Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #52 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 146 buildings. Below: maps from 1892 on.
The Shady Side post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, West Shadyside (1920), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shady Side is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #52 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Shady Side’s 319 sits above most of its state (88% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 151 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Shady Side’s post office has been open since 1889. Another post office, West Shadyside, 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shady Side’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shady Side.
Among the historic structures in Shady Side is the Capt. Salem Avery House. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The Lula G. Scott Community Center was listed in 2009.
Shady Side was once served by the sidewheel passenger steamer, Emma Giles, that operated from Baltimore, making up to five trips per week.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shady Side. 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 Shady Side.
Nobody well known was born in Shady Side itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Shady Side post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Shady Side is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #52 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.
Three places: the Capt. Salem Avery House (listed 2005), the Scott, Lula G., Community Center (2009) and the Columbia Beach (2026).
13% of Shady Side’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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.
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