Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Robertson Quarry Galamander. Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1830.
The Franklin post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Egypt (1884), West Franklin (1890) and East Franklin (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Franklin’s 6.1 sits below most of its state (30% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Franklin’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1960, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Franklin’s Wikipedia page.
Franklin’s post office has been open since 1834. Three 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Franklin yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Franklin is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2020 census. The town is named for Benjamin Franklin.
Its first post office opened in 1834. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,483 to 1,567 (+6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Franklin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The undersigned inhabitants of the town of Industry, in the Count) of Franklin, respectfully represent that so much of the territory of the town of Industry, adjoining the town of New Sharon in said County, as is embraced in the following description, containing an entire school district, ought to be set off from the town oi' Industry and annexed to the town of New Sharon. (Here followed a description of the bounds as given in the foot note on page 14 q. v. ) The undersigned further say that some of the reasons for asking
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He was the projector and builder of the suspension bridges at Strong and Kingfield, in Franklin County. At the last mentioned place the following incident is related in regard to the newly-completed bridge. The sway of the bridge when completed caused many people unacquainted with such structures to question its safety. To show his own confidence in the permanency and strength of the structure, Mr. Beede, in the presence of a large company of people, drove his horse across the bridge and back at full speed, and was heartily cheered on his return
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
19, 1867, to test the validity of the title to the court-house property, by Joseph S. Craig, treasurer of the Center Meeting-House in F'armington, against the inhabitants of Franklin County, which was tried in Androscoggin County in the January term of Supreme Court, 1869, when the case was reported to the full Court, which subsequently rendered a decision for defendants. During the present year (1884) the county has purchased the interest of the proprietors for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Under the foregoing vote, John Church, treasurer of the proprietors, made and executed a deed of the meeting-house and site to the inhabitants of the County of Franklin, upon the terms and conditions as recited in the vote. The county commissioners, at a session held July 6, 1839, ordered 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltRobertson Quarry Galamander is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin. 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 Franklin.
The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Franklin itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Franklin post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Franklin is more historic than 68% 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.
One place: the Robertson Quarry Galamander (listed 1992).
18% of Franklin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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