–Not graded

History · Carthage

Carthage’s post office opened in 1892, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Coburn, John G. and the Webb River Grange. Below: maps from 1926 on and the census since 1830.

1892first post office

2on the National Register

11%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How Carthage began

When was Carthage founded?

1892

The Carthage post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Berry Mills (1862), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 333 in 18302020 census: 509134 years

Founding year: the first Carthage post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Carthage’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Carthage are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1840 and 1930, then more than doubled.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Carthage’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Carthage’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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People over time

Carthage, census by census

Lost half of its people between 1840 and 1930, then more than doubled.

20 censuses, 1830–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Carthage’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Carthage came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Carthage.

Read it all →

First known as Plantation No. 4, Abbott's Purchase, it was part of a large tract of land bought in 1815 by Jacob Abbott of Wilton, New Hampshire from Jonathan Phillips of Boston, who had purchased an even larger tract from the state of Massachusetts about 1790. Plantation No. 4 was noted for extensive forests of pine and valuable formations of limestone. In 1804, William Bowley and his family from Bristol, New Hampshire settled in Plantation No. 4, and with his brother Oliver and father Gideon, built the first sawmill at what was called Bowley's Mills on the Webb River at the foot of Webb Lake. They built a gristmill the following year.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Carthage in 1885

Passages that mention Carthage, cut from the printed page as they were published.

interests of the Phillips and Weld families in the wild lands of Maine, among which were those tracts since incorporated as the towns of Jhillips, Weld, Madrid, Salem, Temple, Avon, and Carthage. Mr. Abbot afterwards made a temporary residence in Brunswick, but subsequently having himself become a … — **A history of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the present time, 1776-1885**1885 · page 351Read the page →
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interests of the Phillips and Weld families in the wild lands of Maine, among which were those tracts since incorporated as the towns of Jhillips, Weld, Madrid, Salem, Temple, Avon, and Carthage. Mr. Abbot afterwards made a temporary residence in Brunswick, but subsequently having himself become a large proprietor in the lands, moved to Weld in order that he might better oversee their settlement. It was largely owing to his
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

Carthage, 1862 to 2010

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1862Post officeThe Berry Mills post office opens
1892Post officeThe Carthage post office opens
20th century
1926On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1931Post officeThe Carthage post office closes
1938Post officeThe Berry Mills post office closes
21st century
2010CensusPopulation peaks at 560

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.

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On the map

Carthage on the map, 1926 to 1956

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carthage. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1926Dixfield 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 Carthage.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Carthage

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2002

Coburn, John G.

BuildingsSites

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1

Early 20th Century Vernacular1

Coburn, John G.Greek Revival

All 2 listings

Webb River GrangeBuilding · listed 2024

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Carthage

Nobody well known was born in Carthage itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →

Edmund MuskieAmerican politician · b. 1914

Janet T. MillsAmerican politician and 75th governor of Maine · b. 1947

Elihu B. WashburneAmerican politician and diplomat · b. 1816

Frank ChurchillAmerican composer · b. 1901

Louise BoganAmerican poet · b. 1897

Elizabeth Akers AllenAmerican author, journalist, poet · b. 1832

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Carthage had its own post office from 1892 to 1931. Another post office, Berry Mills, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Berry Mills

1862–1938

Carthage

1892–1931

18601940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Berry MillsTainter Corner

5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Carthage

Berry MillsCarthageNewmanStorer HillTainter Corner

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

DixfieldIts storyB MexicoIts storyC Weld1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Carthage’s history

What year was Carthage founded?

The Carthage post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Carthage?

Two places: the Coburn, John G. (listed 2002) and the Webb River Grange (2024).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (2), 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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