Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 72 buildings. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1870.
Upper Marlboro dates its founding to 1695 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
Upper Marlboro was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, an ancestor of Winston Churchill.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereDaniel Carroll is born here
Born hereJohn Carroll is born hereBuiltBuck House is built
In the archiveAtlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including the County of Prince George, Maryland
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDETAIL OF NORTHEAST CORNER POST - The Cottage, Ice House, Upper Marlboro, Prince George's…
In the archive6A 1965 Aerial Map
In the archive1A History of Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland 1971 by James Shreve
In the archiveDigges-sasscer1
Born hereMarkelle Fultz is born here
Born hereChase Young is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Upper Marlboro. 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 Upper Marlboro.
From Wikipedia’s history of Upper Marlboro.
The area of Upper Marlboro was first settled around 1695. It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, an ancestor of Winston Churchill. The land, which was to become the town, was part of several estates known as Grove Landing, Meadows, and Darnall's Chance, owned by the Brooke, Beall, and Darnall families, respectively.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1933DETAIL OF NORTHEAST CORNER POST - The Cottage, Ice Ho…
1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …
1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …
1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …
1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …
1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …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 Upper Marlboro’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 42 and 828 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Upper Marlboro’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1695, according to Wikidata. Upper Marlboro’s post office opened in 1776, and the census of 1870 counted 42 people here.
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Buck House (listed 1978, the first), and 1 historic district, the Upper Marlboro Residential Historic District, with 72 contributing buildings. 79 historic buildings in all.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (15), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
1879
c. 1971
c. 1971
2009
2008