Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #468 of 758 in New York. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 17 buildings between them. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1830.
The Big Flats post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hendy Creek (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Big Flats is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #468 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age 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 Big Flats’ 22.4 sits near the middle of its state (58% of New York towns have fewer) while its 17 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Big Flats’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Big Flats. 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 Big Flats.
Big Flats’s post office has been open since 1809. Another post office, Hendy Creek, 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 Big Flats.
The town of Big Flats, which had formerly been called "Great Plains", was organized in 1822 from the town of Elmira.
The Warren E. Eaton Motorless Flight Facility was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Big Flats, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Big Flats the first Presbyterian Church was organized in 1825, with Nathan Reynolds, Charles Fry, and Joseph Pound as deacons. In 1829 an edifice was built. Its first settled pastor was the Rev.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A church edifice was erected in 1841. In Big Flats a church was organized on August 30, 1807. The first services were held in a barn, and then in schoolhouses. The Rev. Roswell Goff was the first pastor. A church edifice was built in 1827, and occupied in January, 1828. The Ridge Free Baptist church was organized in Veteran, November 19; 1836. The first pastor was the Rev. Samuel Dean.
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 hereHiram W. Roblier is born here
Born hereJohn Maynard Woodworth is born here
Born hereJohn Denny is born here
In the archiveBig Flats (Village); Big Flats Subscriber's Business Directory; Horse Heads Subscriber's …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBig flats2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Big Flats’ 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.
Grew from 1,149 people in 1830 to 7,822 in 2020, 6 times over.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Big Flats’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Big Flats post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Big Flats is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #468 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.
Two places: the Eaton, Warren E., Motorless Flight Facility (listed 2013) and the Mount Saviour Monastery (2015).
12% of Big Flats’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1869
2009
2009