Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #108 of 143 in Maine. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Christ Church and the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1790.
Greene dates its founding to 1778 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greene is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #108 of 143 in Maine. 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 Greene’s 4.5 sits below most of its state (27% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Greene’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1840 and 1920, then grew 6-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greene’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greene. 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 Greene.
From Wikipedia’s history of Greene.
Greene is named for Nathanael Greene. The town was incorporated in 1788. Land was given off to Lewiston in 1852 and to Webster (present day Sabattus) in 1895. The last surviving American Civil War Union Army brevet general, and general of any grade, Aaron Daggett was born in Greene in 1837.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Greene, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The growth of the southern part of the plantation was slow, the settlement incorporated as Greene, in 1788, attracting more. In 17*J0 Lewiston had 532 inhabitants, and, February 18, 1795, it was incorporated the ninety-fifth town, with these boundaries: Beginning at the bank of Androscoggin river at the most westerly corner of the town of Greene, thence running southeast on the southerly line of Greene about 6 miles to the Plymouth Com[)any's claim, 6 miles and 230 rods, thence soutliwest about 260 rods to Androscoggin river, thence northerly by said river to the bounds first mentioned. Daniel Davis
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1784 there were thirty families living in Turner (increased to 349 population in 1790, and 722 in 1800). The settlement in Greene, begun before the Revolution, numbered nearly five hundred people at its incorporation in 1788, and in 1796 a post-office was established. Royalsborough had been settled rapidly from 1760, and when incorporated as Durham in 1789 was a prosperous community. Poland had 1,400 inhabitants at its incorporation in 1794. Lewiston in 1790 had 532 residents, while at the settlement of Port Royal, later Livermore, about 400 people were living (increased to 863 in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
his house people. Farmington was incorporated in 1794, and a short time subsequent to that date a highway from that town was laid out on a direct line over the hills of Chesterville, Fayette, Wayne and Leeds to Greene, where it intersected another highway opened in 1793 from Augusta to Portland via Monmouth, Greene, Lewiston, Auburn, New Gloucester, etc. The Farmington road was laid on nearly a straight line from hill to hill where many of the people had settled to avoid destruction
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.
In the archivePlan of Greene, Maine, surveyor's name not given, dated March, 1795. - DPLA - d7a73997954…
Born hereAaron S. Daggett is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1790s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1778, according to Wikidata. the first U.S. census counted 375 people here in 1790.
Greene is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #108 of 143 in Maine. 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.
Two places: the Christ Church (listed 1992) and the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial (2025).
12% of Greene’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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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