Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1820.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Boston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Boston is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #667 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Boston’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 Boston’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1817.
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 →
What stands out about Boston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The Iroquois, under various names, lived here until the European immigrants became predominant.
In 1804, brothers Charles and Oliver Johnson and their families became the area's first settlers. The first Christian church was the Free Will Baptist Church, founded circa 1811. On April 5, 1817, the town of Boston was formed from a portion of the town of Eden. The first post office opened in 1832 on the north side of town.
In 1843, the town suffered an epidemic (28 of the 43 residents were affected, 10 of whom died) believed to be typhoid fever, possibly from a local well.
Passages that mention Boston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Newton genealogy, genealogical, biographical, historical1915 · page 799Read the page →
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[Bondsmen] Samuel Henshaw William Tucker 6942. THOMAS NEWTON, "the Attorney" at Boston, came there in 1688 from New Hampshire. He was Secretary of that province until 1690; was Controller of the Customs at Boston; Judge of the Admiralty, and Attorney- General for the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He occupied this last position during and after the witchcraft prosecutions. "His opinion must have led to the cure of the infernal delusion, for in January, 1693, he wrote to Sir William P.hipps, the Ciovernor, that of the fifty-two charged at Salem, at that court, the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Newton genealogy, genealogical, biographical, historical1915 · page 420Read the page →
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Mr. Newton was a farmer in Southborough. He owned, lived upon, and worked the land successively in possession of his great-grandfatlier, grandfather and his father. In 1896 this farm, purchased by the Boston Water Board, was submerged in the "Great Basin," to become a reser\'oir which supplies the city of Boston with water.
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18 iii Mary, bap. May 28, 1671 : m. Greenfield Hanover, Sept. 31, 1 71 3. She was bap. in the First church of Boston. In 1720 she conveys land "being only da. and child of the late John Wiborn deceased." No record of her descendants.
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History of the Kimball family in America, from 1634 to 18971897Read the page →
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emy. At the early age of thirteen he commenced business as a newsboy on the old Vermont Central railroad. He was one of the early telegraph operators for the old Vermont & Boston Telegraph Company, within about six years of the time when the first telegraph message was sent ; then an expressman in connection with the railroad business, and has been largely interested in telegraphs and railroads ever since. He engaged in the banking business in Toronto,
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
Boston, 1817 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1817, according to Wikidata. Boston’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1820 counted 686 people here.
How does Boston rank for history?
Boston is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #667 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.
How old are the homes in Boston?
15% of Boston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (20), the Library of Congress (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.
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2003![[Bondsmen] Samuel Henshaw William Tucker 6942. THOMAS NEWTON, "the Attorney" at Boston, came there in 1688 from New Hampshire. He was Secretary of that province until 1690; was Controller of the Customs at Boston; Judge of the Admiralty, and Attorney- General for the Province of Massachusetts Bay. …](https://images.townratings.com/story/28201/bk-caa084243c31396e-l.jpg)
