Founding year: the first Hartland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hartland’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hartland is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hartland’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 Hartland’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 A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 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 Hartland’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was first settled in approximately 1800, and was incorporated as Warrentown or Warrenton on February 17, 1820. It was the last town in Maine to be incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court before the Missouri Compromise which led to the birth of the state of Maine, three weeks later.
The area did not gain a library collection until 1903 when materials started being housed in the town hall. From 1935 to 1990 the library collection could be found on Commercial St in a building that now houses the Irving Tannery Outlet. In 1991 the library moved to its current location. In 1995 thanks to a donation from the tannery, the library added space for a community room and children's materials.
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 Hartland post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hartland rank for history?
Hartland is more historic than 56% 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 Hartland?
19% of Hartland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (1), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
