Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bloomingburg

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Store frontsPhoto: Loz Gemachet · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Bloomingburg

Bloomingburg’s post office opened in 1827, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1930.

1827first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Loz Gemachet · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Bloomingburg began

When was Bloomingburg founded?

1827

The Bloomingburg post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 215 in 19302020 census: 1,032199 years
Founding year: the first Bloomingburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bloomingburg’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19043 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1969. Watch Bloomingburg change.Deep rootsA post office since 1827: 199 years of Bloomingburg.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bloomingburg’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bloomingburg’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Bloomingburg on the map, 1904 to 1969

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bloomingburg. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Bloomingburg on the 1904 USGS mapBloomingburg on the 1943 USGS mapBloomingburg on the 1969 USGS map1904Ellenville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bloomingburg.

Timeline

Bloomingburg, 1789 to 1904

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1789Born hereLemuel Jenkins is born here
  3. 19th century
  4. 1875In the archiveCounty atlas of Sullivan, New York
  5. 20th century
  6. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Bloomingburg came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bloomingburg.

Read it all →

Bloomingburg's accepted incorporation date is 1833. It was the first county seat of Sullivan County, being located in the original county town of Mamakating. It prospered, first, as a center of commerce along the Newburgh–Cochecton Turnpike, then as a railway town serving vacationers in the mountains. Many guesthouses in the village were not rebuilt after the devastating fire of February 1922, and the village has been primarily an agricultural center ever since.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Bloomingburg, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s1 item
County atlas of Sullivan, New York1875County atlas of Sullivan, New YorkMap
Today5 recent
Bloomingburg, New York2009Bloomingburg, New YorkBloomingburg, New York2009Bloomingburg, New YorkBloomingburg, New York2009Bloomingburg, New YorkDowntown2008DowntownBloomingburg Reformed Dutch Church2008Bloomingburg Reformed Dutch Church
On the National Register

1 historic place in Bloomingburg

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Bloomingburg, census by census

02004006008001,000194019601980200020201,032

Grew from 215 people in 1930 to 1,032 in 2020, 4 times over.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bloomingburg’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Wallkill3 historic placesA−Mamakating4 historic placesA

Questions about Bloomingburg’s history

What year was Bloomingburg founded?

The Bloomingburg post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.