Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns. What drives it
16 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and a historic district with 298 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1850.
The St. Michaels post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1804.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Michaels is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 St. Michaels’ 2,444 sits above most of its state (100% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 303 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% 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. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Peaked at 1,517 in 1910; 1,049 people lived here in 2020.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Michaels’ Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Michaels.
The town was laid out as a speculative development in the 1770s by James Braddock. Unlike the more typical 18th century grid-pattern town planning, Braddock laid St. Michaels out around a central square. The town was incorporated in 1804.
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.
Born hereAmelia B. Coppuck Welby is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Maryland - Talbot County - ED 21-4, ED 21…BuiltEDNA E. LOCKWOOD (Chesapeake Bay bugeye) is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey F. D. Nichols, Photographer c. 1936 VIEW OF FRONT - Ho…
In the archiveBand for boom guy with triple block. - Two-Sail Bateau E. C. COLLIER, Chesapeake Bay Mari…3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1933Historic American Buildings Survey F. D. Nichols, Pho…
1936Historic American Buildings Survey Frederick D. Nicho…1968Band for boom guy with triple block. - Two-Sail Batea…
1968Bird's eye view from behind, starboard side, taken fr…
1968Bottom and side planking at stern, showing chine guar…
1968Bow, seen head on. - Two-Sail Bateau E. C. COLLIER, C…
1968Closer oblique view of vessel showing bow, starboard …
1968Closer view from above, off starboard quarter. - Two-…
1968Detail of base of rudder, sternpost, and deadwood, ob…
1968Detail of cable roller framework, inboard. - Two-Sail…
1968Detail of chain-plates, copper ice sheathing, port si…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Michaels. 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 St. Michaels.
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 St. Michaels’ page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The St. Michaels post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1804.
St. Michaels is more historic than 97% 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.
16 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 4 buildings, among them the Crooked Intention (listed 1974, the first), 1 historic district, the St. Michaels Historic District, with 298 contributing buildings, 10 structures, and 1 object. 303 historic buildings in all.
33% of St. Michaels’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.6 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (16), 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.
