Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
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 Owego Township’s history is told.
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 Owego Township.
The first person to settle in the township was Daniel Rockwood, who arrived in 1833. An early member of the Livingston County commissioners, Rockwood was elected the first town supervisor when Owego Township was organized in 1857. The town is named after Owego, New York, the major settlement in Rockwood's native home of Tioga County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Owego Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Owego Township was one of the first to give attention to means of instructing the youth. As early as 18-10, a small school house or cabin was erected near the Rockwood place, and a school kept. The attendance was limited to only a dozen pupils. This school house was built and the school maintained by private subscription. No public schools are reported in the township until 1855. In September of this year, the school lands were sold, and at once steps were taken to make the income arising from it available, to do which, it was necessary to establish schools and report the same. Accordingly, Ave find
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 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.