Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1820.
Waldo dates its founding to 1811 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Waldo’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1850 and 1950, then more than doubled.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Waldo’s Wikipedia page.
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 Waldo.
The area was once part of the Waldo Patent, a large tract of land owned by Brigadier-General Samuel Waldo of Boston. It was first settled in 1811 by Henry Davidson, then organized as Waldo Plantation on July 6, 1821. The town was incorporated by the legislature on March 17, 1845, taking the name of its early proprietor.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Waldo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Waldo, besides making a similar contract for the settlement of the lower town” extending to the mouth of the river, proposed to continue his settlements above to its source. But Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Notwithstanding the apprehensions of war, Waldo continued the prosecution of his settlement at St. George’s with vigor, and in 1740 erected a grist-mill at Oyster River, a little above the present bridge ; a strong proof that the settlers had made some progress in agricultural operations and were beginning to supply themselves with bread. In the same year he built, on the lot given for the support of the ministry near the western margin of the river, a meeting-
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Waldo. 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 Waldo.
Nobody well known was born in Waldo itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1811, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Waldo’s post office opened in 1877, and the census of 1820 counted 245 people here.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.
2011
