Founding year: the first Bolivar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Bolivar’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bolivar is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bolivar’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 Bolivar’s 8.9 sits near the middle of its state (44% 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 B to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.4 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 Bolivar’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bolivar yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bolivar ( BOL-i-vər) is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 2,051 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Simón Bolívar. Bolivar is on the south border of the county and is east of Olean. There is also a village of Bolivar in the town. As "the heart of the Allegany Oil Field" the Bolivar-Richburg area rose to significance during the oil boom era of the late 1800s. During the brief initial oil boom of the 1880s it was purportedly the wealthiest locale, per capita, in the United States. By the early 1900s the initial boom, with its economic and population impacts, had significantly faded, but secondary oil recovery techniques applied to the oil fields (s…
Its first post office opened in 1825. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,047 to 1,010 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
People over time
Bolivar, census by census
Peaked at 2,813 in 1930; 2,051 people lived here in 2020.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bolivar’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Bolivar in 1829
Passages that mention Bolivar, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Memoirs of Simon Bolivar, president liberator of the Republic of Colombia1829 · page 150Read the page →
Read the text
This behaviour of general Arismendy was very honorable to him, as it was easy to take general Bolivar's place, at a time, where he alone was four times as strong as Bolivar, and when, as is generally known, he had much more energy and patriotism, much more knowledge and personal bravery, than ever Bolivar had possessed. Arismendy was well informed that Bolivar had treated him in his manifesto, published in Carthagena, in September 1814,* as an intriguer and an ambitious
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Memoirs of Simon Bolivar, president liberator of the Republic of Colombia1829 · page 158Read the page →
Read the text
Admiral Brion had never esteemed Marino, and said many times, that he and Piar were dangerous enemies to Bolivar. Marino indeed, never had been, nor could he be dangerous to the latter, for want of talents and character, as I shall fully show at the trial of Piar ; but united with Piar, who was a colored man, a native of the island of Curacao, with Brion, he has done great mischief to Bolivar. Piar was an able partizan officer, brave, active, a secret enemy of Bolivar, who, like Brion,
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
Bolivar, 1851 to 1930
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bolivar. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1925Belmont 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 Bolivar.
Every building
Bolivar, building by building, 1891–1909
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Bolivar
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
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Bolivar’s history
What year was Bolivar founded?
The Bolivar post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Bolivar rank for history?
Bolivar is more historic than 87% 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.
How old are the homes in Bolivar?
63% of Bolivar’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (4), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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