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A−History
History · Turner

Turner dates to 1772, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #83 of 143 in Maine. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Turner Town House and the Turner Cattle Pound. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1790.

1772founded
2on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Turner’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Turner began

When was Turner founded?

1772

Turner dates its founding to 1772 (Wikipedia’s history). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 349 in 17902020 census: 5,817254 years

How historic is Turner?

A−

More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1835.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Turner’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Turner is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #83 of 143 in Maine. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Turner’s overall grade.
Founding era1772, from Wikipedia: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194016.4% of homes (±6.4) · typical ME town 19.1% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register2 listings, 3.4 per 10,000 residents · typical ME town 15.9 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 78%
NewerOlder
Maine towns of 2,500+ (143)Ahead of 42%

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 Turner’s 3.4 sits below most of its state (24% 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 A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 points). Two sources give 1772.

Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Turner’s past

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

Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Turner, and 8 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1860 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.Old burying grounds16 cemeteries and burying grounds inside Turner.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

East Hebron
1835–1918
Keen's Mills
1873–1927
Turner Center
1873–1967
Chase's Mills
1874–1907
South Turner
1875–1909
Howe's Corner
1891–1935
Skillings
1899–1908
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Chase MillsEast HebronHowes CornerKeens MillsNorth TurnerSkillings CornerSouth TurnerTurner Center
16cemeteries and burying grounds inside Turner
Bear PondChase FamilyConantGeneral Turner HillHarlow FamilyHowes CornerKeens MillsMaple GroveNorth TurnerOlde FrenchRiversideTurnerTurner CentervilleUpper StreetWest TurnerWood Street

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

Help out

Start Turner’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLeavitt Institute: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Turner, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,500180018501900195020002,682 in 1860Low: 1,362

Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

The story

How Turner came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Turner.

Read it all →

First called Sylvester-Canada, the township was granted by the Massachusetts General Court on June 20, 1768, to Major James Warren and others, survivors of Captain Joseph Sylvester's company for their services in the 1690 Battle of Quebec. It replaced a 1735 grant of the same name located at what is now Richmond, New Hampshire, but which was ruled invalid in 1741 because of prior claims from the heirs of John Mason. Reverend Charles Turner of Scituate, Massachusetts, acted as an agent for the dispossessed grantees, and would become the first minister of their new town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Turner, 1770 to 2020

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1770In the archivePlan of the Town of Turner, formerly Silvester Plantation - out side lines and part of th…
  3. 1772
    FoundingTurner is established
  4. 19th century
  5. 1816BuiltTurner Cattle Pound is built
  6. 1818Born hereLuther Whiting Mason is born here
  7. 1822Born hereSamuel Merrill is born here
  8. 1835Post officeThe East Hebron post office opens
  9. 1836Born hereEugene Hale is born here
  10. 1836Born hereWilliam S. Soule is born here
  11. 1873Post officeThe Keen's Mills post office opens
  12. 1873Post officeThe Turner Center post office opens
  13. 1896In the archiveLeavitt Institute
  14. 20th century
  15. 1900In the archiveLeavitt farm
  16. 1911On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  17. 1918Post officeThe East Hebron post office closes
  18. 1927Post officeThe Keen's Mills post office closes
  19. 1967Post officeThe Turner Center post office closes
  20. 21st century
  21. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 5,817
By decade

Turner, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1770s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1770s1 item
Plan of the Town of Turner, formerly Silvester Plantation - out side lines and part of the lotts ran out1770Plan of the Town of Turner, formerly Silvester Planta…Map
1890s–1900s3 items
Leavitt Institutec. 1896Leavitt InstituteTurner Maine flood 18961896Turner Maine flood 1896Leavitt farmc. 1900Leavitt farm
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today7 recent
LeedsME BigRamIsland2022LeedsME BigRamIslandMaine2018MaineMaine, US2018Maine, USTurnerME LeavittInstitute2014TurnerME LeavittInstituteTurnerME FirstUniversalistChurchOfTurnerCenter2014TurnerME FirstUniversalistChurchOfTurnerCenterTurnerME 1831TownHouse2014TurnerME 1831TownHouseLeavittareahs2009Leavittareahs
On the map

Turner on the map, 1911 to 1942

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

Turner on the 1911 USGS mapTurner on the 1942 USGS map1911Buckfield 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 Turner.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Leavitt Institute
Retake this viewLeavitt Institute, c. 1896

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Turner’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Turner

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Turner Town House
Turner Town HouseTurner Cattle Pound, built 1816
BuildingsStructures
Turner Town HouseBuilding
Turner Cattle PoundBuilt 1816

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

9 famous people were born in Turner

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Eugene HaleAmerican politician · b. 1836
Samuel MerrillAmerican politician, 7th Governor of Iowa · b. 1822
Luther Whiting MasonAmerican educator · b. 1818
William S. SouleAmerican photographer · b. 1836
Clarence HaleUnited States federal judge · b. 1848
Franklin M. DrewAmerican politician and lawyer · b. 1837
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

LeedsIts storyB−Greene2 historic placesBLivermore1 historic placeBBuckfield5 historic placesA

Questions about Turner’s history

What year was Turner founded?

In 1772, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Turner’s post office opened in 1835, and the first U.S. census counted 349 people here in 1790.

How does Turner rank for history?

Turner is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #83 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 Turner?

Two places: the Turner Town House (listed 1979) and the Turner Cattle Pound (2009).

How old are the homes in Turner?

16% of Turner’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1980.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (11), Wikidata (1), 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) 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.