Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #76 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 26 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1945 on, and the census since 1960.
The Silver Spring post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1887. Five smaller post offices, Sligo (1835), Sligo (1863) and Linden (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Silver Spring is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #76 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 Silver Spring’s 3.6 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 29 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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.
Silver Spring had its own post office from 1861 to 1863. Five other post offices 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 Silver Spring’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Silver Spring.
Before European settlement, present-day Silver Spring had been inhabited by various Indigenous peoples for about 10,000 years. Among them were the Piscataway, an Algonquian-speaking people who may have established a few villages along Sligo Creek and Rock Creek.
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.
In the archiveNorth Washington Realty Co. Silver Springs (Spring) Md
In the archiveRucker Radio Wholesalers (84230)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereNora Roberts is born here
Born hereRian Johnson is born here
Born hereMichael Ealy is born here
In the archiveNew shopping and restaurant row in suburban Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C
Born hereRebecca Sugar is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Silver Spring. 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 Silver Spring.
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 Silver Spring’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 66,348 and 81,015 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Silver Spring’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Silver Spring post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1887.
Silver Spring is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #76 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.
5 listings: 2 buildings and 2 historic districts, the National Park Seminary Historic District and the Takoma Avenue Historic District, with 26 contributing buildings. 29 historic buildings in all.
11% of Silver Spring’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1964.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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) 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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