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History · Brooktondale

Brooktondale’s post office opened in 1926, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1900 on.

1926first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Brooktondale’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Brooktondale began

When was Brooktondale founded?

1926

The Brooktondale post office opened in 1926, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 261100 years
Founding year: the first Brooktondale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Brooktondale’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 19005 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1978. Watch Brooktondale change.Old housesHalf of Brooktondale’s homes were built before 1944.
★ What stands out · On the map

Brooktondale on the map, 1900 to 1978

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

Brooktondale on the 1900 USGS mapBrooktondale on the 1949 USGS mapBrooktondale on the 1951 USGS mapBrooktondale on the 1969 USGS mapBrooktondale on the 1978 USGS map1900Dryden 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 Brooktondale.

The story

How Brooktondale came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brooktondale.

Read it all →

Brooktondale was settled in 1798 when a general's son built a log cabin on the tract of land given to him through a military land grant. The village went through many name changes before receiving its current name in 1926.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brooktondale, 1875 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875In the archiveBrooktondale Trestle
  3. 1889In the archiveBrooktondale Road Under Trestle 2
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveBrookton's Market
  6. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1936In the archiveA.J. Weber farm, Brooktondale, New York. Finger Lakes Farms project. Tompkins County
By decade

Brooktondale, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1930s6 items
Brooktondale Trestle1875Brooktondale TrestleBrooktondale Road Under Trestle 21889Brooktondale Road Under Trestle 2Brookton's Market1900Brookton's MarketBrooktondale Road Under Trestle1900Brooktondale Road Under TrestleA.J. Weber farm, Brooktondale, New York. Finger Lakes Farms project. Tompkins County1936A.J. Weber farm, Brooktondale, New York. Finger Lakes…Farm and typical countryside, Brooktondale, New York. Purchased by Resettlement Administration for Finger Lakes project…1936Farm and typical countryside, Brooktondale, New York.…
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Brooktondale Trestle
Retake this viewBrooktondale Trestle, 1875

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Brooktondale’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Brooktondale’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBrooktondale Trestle: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Brooktondale’s history

What year was Brooktondale founded?

The Brooktondale post office opened in 1926, 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 and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.