The story
Read it all →How Barker came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Barker.
The region was first settled circa 1782. The town of Barker was formed in 1831 from a portion of the town of Lisle.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Barker
Barker’s post office opened in 1856, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Chenango Canal Prism and Lock 107. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1840.
1856first post office
1on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Quick answers
How Barker began
When was Barker founded?
1856
The Barker post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Itaska (1890) and Hydeville (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,259 in 18402020 census: 2,509170 years
How historic is Barker?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Barker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Barker’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Barker is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Barker’s overall grade.
Founding era1856, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194020.7% of homes (±7.1) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 4.2 per 10,000 residents · typical NY town 12.3 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 50%
NewerOlder
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 Barker’s 4.2 sits below most of its state (32% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.1 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 Barker’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1850 and 1910, then more than doubled.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Barker, and 2 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19043 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1951. Watch Barker change.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Barker’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Barker’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Barker, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1850 and 1910, then more than doubled.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Barker’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Barker had its own post office from 1856 to 1863. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Chenango Forks
Barker
Itaska
Hydeville
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HydevilleItaska
Gone or out of use
Puffer SchoolschoolStrawberry Valley Pitmine
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Barker
Adams StreetHyde StreetItaskaKing StreetSouth StreetToombs
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Barker in 1845
Passages that mention Barker, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The lives and opinions of Benj'n Franklin Butler, United States district attorney for the southern district of New York1845 · page 29Read the page →
Read the text
his debts? Barker's brother-in-law became bankrupt in Liverpool, Jan. 1816, but he says he lost but very little by him — that his (Barker's) original capital was $250,000, and that his bank note circulation was for a long time over half a million of dollars ! What lo.sses did he sustain to outweigh the vast capital and enormous gains here displayed before us ? Messrs. Butler and Barker joined, in August, 1819, in the most solemn and apparently sincere declarations, that the wealth to pay all debts was sure and abundant. Then comes poverty— then .li,-13U,000 [in Butler's speech he says $2.30,016] are lent to prop a dishonest corporation — fraud, say the juries, followed next, and there the curtain drops Not only did Barker hire the most eminent lawyers of the age to defend him, but was also indulged by the judge with
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
Barker, 1825 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1825Post officeThe Chenango Forks post office opens
- 1837
Born hereMary Blair Moody is born here - 1856Post officeThe Barker post office opens
- 1863Post officeThe Barker post office closes
- 1890Post officeThe Itaska post office opens
- 20th century
- 1904
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1939Post officeThe Itaska post office closes
- 1980
In the archiveSpiral staircase at Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse overlooking Lake Ontario in Golden Hill … - 21st century
- 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 2,738
By decade
Barker, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1980s2 items
19801990snothing yet
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Barker on the map, 1904 to 1951
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Barker. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1904Greene 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 Barker.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewSpiral staircase at Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse overlooking Lake Ontario in Golden Hill State Park, 1980
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Barker’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Barker
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2010
Chenango Canal Prism and Lock 107
Structures
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Barker’s history
What year was Barker founded?
The Barker post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Barker rank for history?
Barker is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. 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 Barker?
One place: the Chenango Canal Prism and Lock 107 (listed 2010).
How old are the homes in Barker?
21% of Barker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1980.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 Library of Congress (2), 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 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.