History · Hope

11% of Hope’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1810.

0on the National Register

11%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

About Hope’s history

How historic is Hope?

C⁻

More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Hope’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hope is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hope’s overall grade.

Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194010.6% of homes (±3.5) · typical ME town 19.1% · U.S. 8.4%B⁻National RegisterNo listings counted · typical ME town 15.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 24%

NewerOlder

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 Hope’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.5 points).

Founding year: our sources. 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 Hope’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Hope are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1840 and 1920, then grew 4-fold.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Hope, and 5 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19154 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1973. Watch Hope change.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hope’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hope’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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People over time

Hope, census by census

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1840 and 1920, then grew 4-fold.

22 censuses, 1810–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hope’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, North Hope, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map

Athearns CornerGrants TurnNorth Hope CornerPayson CornerSouth Hope

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hope

Hope GroveMorey Hill

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Hope came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hope.

Read it all →

European settlement of the area began in the 1780s. The land was initially part of a larger grant system, with the Twenty Associates becoming proprietors of land that would eventually encompass Camden, Hope, Appleton, Montville, and part of Liberty beginning in 1768. The area was organized as Barretstown Plantation, named after Charles Barrett, who owned significant portions of the land.

The process of incorporation was delayed due to conflicts between settlers and absentee landowners. Initial petitions for incorporation began in 1795, but were opposed by proprietors who owned unsold lots and wished to avoid taxation. Hope was finally incorporated as a town on June 23, 1804, formed from Barretstown Plantation.

ChaptersEarly European settlement Incorporation Territorial changes 19th-century economy Population trends

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hope, 1840 to 1915

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1840CensusPopulation peaks at 1,770
1886Post officeThe North Hope post office opens
1895Post officeThe North Hope post office closes
20th century
1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Hope, decade by decade

Today2 recent

2015Lushness

2015Bobolink

On the map

Hope on the map, 1915 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hope. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1915Belfast sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hope.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Appleton4 historic placesA Lincolnville3 historic placesB Union5 historic placesA Camden18 historic placesA⁺

Questions about Hope’s history

How does Hope rank for history?

Hope is more historic than 24% 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 Hope?

11% of Hope’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1991.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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