Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #36 of 143 in Maine. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1830.
Richmond dates its founding to 1823 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richmond is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #36 of 143 in Maine. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Richmond’s 42.1 sits above most of its state (72% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1920, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Richmond’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Richmond. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Richmond.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Richmond.
The tract of land that comprises Richmond and Gardiner was purchased in 1649 from the Abenaki Indians by Christopher Lawson. The site of Richmond, as well as neighboring Swan Island, is believed by historians to have served as a summer settlement for the Abenaki.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereDe Alva S. Alexander is born here
In the archiveSawmill, Richmond, Me
In the archiveRichmond, ME shipyard by B. P. Brown cropped
Born hereJ. Wilder Tasker is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Richmond’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1823, according to Wikidata. Richmond’s post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1830 counted 1,308 people here.
Richmond is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #36 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.
Three places: the Southard Block (listed 1972), the Richmond Historic District (1973) and the Peacock Tavern (1986).
32% of Richmond’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1975.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), 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 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.
c. 1865
c. 1865
c. 1865
1878
