Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Riverside

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Riverside

Riverside’s post office opened in 1875, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are . Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1939 on.

1875first post office
3on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Riverside’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Riverside began

When was Riverside founded?

1875

The Riverside post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 8,843151 years
Founding year: the first Riverside post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Riverside’s past

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

Old housesHalf of Riverside’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · The story

How Riverside came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Riverside.

Read it all →

Riverside has two sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

Riverside Avenue Bridge, Riverside Avenue over the New Haven Line railroad tracks; built in 1894; listed in 1977.

Samuel Ferris House, Cary Road; built in about 1760; listed in 1989.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Riverside, 1917 to 1959

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1917Born hereJim Raymond is born here
  3. 1939In the archiveRobert Tietze, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a03906
  4. 1940In the archiveW. Stuart Thompson, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a05064
  5. 1959In the archiveRichard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a27004
By decade

Riverside, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1950s6 items
Robert Tietze, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a039061939Robert Tietze, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. L…W. Stuart Thompson, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a050641940W. Stuart Thompson, residence in Riverside, Connectic…W. Stuart Thompson, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a050661940W. Stuart Thompson, residence in Riverside, Connectic…Richard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a270041959Richard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecti…Richard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a270051959Richard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecti…Richard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a270061959Richard Wheelwright, residence in Riverside, Connecti…
1960s–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.

Robert Tietze, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a03906
Retake this viewRobert Tietze, residence in Riverside, Connecticut. LOC gsc.5a03906, 1939

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Riverside

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts

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

Help out

Finish Riverside’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRobert Tietze, residence in Riverside, …: 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.

Old Greenwich2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCos Cob4 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 Riverside’s history

What year was Riverside founded?

The Riverside post office opened in 1875, 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.