The story
Read it all →How Cornville came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cornville.
Settled in 1794, Cornville was incorporated on February 24, 1798, as the 116th town in Maine.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Cornville
Cornville’s post office opened in 1819, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1800.
1819first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Cornville began
When was Cornville founded?
1819
The Cornville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Revere (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 204 in 18002020 census: 1,317207 years
How historic is Cornville?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Cornville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cornville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cornville is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cornville’s overall grade.
Founding era1819, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194018.0% of homes (±7.7) · typical ME town 19.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical ME town 15.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 55%
NewerOlder
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 Cornville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Cornville’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 Cornville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1850 and 1950, then more than doubled.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Cornville, and 4 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19134 editions of the USGS map, 1913 to 1989. Watch Cornville change.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cornville’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cornville’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Cornville, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1850 and 1950, then more than doubled.
23 censuses, 1800–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cornville’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Cornville had its own post office from 1819 to 1903. Another post office, Revere, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Cornville
Revere
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cass CornerGould CornerMitchell CornerWaltons Mill
Gone or out of use
Cornville Elementary Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cornville
East RidgeKinsmanRichards
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Cornville, 1809 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1809
Born hereLuther Elkins is born here - 1819Post officeThe Cornville post office opens
- 1881Post officeThe Revere post office opens
- 20th century
- 1902Post officeThe Revere post office closes
- 1903Post officeThe Cornville post office closes
- 1913
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,317
By decade
Cornville, decade by decade
2008
2006On the map
Cornville on the map, 1913 to 1989
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cornville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1913Skowhegan sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cornville.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Cornville’s history
What year was Cornville founded?
The Cornville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cornville rank for history?
Cornville is more historic than 55% 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.
How old are the homes in Cornville?
18% of Cornville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1990.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.