Founding year: the first Milford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Milford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Milford is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #113 of 143 in Maine. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Milford’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 Milford’s 6.5 sits below most of its state (31% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 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 Milford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The settlement was known as Sunkhaze plantation before it was incorporated as Milford in 1833.
Milford was the site of a major 19th-century water powered sawmill on the Penobscot River. Most of its lumber was shipped from nearby Bangor. The large Bodwell Water Power Co. sawmills (1889), owned by Maine Governor Joseph Robinson Bodwell, burned in 1891, almost taking the village with it. The present Bodwell Water Power Co. plant, also known as the Milford Plant of Bangor Hydro, was built in 1906 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by Wallace C. Johnson, a civil engineer who also worked on hydro-power projects at Niagara Falls.
Passages that mention Milford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 902Read the page →
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The population of Milford is almost altogether clustered at Milford village and on the river road a mile below. There is a tolerably dense settlement, however, just below the mouth of the Sunkhaze, and at Costigan Station, the post-office at which is called North Milford.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 902Read the page →
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The population of Milford is almost altogetlier clustered at Milford village and on the river road a mile below. There is a tolerably dense settlement, however, just below the mouth of the Sunkhaze, and at Costigan Station, the post-oftice at which is called North Milford.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 907Read the page →
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country, and the European & North American Railway (at the present time the most important in Eastern Maine) was commenced this year. The bridge at Milford was finished this season, and regular trips to Milford were commenced in December of this year. At the same time the road was opened to Olamon. The next summer the European & North American Railway Company purchased the line of steamers running from Old-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 903Read the page →
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mitted to the Union as a State, just before which No. 3 was made a Plantation and was known henceforth as Sunkhaze Plantation until its incorporation as the town of Milford. At the time of the admission of Maine the country was nearly recovered from the effects of the late war, and the policy of the successful and satisfactory administration of Mr. Monroe gave a great impetus to business and
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.
The Milford post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Milford rank for history?
Milford is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #113 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 Milford?
Two places: the Bodwell Water Power Company Plant (listed 1988) and the Milford Congregational Church (1989).
How old are the homes in Milford?
10% of Milford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1987.
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), 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 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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