Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1831.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Allegany’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Allegany is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #484 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Allegany’s overall grade.
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Allegany’s 2.7 sits below most of its state (28% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). Two sources give 1820.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Allegany’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Allegany’s post office has been open since 1851. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Burton
1831–1851
Allegany
1851–today
Four Mile
1879–1918
Knapp Creek
1879–today
Chipmunk
1891–1893
Chipmonk
1897–1920
Saint Bonaventure
1907–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ChipmunkColonial Village Mobile Home ParkCrestviewFour MileGardens of Brother LeoGlen of Saint ClareHarrisburgKnapp CreekLong Acres Mobile Home ParkNichols RunRock CitySaint BonaventureValley View Estates Mobile Home ParkVillage of Saint Anthony
Gone or out of use
Allegany Drive-InlocaleAllegany Fire House Number 1buildingBradford Oil FieldoilfieldCentral High SchoolschoolFirst Methodist Episcopal ChurchchurchLampack Poultry FarmlocaleMidway AirportairportSaint Elizabeth's AcademyschoolSeminary of Christ the Kingschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Allegany
AlleganyFivemileSaint Bonaventure
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Allegany’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Allegany’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The town was first settled around 1820 by Ebenezer Reed, who moved from Connecticut. The Town of Allegany was formed on April 18, 1831, as the "Town of Burton" from a part of the town of Great Valley. On March 28, 1851, the name was changed to "Allegany.".
In 1836, part of Allegany was used to form the Town of Humphrey.
A new community to be called "Allegany City" was proposed in 1837 to be built south of the Village of Allegany, but the plan was halted after a planned railroad changed its route.
Passages that mention Allegany, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates1925 · page 919Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Portage was originally a part of the town of Southampton, Ontario County; in March, 1805, it became part of Leicester, Genesee County. In 1806 it was in the town of Angelica, Allegany County. It was merged in the town of Nunda when the latter was established, and was made a separate town in 1827. In 1846 both Nunda and Portage were taken from Alle¬ gany and attached to Livingston County. It took its name fiom the carrying place around the falls of the Genesee River. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve1851 · page 450Read the page →
Read the text
From the coinmencoment of settlement, until 1805, Allegany was a part of the town of Leicester, Ontario county, and the new settlers had to go to the old village of Leicester on the Genesee river, via Hornersville, to town meeting. In "805 what is now Allegany county, was erected into a new town, and called Angelica. In April of that year the first town meeting was held at the house of Joseph Taylor. Benjamin Briggs was elected supervisor, Jacob S.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates1925 · page 1201Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Allegany was erected from Great Valley, as Bur¬ ton, April 18, 1831. The name was changed March 28, 1851. Its territory was somewhat reduced by the erection of Humphrey in 1836. Ebenezer Reed made the first settlement in the town in 1820, choosing a site near the mouth of Five-mile Run. Isaac Eggleston, Andrew L. Allen and David Orton settled in 1820.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve1851 · page 448Read the page →
Read the text
Proceeding on, the party came to the house of Dyke, a solitary settler who occupied the advanced post of civilization, near the junction of the eastern line of Allegany with the Pennsylvania line ; slept in a log I arn, and then pushed on into the dark forests upon the Genesee River. This was the first breaking into the woods in all the region which is now embraced in the western portion of Allegany, Wyoming, southern portions of Erie, Chautauque and Cattaraugus, and all that part of Pennsylvania bordering upon this
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
Allegany, 1820 to 1918
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1820, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Allegany’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1840 counted 530 people here.
How does Allegany rank for history?
Allegany is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #484 of 758 in New York. 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.
What is on the National Register in Allegany?
One place: the House at 520 Hostageh Road (listed 2009).
How old are the homes in Allegany?
23% of Allegany’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
