The Mexico post office opened in 1923, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Holmantown (1817), Hale (1893) and Ridlonville (1897), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 148 in 18202020 census: 2,756103 years
How historic is Mexico?
C
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Mexico post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mexico’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mexico is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #140 of 143 in Maine. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mexico’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 Mexico’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 D− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.2 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 Mexico’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The land was once part of Holmanstown Plantation, granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1789 to Colonel Jonathan Holman of Sutton, Massachusetts (now Millbury) and others. In 1803, Dixfield was set off and incorporated. The plantation's remaining portion, which had been first settled by Isaac Gleason, was incorporated on February 13, 1818, as the town of Mexico. The name was inspired by local sympathy for Mexico's 1810–1821 fight for independence from Spain. Then known as Mexico Corner, it developed as a farming community with mills at the streams. In 1894, George W. Ridlon, president of the Rumford Falls Brick Company, founded a settlement in the eastern part of the town called Ridlonville. He erected 30 cottages and The Hotel Ridlon.
Passages that mention Mexico, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, from its first settlement in 1779, to the present time1890 · page 241Read the page →
Read the text
The month of Swift river is wholly in Mexico, but a short distance above the mouth the river is in Eumford. The bridge across the river on the road leading from Rumford Falls to Mexico Corner is 16
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, from its first settlement in 1779, to the present time1890 · page 98Read the page →
Read the text
Mexico at the mouth of Swift Eiver, and passes southeasterly through the town and as far as Livermore, and from thence, by a general southerly direction, to Merrymeeting Bay. While the length of Rumford, from Hanover to Mexico, is only a trifle over seven miles, the river in its eccentric course makes a little over eleven miles in passing through the town.
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.
Timeline
Mexico, 1817 to 1973
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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 Mexico post office opened in 1923, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mexico rank for history?
Mexico is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #140 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.
How old are the homes in Mexico?
30% of Mexico’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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