Its Register listings are the Robert Carleton House, the Sangerville Town Hall and the First Universalist Church of Sangerville. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1820.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sangerville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sangerville’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 Sangerville’s 26.4 sits above most of its state (65% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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 (±8.3 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 Sangerville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Sangerville, building by building, 1898–1923
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.
1898Sheet 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.
The story so far
Sangerville, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sangerville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Sangerville is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,306 at the 2020 census. The town was named after Colonel Calvin Sanger, a landowner. On June 14, 2014, Sangerville celebrated its bicentennial.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,343 to 1,306 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Sangerville in 1914
Passages that mention Sangerville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Sangerville, Maine, 1814-1914. Proceedings of the centennial celebration, June 13, 19141914 · page 116Read the page →
Read the text
It would have been both a physical and mental impossibility for any one to have prepared an accurate outline even of the early history of Sangerville in the short time allotted to me by your committee. I could only take the old records available, and what they reminded me of, and the meager information of a few older persons which were attainable and make an attempt to give you an indistinct and what is simply a bird's-ej'e view of the life and labors of these first settlers in the town of Sangerville. There were four dis-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Sangerville, Maine, 1814-1914. Proceedings of the centennial celebration, June 13, 19141914 · page 159Read the page →
Read the text
1814, Incorporating the town of Sangerville in the said County of Hancock, it is enacted that any Justice of the Peace in said County may upon application issue a warrant to a freehold inhabitant of said town requiring him to notify and warn the Inhabitants to meet at some convenient time and place for the choise of such officers as the law directs towns to choose and appoint at their annual town meetings.
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
Sangerville, 1840 to 1933
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Sangerville is more historic than 86% 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.
What is on the National Register in Sangerville?
Three places: the Robert Carleton House (listed 1975), the Sangerville Town Hall (1991) and the First Universalist Church of Sangerville (2023).
How old are the homes in Sangerville?
27% of Sangerville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
Date?
2022
2022
2022
