Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1794.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Monmouth’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monmouth is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #100 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 Monmouth’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 Monmouth’s 7.2 sits below most of its state (33% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1776.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Monmouth’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Part of the Plymouth Patent, it was first settled as Freetown in 1776–1777 by families from Brunswick. It would also be called Bloomingborough and Wales before being incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court on January 20, 1792, as Monmouth, after Monmouth, New Jersey. The name was suggested by landowner General Henry Dearborn, who had fought in the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.
Passages that mention Monmouth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine1892 · page 767Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Monmouth embraces an area of nearly twenty-five square miles. It was originally a part of the Plymouth patent, and when incorporated as a plantation included the territory now the town of Wales. It is nearly square, with its northwest, southeast and southwest angles a trifle acute; although the comparatively recent sacrifice of a few acres on the north and south to the towns of Winthrop and Wales has broken the geometrical straightness of the lines.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine1892Read the page →
Read the text
Next to Hallowell Academy, the first school in Maine which embraced in its curriculum a complete college preparatory course, was Monmouth Academy, which was incorporated as a free grammar school in 1803, and as an academy in 1809. Among the alumni of this institution, which is treated more exhau.stively in the chapter devoted to the history of Monmouth, are found some of the leading statesmen and professional men in the country.
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
Monmouth, 1776 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monmouth. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Lewiston 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 Monmouth.
Every building
Monmouth, building by building, 1885–1927
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
3 historic places in Monmouth
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
In 1776, according to Wikidata. Monmouth’s post office opened in 1794, and the census of 1800 counted 701 people here.
How does Monmouth rank for history?
Monmouth is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #100 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 Monmouth?
Three places: the Cumston Hall (listed 1973), the Blossom House (1989) and the North Monmouth Library (2017).
How old are the homes in Monmouth?
16% of Monmouth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 (16), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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