Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1820.
The Antwerp post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Antwerp.
Settlement began circa 1803 near what is now Oxbow. The town was created from part of the town of Le Ray in 1810. In 1855, the town had the second largest number of cows in New York.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 3,414 in 1880; 1,683 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Antwerp’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Passages that mention Antwerp, cut from the printed page as they were published.
lands previously conveyed.* On the 12th of April, 1793, Constable sold in London, with the consent of Chassanis, who had previously held a preemption claim, to Charles Michael De Wolf of the city of Antwerp, tract No. IV, for 300,000 florins, money of exchange,! and in June following, of the same year, De Wolf succeeded in negotiating his purchase at a great advance, viz: for 680,000 florins, to a company of large and small capitalists, of the city of Antwerp, who subscribed to the
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.
Born hereHelen Hinsdale Rich is born here
Born hereCharles Rainsford Jennison is born here
Born hereCassius Marcellus Coolidge is born here
Born hereAlbert Woolson is born here
In the archiveAntwerp (Village); La Fargeville (Village); Ox Bow (Village); Antwerp Business Directory.…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveThe Pine Camp military area near Watertown, New York, which was expanded under FSA (Farm …
In the archiveTownsfolk at an auction in the Pine Camp expansion area on the Ingalls farm near Antwerp,…3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1935The Pine Camp military area near Watertown, New York,…1941Townsfolk at an auction in the Pine Camp expansion ar…
1941Auctioning off a dairy herd on the Ingalls farm in th…
1941Auctioning off a dairy herd on the Ingalls farm in th…
1941Auctioning off a dairy herd on the Ingalls farm in th…
1941Auction notices of farms in the Pine Camp expansion a…
1941Farmers reading auction notices of farms in the Pine …
1941Miss Elinor Adderly, school teacher in one of the twe…
1941Miss Elinor Adderly, school teacher in one of the twe…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Antwerp. 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 Antwerp.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Antwerp’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Antwerp post office opened in 1809, 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 (2), the Library of Congress (10), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1864
Date?
