History · Windsor

Windsor’s post office opened in 1822, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 47% of U.S. towns · #128 of 143 in Maine. What drives it

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1810.

1822first post office

0on the National Register

12%homes built before 1940

2famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0

Quick answers

How Windsor began

When was Windsor founded?

1822

The Windsor post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Malta (1821), South Windsor (1838) and West Windsor (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 468 in 18102020 census: 2,632204 years

How historic is Windsor?

B⁻

More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Windsor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Windsor’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Windsor is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #128 of 143 in Maine. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Windsor’s overall grade.

Founding era1822, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194012.0% of homes (±5.6) · typical ME town 19.1% · U.S. 8.4%B⁻National RegisterNo listings counted · typical ME town 15.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 47%

NewerOlder

Maine towns of 2,500+ (143)Ahead of 11%

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 Windsor’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 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 Windsor’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Windsor, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Windsor are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.On the map since 18934 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1982. Watch Windsor change.

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Windsor had its own post office from 1822 to 1906. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Malta

1821–1822

Windsor

1822–1906

South Windsor

1838–1907

West Windsor

1873–1903

North Windsor

1884–1903

Windsorville

1898–1948

Windsor

1948–today

18201920today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Halls CornerNorth WindsorSouth WindsorWest WindsorWindsorville

6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Windsor

BlackmanCoburnDyer HillNorth WindsorResthavenWindsor Neck

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

Help out

Start Windsor’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Windsor’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

Windsor, census by census

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1930, then grew 4-fold.

22 censuses, 1810–2020.

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

The story

How Windsor came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Windsor.

Read it all →

The territory was first incorporated March 3, 1809, under the name of "Malta." Shortly after, a minor rebellion called the "Malta War" broke out against the Massachusetts state government in Boston over settlement and land ownership rights. In 1820, the town was reincorporated under the name "Gerry" to honor the late statesman and Vice President Elbridge Gerry. Two years after that, the town was renamed Windsor in its final reincorporation.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Windsor in 1892

Passages that mention Windsor, cut from the printed page as they were published.

In or about 1819 a church was erected on land donated by John Cottle, about twenty rods north of the residence of A. Rogers, near Windsor Corner. The building was of the regulation type, with high box pews, galleries, sounding-board and elevated pulpit. It was fired by an incendiary, September 6, 1… — **Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine**1892 · page 1181Read the page →
Read the text
In or about 1819 a church was erected on land donated by John Cottle, about twenty rods north of the residence of A. Rogers, near Windsor Corner. The building was of the regulation type, with high box pews, galleries, sounding-board and elevated pulpit. It was fired by an incendiary, September 6, 1838, and burned to the ground.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine**1892 · page 742Read the page →
Read the text
The business of William Grant was started in 1861 on Windsor street, where Henry S. Winslow now has a boot and shoe store. About 1864 he moved to the end of the bridge, in the building since burned.
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

Windsor, 1815 to 2020

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

19th century
1815Born hereSimon J. Murphy Sr. is born here
1821Post officeThe Malta post office opens
1822Post officeThe Malta post office closes
1822Post officeThe Windsor post office opens
1838Post officeThe South Windsor post office opens
1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1906Post officeThe Windsor post office closes
1907Post officeThe South Windsor post office closes
1920Born hereStanley Sproul is born here
21st century
2020CensusPopulation peaks at 2,632

By decade

Windsor, decade by decade

Today5 recent

2012Windsor, Maine

2006Windsor maine farmhouse

On the map

Windsor on the map, 1893 to 1982

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

1893Vassalboro 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 Windsor.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Windsor

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

See all →

Simon J. Murphy Sr.American businessman · b. 1815

Stanley SproulAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1920

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Jefferson3 historic placesA⁻SomervilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Whitefield3 historic placesA⁻China6 historic placesA⁻PalermoIts storyC⁻

Questions about Windsor’s history

What year was Windsor founded?

The Windsor post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Windsor rank for history?

Windsor is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #128 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.

How old are the homes in Windsor?

12% of Windsor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1986.

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 (5), 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), 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.

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