Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1840.
Appleton dates its founding to 1829 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Appleton is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
Maine towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Maine town has 15.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Appleton’s 58.8 sits above most of its state (78% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
Appleton had its own post office from 1866 to 1979. Two 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 Appleton’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1930, then more than doubled.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Appleton’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Appleton.
The town was incorporated on January 28, 1829, from the former Plantation of Appleton. The plantation and town was named for Nathaniel Appleton, who was for more than 20 years an officer of the Twenty Associates, the proprietors of Appleton, as well as Camden, Hope, Liberty, and Montville.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Appleton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Appleton was originally a plantation. Was in the state of Massachusetts till the formation of the district of Maine in 1820. Was incorporated as a town, January 28, 1829. The first records of the plantation are dated 18 12, giving account of the meetings at the school house in Dist. No. 2, on Appleton ridge, "near Abiatha Richardson's."
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltGeorges River Canal is built
BuiltGushee Family House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGushee HouseOne decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Appleton. 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 Appleton.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Appleton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1829, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Appleton’s post office opened in 1866, and the census of 1840 counted 891 people here.
Appleton is more historic than 89% 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings, 1 historic district, the Whitney Farm, with 6 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 8 historic buildings in all.
25% of Appleton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.4 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
