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Old Most Holy Rosary Church, Rosaryville, MDPhoto: Roberto221 · CC BY-SA 4.0
DHistory
History · Rosaryville

Half of Rosaryville’s homes were built after 1992

More historic than 7% of U.S. towns · #235 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Most of Rosaryville was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1990.

0on the National Register
0.9%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
From Rosaryville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

Where Rosaryville’s name came from

How did Rosaryville get its name?

Rosaryville was named for a local Catholic church.

How historic is Rosaryville?

D

More historic than 7% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Rosaryville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rosaryville is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #235 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rosaryville’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 7%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 10%

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 Rosaryville’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size.

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 →

What stands out about Rosaryville’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rosaryville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Mellwood
1869–1876
Woodyards
1890–1891
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BrookwoodCheltenhamHollaway EstatesMellwoodRolling AcresRolling Glen FarmsWilliamsburg EstatesWoodyard
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rosaryville
Cheltenham United Methodist ChurchChurch of the Holy Rosary CatholicMaryland Veterans

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

On the map

Rosaryville on the map, 1900 to 1993

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

Rosaryville on the 1900 USGS mapRosaryville on the 1934 USGS mapRosaryville on the 1944 USGS mapRosaryville on the 1957 USGS mapRosaryville on the 1965 USGS mapRosaryville on the 1971 USGS mapRosaryville on the 1993 USGS map1900Washington 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 Rosaryville.

The story

How Rosaryville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rosaryville.

Read it all →

His Lordship's Kindness was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

George Washington Parke Custis was born in Rosaryville, Maryland on April 30, 1781. He was the son of Maryland-native, Eleanor Calvert Custis (later, Stuart) and Colonel John Parke Custis who was the son of Daniel Parke Custis and Martha Dandridge Custis (later, Washington).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rosaryville, 1869 to 1900

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Mellwood post office opens
  3. 1876Post officeThe Mellwood post office closes
  4. 1890Post officeThe Woodyards post office opens
  5. 1891Post officeThe Woodyards post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rosaryville, decade by decade

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.

Mount Airy
Retake this viewMount Airy

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Rosaryville, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00020002020Peak: 12,322

Between 8,976 and 12,322 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Rosaryville

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

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Rosaryville’s history

How does Rosaryville rank for history?

Rosaryville is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #235 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.

How old are the homes in Rosaryville?

0.9% of Rosaryville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1992.

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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), 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.