The Arcadia post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Fairville (1832), Zurich (1875) and Minstead (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 3,774 in 18302020 census: 13,731176 years
How historic is Arcadia?
B
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Arcadia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Arcadia’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Arcadia is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #564 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Arcadia’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 Arcadia’s 4.4 sits below most of its state (33% of New York towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Arcadia’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Burnham CottagebuildingMoss CottagebuildingNewark AirportairportNewark Assembly of God ChurchchurchNewark State SchoolschoolRoosevelt Public SchoolschoolRose City Drive-InlocaleSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 10schoolSchool Number 11schoolSchool Number 12schoolSchool Number 13schoolSchool Number 14schoolSchool Number 15schoolSchool Number 16schoolSchool Number 17schoolSchool Number 19schoolSchool Number 2school
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Arcadia
East NewarkFairvilleGlerum FarmMarbletownNewarkOld HouserZurich
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Arcadia’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Arcadia’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Prior to its split and founding in 1825, the land which Arcadia sits was purchased in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, which included much of the land of present day New York west of Seneca Lake. By 1789, white settlers were making their way through the future area of Wayne County, and by 1811, the town of Lyons had been founded to the east of present day Arcadia. By 1825, Lyons had grown big enough that the 48th session of the New York State Legislature split Arcadia from Lyons.
Hydesville, New York was a hamlet in the Town of Arcadia. It was the hometown of the spiritualist Fox Sisters.
In 1957, the Bergen Swamp Preservation Society acquired Zurich Bog for conservation.
The town is part of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
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.
The Arcadia post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Arcadia rank for history?
Arcadia is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #564 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 Arcadia?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the US Post Office-Newark (listed 1989, the first). 6 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Arcadia?
31% of Arcadia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2013
