Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Greenbush was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: maps from 1917 on and the census since 1840.
The Greenbush post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Oak's Mills (1828), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenbush is more historic than 31% 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 Greenbush’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.
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 Greenbush’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greenbush’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenbush. 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 Greenbush.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Greenbush yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Greenbush is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States, on the Penobscot River. The town's population was 1,444 at the 2020 United States census.
Its first post office opened in 1839. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,491 to 1,444 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Greenbush, cut from the printed page as they were published.
It extends into the town of Greenbush, and here are some very good farms and a neighborhood of thrifty, enterprising farmers. Between the ridge and the Penobscot River is a tract of forest land, and the boggy character of the soil will probably cause it to remam in its natural state for a long time to come.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It extends into the town of Greenbush, and here are some very good farms and a neighborhood of thrifty, enterprising farmers. Between the ridge and the Penobscot River is a tract of forest land, and the boggy character of the soil will probably cause it to remam in its natural state for a long time to come.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Gould's Ridge was first settled by 1822. It was named for Zebediah Gould, who settled on the Greenbush end and built a tunber house there, near the bank of Olamon Stream.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Most of the settlement in Greenbush is on the river road. Upon it are Olamon Station, at the northward, which has a hotel, stores, shops, and School No. 3.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Greenbush itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Greenbush had its own post office from 1839 to 1912. Another post office, Oak's Mills, 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.
The Greenbush post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Greenbush is more historic than 31% 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.
3% of Greenbush’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 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.
