Williston’s post office opened in 1890, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
Most of Williston was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Its Register listings are the Potter Hall, the Memory Lane and the Williston Mill Historic District. Below: maps from 1905 on and old-book passages.
The Williston post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Potter's Landing (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 153136 years
Founding year: the first Williston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Williston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Williston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Denton 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 Williston.
The story so far
Williston, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Williston yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Williston is an unincorporated town and census-designated place on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland, in Caroline County. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 155. It is situated between Maryland Route 16 on its eastern edge and the Choptank River on its west. It was originally known as Potter's Landing for its first resident, Zabdiel Potter. His home, Potter Hall, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Caroline-Dorchester County Fair is held annually just east of the village proper. Several other historical features are located near Williston, including Memory Lane (Denton, Maryland), the Williston Mill Historic District, and the Williston…
Its first post office opened in 1890. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 155 in 2010, 153 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Williston in 1920
Passages that mention Williston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Caroline County, Maryland, from its beginning1920Read the page →
Read the text
In addition to the above list ordinaries were also licensed at the following places : Tnckahoe Bridge (Hillsboro), Murray's Hill (Linchester), Nine Bridges (Bridgetown), Potter's Mill (Williston), Chapel Branch (Piney Grove), Cross-Roads near Kingston (Smithson). Thns it will be seen that the county was well equipped with hotels to take care of the travellers on horseback as well as provide liquid refreshments so common
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Williston, 1854 to 1907
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
