Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1790.
Edgecomb dates its founding to 1774 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edgecomb is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Edgecomb’s 40.0 sits above most of its state (71% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Edgecomb’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1820 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edgecomb’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edgecomb. 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 Edgecomb.
From Wikipedia’s history of Edgecomb.
Although there is little industry in Edgecomb in 2026, there is a diverse and interesting history of ship building, saw mills, brick yards, farming, landing ocean harvests, rock and felspar mining operations.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltJohn Moore House is built
In the archivePlan of Edgecomb surveyed by Joseph Beath, dated December 6, 1794. - DPLA - f6f05dc5abf70…
BuiltStephen Parsons House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey Josiah T. Tubby, Photographer October 1936 - Decker-Cl…2 decades in the archive, from the 1790s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Edgecomb’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Edgecomb had its own post office from 1810 to 1971. 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1774, according to Wikidata. Edgecomb’s post office opened in 1810, and the first U.S. census counted 755 people here in 1790.
Edgecomb is more historic than 96% 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: 4 buildings, among them the Fort Edgecomb (listed 1969, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.
31% of Edgecomb’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (9), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
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