Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #225 of 758 in New York. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 129 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1840.
Au Sable dates its founding to 1795 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Au Sable is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #225 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Au Sable’s 412 sits above most of its state (90% of New York towns have fewer) while its 130 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Au Sable’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 Au Sable.
The land was first settled c. 1795, mostly by people of English descent. The town was formed from part of the town of Peru in 1839.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJohn Tomlinson Brush is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - New York - Clinton County - ED 10-1, ED 1…
In the archive"R.W. Adams, Steam Saw Mill, Clinton Co. N.Y; Ausable Chasm on the Ausable River. Town of…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Au Sable.
1956Dannemora sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Au Sable.
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 Au Sable’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 4,492 in 1850; 3,146 people lived here in 2010.
18 censuses, 1840–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Au Sable’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1795, according to Wikidata. Au Sable’s post office opened in 1832, and the census of 1840 counted 3,222 people here.
Au Sable is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #225 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.
4 listings: 1 building, 1 historic district, the Keeseville Historic District, with 129 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 130 historic buildings in all.
21% of Au Sable’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
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).
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.
2011