Harpswell’s post office opened in 1842, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #55 of 143 in Maine. What drives it
18 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and two historic districts with 13 buildings between them. Below: 10 old photos and papers from 1795 on and the census since 1790.
The Harpswell post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Mericoneag (1842), West Harpswell (1847) and Harpswell Center (1864), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,071 in 17902020 census: 5,031184 years
How historic is Harpswell?
A
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Harpswell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Harpswell’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harpswell is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #55 of 143 in Maine. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Harpswell’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 Harpswell’s 55.5 sits above most of its state (77% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 28 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Harpswell’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Native Americans who originally inhabited Harpswell were Abenaki. The Abenaki name for Harpswell Neck, then called West Harpswell, was Merriconeag or "quick carrying place", a reference to the narrow peninsula's easy portage. The Abenaki name for Great Island was Erascohegan or Sebascodiggin, which became by the late 1800s Sebascodegan Island.
King James I awarded lands in present day Maine, including Casco Bay, in August 1622 to Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason, with Gorges and his cousin Thomas Gorges overseeing the award of land patents to settlers and other claimants.
Passages that mention Harpswell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot1878 · page 85Read the page →
Read the text
imitjto Sebascodegan, or Great Island. The explanation of its bearing the name of a distant town is probably as follows : — The town of North Yarmouth formerly embraced the peninsula of Mair Point and Harpswell Neck, with Sebascodegan and the lesser islands within the limits indicated b}' these points. When the town of Harpswell was formed, all the larger islands intended to be set off from Yarmouth for the new town of Harpswell were named in the Act of Incorporation, with the exception of the one noAv under considera-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot1878 · page 667Read the page →
Read the text
Skolfield, James Stover, and Daniel Randall were cliosen a committee of arrangements for the dedication. It was also voted, " That we, the proprietors of the new meeting-house recently built on Harpswell Neck, do hereby convey and transfer to the Centre Congregational Parish in Harpswell when formed, all our right, title, and interest in and to said meeting-house, authorizing said parish to give deeds of conveyance to any persons who may purchase pews in said bouse, and to do such other acts as ma}' be legalh' done by parishes in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell, Maine [microform]1878 · page 667Read the page →
Read the text
Skolfield, James Stover, and Daniel Randall were chosen a committee of arrangements for the dedication. It was also voted, ‘* That we, the proprietors of the new meeting-house recently bui/t on Harpswell Neck, do hereby convey and transfer to the Centre Congregational Parish in Harpswell when formed, all our right, title, and interest in and to said meeting-house, authorizing said parish to give deeds of conveyance to any persons who may purchase pews in said house, and to do such other acts as may be legally done by parishes in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell, Maine [microform]1878 · page 705Read the page →
Read the text
At the annual March meeting, it was voted ** that the selectmen and treasurer of the town of Harpswell be authorized and instructed to fund the war debt of the town of Harpswell, which has already accrued, and also for what may be necessary to be raised to fill the remainder of the quota of the town under the last call of the President, and issue town bonds with coupons attached, bearing six per cent semiannual interest. The funded debt not to exceed, under any circumstances, thirty thousand dollars, said bond to be given running
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
Harpswell, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1790s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Harpswell post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Harpswell rank for history?
Harpswell is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #55 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.
What is on the National Register in Harpswell?
18 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 14 buildings, among them the Harpswell Meetinghouse (a National Historic Landmark since 1968), 2 historic districts, the Auburn-Harpswell Association Historic District and the Deacon Andrew Dunning House, with 13 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 28 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Harpswell?
20% of Harpswell’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (18), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
1909
1909
1909
1909
1909
1909
1914