 1700, and 11 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #34 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Most of Rockville was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 11 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Cottage, a National Historic Landmark, and five historic districts with 434 buildings between them. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1795.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rockville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rockville is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #34 of 261 in Maryland. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rockville’s overall grade.
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 Rockville’s 65.9 sits above most of its state (83% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 446 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1700.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A+. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size.
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 Rockville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Situated in the Piedmont region and crossed by three creeks (Rock Creek, Cabin John Creek, and Watts Branch), the area that became Rockville provided a favorable environment for seasonally mobile Native American communities as early as 8000 BC. The waterways were used for travel and hunting and provided refuge for the people associated with the Piscataway Confederacy.
Passages that mention Rockville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Montgomery county, Maryland, from its earliest settlement in 1650 to 1879 ..1879 · page 45Read the page →
Read the text
Haj niond's Addition, surveyed for John Eaymond, November LOth, 1743, and contained three hundred acres. On tins tract lies the second addition to Rockville, embracing that portion of the town recently laid out in the vicinity of the Metropolitan Railroad Depot and the Agricultural Fair Grounds.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Rockville, 1700 to 1991
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rockville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Rockville 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 Rockville.
Every building
Rockville, building by building, 1892–1924
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
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.
Retake this viewChrist Child Society, 1918
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rockville’s page.
In 1700, according to Wikidata. Rockville’s post office opened in 1795, and the census of 1900 counted 1,110 people here.
How does Rockville rank for history?
Rockville is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #34 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 Rockville?
11 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Frieda Fromm-Reichmann Cottage (a National Historic Landmark since 2021) and the Beall-Dawson House (listed 1973, the first), and 5 historic districts with 434 contributing buildings. 446 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Rockville?
2% of Rockville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (11), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
1920
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1920![Rockville Fair, [Maryland], 1928](https://images.townratings.com/story/7509/03982eab9535fdc005d0-s.jpg)
1928
