Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1830.
The Bowerbank post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bowerbank’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1960, then grew 8-fold.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bowerbank’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bowerbank yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bowerbank is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 136 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1843. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 116 to 136 (+17%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bowerbank. 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 Bowerbank.
Nobody well known was born in Bowerbank itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Bowerbank had its own post office from 1843 to 1963.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Bowerbank post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 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.
