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History · Cos Cob

Cos Cob’s post office opened in 1880, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1896 on.

1880first post office
4on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cos Cob’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cos Cob began

When was Cos Cob founded?

1880

The Cos Cob post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 6,873146 years
Founding year: the first Cos Cob post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Cos Cob’s past

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

Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.Old housesHalf of Cos Cob’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

4 listings protect 45 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmark
1
none yet
historic buildings protected
45
each building in a district counts

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

The story

How Cos Cob came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cos Cob.

Read it all →

The term "Cos Cob" comes from the Coe family that settled in the area in 1641. During their time, a wall, known as a "cob", was built on the shoreline by Robert Coe to protect the land he gave to his brother. Henceforth, the place was known as Coe's Cob, later becoming Cos Cob.

The community is situated on Cos Cob Harbor, a sheltered area on the north side of Long Island Sound. Cos Cob's role as a commercial shipping port, supplying potatoes and apples to New York City, disappeared with the appearance of the railroad and damming of the Mianus River. The river is now one source of the town's drinking water.

From 1883 to 1885, the official post office name of Cos Cob was Bayport.

ChaptersTrain station and bridge20th and 21st centuries

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cos Cob, 1896 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896In the archiveThe Red Mill
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901In the archiveView of the Brush House, Cos Cob, Connecticutlabel QS:Len,"View of the Brush House, Cos C…
  5. 1912In the archiveNews Depot
  6. 1914Born hereAnne W. Simon is born here
  7. 1986Born hereSean Backman is born here
By decade

Cos Cob, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s5 items
The Red Mill1896The Red MillView of the Brush House, Cos Cob, Connecticutlabel QS:Len,"View of the Brush House, Cos Cob, Connecticut"c. 1901View of the Brush House, Cos Cob, Connecticutlabel QS…Oyster Sloop1902Oyster SloopColonial Cottage1902Colonial CottageOyster Sloop, Cos Cob title QS:P1476,en:"Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob "label QS:Len,"Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob "c. 1902Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob title QS:P1476,en:"Oyster Sloop…
1910s1 item
News Depot1912News Depot
1920s–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
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.

The Red Mill
Retake this viewThe Red Mill, 1896

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Cos Cob

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

See all →
Sean BackmanAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1986
A
Anne W. SimonAmerican writer-environmentalist · b. 1914
Help out

Finish Cos Cob’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewThe Red Mill: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Riverside3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndian Field1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Cos Cob’s history

What year was Cos Cob founded?

The Cos Cob post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.