Founding year: the first Whitefield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Whitefield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Whitefield is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Whitefield’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 Whitefield’s 18.5 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 (±5.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Whitefield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Whitefield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Whitefield is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,408 at the 2020 census. Whitefield is named for the celebrated British evangelist George Whitefield, who inspired the colonists before the town was settled in 1770, mainly by Irish Catholics. They remembered him when incorporation came in 1809. In the early twenty-first century it was the boyhood home of Sean and Jamie Oshima, who formed their folk-pop duo Oshima Brothers there. Whitefield is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area.
Its first post office opened in 1807. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,300 to 2,408 (+5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
The Whitefield post office opened in 1807, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Whitefield rank for history?
Whitefield is more historic than 80% 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 Whitefield?
Three places: the St. Denis Catholic Church (listed 1976), the Clary Mill (2004) and the Whitefield Union Hall (2007).
How old are the homes in Whitefield?
19% of Whitefield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1983.
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), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2018
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2018
2012