Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1835.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Enfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Enfield is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Enfield’s overall grade.
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 Enfield’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 B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points). Two sources give 1820.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Enfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Enfield was first settled on the east bank of the Penobscot River about 1820, and was originally called Cold Stream. It was incorporated on January 31, 1835.
In 1891, four armed men boarded and attempted to rob a train as it passed through Enfield, shooting at the engineer, fireman, and conductors. They also shot up the train station. They failed in their attempt to break into the mail-car, but it was a dark night and they escaped capture.
Passages that mention Enfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 476Read the page →
Read the text
School No. 4 is in the southwest part of the town, on another north and south road which enters half a mile from the northwest corner, from Enfield village, and divides into two branches soon after crossing the line, one of which goes southwest to the Station and the other southerly across the Passadumkeag a fourth of a mile below the mouth of the Cold Stream, and on through a tolerably dense settlement below School No. 4 out of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 476Read the page →
Read the text
School No. 4 is in the southwest part of the town, on another north and south road which enters half a mile from the northwest corner, from Enfield village, and divides into two branches soon after crossing the line, one of which goes southwest to the Station and the other southerly across the Passadumkeag a fourth of a mile below the mouth of the Cold Stream, and on through a tolerably dense settlement below School No. 4 out of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 340Read the page →
Read the text
Enfield being on the old military road, and also on the European & North American Railway, — which passes through the town on a general parallel vyith the river, but nearly two miles from it, and has a station and a long switch a mile west of Enfield village, — the town has
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 341Read the page →
Read the text
Enfield is the only village and post-office in the town. It has a Baptist church and cemetery. School No. 4, a hotel, a store, and several mills and shops.
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.
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.
In 1820, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Enfield’s post office opened in 1835, and the census of 1840 counted 346 people here.
How does Enfield rank for history?
Enfield is more historic than 45% 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 Enfield?
10% of Enfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 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.
