Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 9 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1860.
Arrowsic dates its founding to 1841 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Arrowsic’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Arrowsic. 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 Arrowsic.
Drag across each photo to compare.
1908TodayFrom Wikipedia’s history of Arrowsic.
The Abenaki people called the island Arrowseag, meaning "place of obstruction," a reference to Upper Hell Gate on the Sasanoa River. Until it was widened by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1898 and 1908, the stretch was choked with boulders and ledges. Indian canoe passage would have been risky in the swift current between Merrymeeting Bay and Sheepscot Bay.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Arrowsic, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Town Comprised what is now Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phipsburg, Bath, Woolwich, and West Bath. Town meetings were held at the dwelling-house of Samuel Denny until they were held in the "meeting-house at Pleasant Cove," which was at the Noble and afterwards Lithgow and later the Morse farm, immediately south of Fiddlers Reach, March 8, 1742. When the meeting-house on Arrowsic Island was built and completed in 1763, the town meetings were held in that house. If meetings were called in winter, there
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Battle of Arrowsic. — At the time of the Watts settlement at Butlers Cove, the garrison and its forces were made the command of Penhallow. In 1720, there were twenty dwelling-houses occupied by farmers. On Sept. 10, 1722, at dawn of day, an armed force was sent out from the garrison to protect the farmers in gathering their crops. This escort discovered a large number of Indians prowling about in the adjoining woods. They immediately attacked the Indians, killing one and wounding three. The whites then re-
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltDoubling Point Light Station is built
BuiltKennebec River Light Station is built
BuiltSquirrel Point Light Station is built
In the archiveDoubling Point LightOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
Arrowsic had its own post office from 1871 to 1954.
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 Arrowsic’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1841, according to Wikidata. Arrowsic’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1860 counted 347 people here.
5 listings: 1 building, 3 historic districts, the Doubling Point Light Station, the Kennebec River Light Station and the Squirrel Point Light Station, with 9 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 10 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 (7), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
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