Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1823.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Etna’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Etna is more historic than 38% 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 Etna’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 Etna’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 (±3.9 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 Etna’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Etna is named for the famed Mount Etna in Italy. It was originally known as "Crosbytown" after its first proprietor, Gen. John Crosby of Hampden. Etna was incorporated as a town in 1820. c. 1850 it had a population of 802.
Camp Etna is a summer colony where spiritualists have held yearly meetings since 1876, when Daniel Buswell, Jr., held the first meeting in a tent. A temple seating 1,100, a club house, and 78 cottages were built in 1880. The grave of Mrs. Mary Scannell Pepper Vanderbilt, a leader and benefactor of the camp, is marked by a monument.
Passages that mention Etna, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 273Read the page →
Read the text
water at a mile's distance, runs thence north of west to the depot near Carmel post-office, and on northwesterly by the hamlet known as Damascus (which has no postoffice), to its departure into Etna, close by the bank of Parker Pond. A little more than a mile south of its track, and somewhat further to the southeast of the depot, is the' locality called Ruggles Place, which also has no post-office of its own. The North Carmel post-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 483Read the page →
Read the text
Population flowed in slowly, however, to this comparatively far inland region, and the number of inhabitants in the western strip of Etna and the eastern part of the Chandlerville territory was not enough, for nearly twenty years after the first settlement, to demand the formation of a town for nearer governmental facilities than they enjoyed. Finally, however, in the winter of 1825-26, the petition of the people went in for the erection of the
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.
In 1820, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Etna’s post office opened in 1823, and the census of 1820 counted 194 people here.
How does Etna rank for history?
Etna is more historic than 38% 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 Etna?
6% of Etna’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (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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