Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1850.
The Harford post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Worthington (1825) and Harford Mills (1864), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Harford’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harford. 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 Harford.
Harford’s post office has been open since 1826. 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 Harford.
Harford was in the former Central New York Military Tract in a tract called "Virgil". The area was first settled circa 1803.
The town was established in 1845 from part of the town of Virgil. By 1865, the population was 888.
In the 1970s, Cornell University bought extensive tracts of land for livestock research.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Harford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
avenues of trade, and affecting important interests that are not reached by the professional man on the one hand, or the artisan on the other. No village of Harford County enjoys a more enviable reputation than Bel Air for the high character of her merchants, both as to strict commercial integrity and business enterprise; and among these merchants John G. Rouse stands prominent.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the public schools of Harford County and in Bel Air Academy, our subject obtained his education. For a few years he taught at Churchville and in Bel Air Academy. In 1885 he commenced to read law with Archer & Van Bibber, of Bel Air, and after three years was admitted to the bar of Harford County, October 6, 1888, after which he practiced law for six years
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 SurveyBetween 553 and 1,034 people in every census since 1850.
17 censuses, 1850–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harford’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Harford itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Harford post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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.
2010