Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Topsfield

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Topsfield

Topsfield’s post office opened in 1838, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1840.

1838first post office
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Topsfield began

When was Topsfield founded?

1838

The Topsfield post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Number Eight (1837), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 188 in 18402020 census: 179188 years
Founding year: the first Topsfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Topsfield’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Topsfield are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 463 in 1870; 179 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1838: 188 years of Topsfield.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Topsfield’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Topsfield’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Topsfield, census by census

01002003004005001850190019502000Peak: 463

Peaked at 463 in 1870; 179 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1840–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Topsfield’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Topsfield, 1837 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Number Eight post office opens
  3. 1838Post officeThe Number Eight post office closes
  4. 1838Post officeThe Topsfield post office opens
  5. 1870CensusPopulation peaks at 463
  6. 20th century
  7. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Topsfield, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Topsfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Topsfield is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. The population was 179 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1838. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 237 to 179 (-24%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Topsfield on the map, 1940 to 1988

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Topsfield. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Topsfield on the 1940 USGS mapTopsfield on the 1988 USGS map1940Waite 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 Topsfield.

Famous people

Famous people close to Topsfield

Nobody well known was born in Topsfield itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
E
Elenore AbbottAmerican Art Nouveau book illustrator, scenic d… · b. 1875
Gary GordonUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1960
Andrea GibsonAmerican poet and activist · b. 1975
E
Ernest HolmesAmerican New Thought writer · b. 1887
Harriet Elizabeth Prescott SpoffordAmerican author · b. 1835
R
Roger LyndonMathematician · b. 1917
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Topsfield’s post office has been open since 1838. Another post office, Number Eight, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Number Eight
1837–1838
Topsfield
1838–today
18301930today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

TalmadgeIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Topsfield’s history

What year was Topsfield founded?

The Topsfield post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.