Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1840.
The Brant post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fenton (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brant is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Brant’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.
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 Brant’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brant. 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 Brant.
Peaked at 2,672 in 1970; 1,912 people lived here in 2020.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brant’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Brant.
The first white settler, Moses Tucker, arrived around 1816. The area was originally in the town of Willink and was organized March 25, 1839, from parts of the towns of Evans and Concord.
J.H. French's Gazetteer of the State of New York, Syracuse, New York: R. Pearsall Smith, 1860, contains the following entry for the town of Brant:
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBrant (Township)
Born hereJohn Joseph Bernet is born here
In the archiveFarnham Station Brant (Village); Beant (Township); Brant Center (Village)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMarion Fricano is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1880s. 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 Brant’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Brant’s post office has been open since 1844. Another post office, Fenton, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Brant post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Brant is more historic than 72% 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.
44% of Brant’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (7), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1880
1880
2021
2020
2006