Broome’s post office opened in 1810, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the Livingstonville Community Church and the Bates Christian Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1800.
The Broome post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Livingstonville (1818), Franklinton (1830) and Bates (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,078 in 18002020 census: 863216 years
Founding year: the first Broome post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Broome’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was one of the six original towns when the county was formed in 1797. Originally named Bristol, the town name was changed to Broome in 1808. Parts of Broome town were taken to form part of Conesville town in 1836 and part of Gilboa town in 1848 and small parts annexed to Broome town from Middleburgh town in 1849.
Few settlers came to Broome until after the American Revolution.
Passages that mention Broome, cut from the printed page as they were published.
1713. History of Schoharie County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1882 · page 130Read the page →
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Owing to the large territory of the town of Broome and the distance the people of a goodly portion of the town were compelled to go to transact town business, a petition was forwarded to the Legislature for the formation of a new town. On the 3d of March, 1836, an act was passed to divide the town of Broome and the town of Durham : —
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1713. History of Schoharie County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1882 · page 84Read the page →
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John Burnett murdered George Sornberger in the present town of Broome, by nearly severing the head from the body and stabbing hinK in the abdomen and chest, on the 24th of March, 1 845. They were residents of Broome, and it was supposed Sornberger was the possessor of a considerable sum of money, as a payment was to have been made to him upon
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Broome, in which he expresses his "high appreciation of the valualjle services and licarty co-operation reiulcred to him on that occasion," referring to the vvliiskey raid of Novemljer, 1870, on wliich occasion the United States marines, under Colonel Hroome's command, were associated with those of the United States Army, under
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
Broome, 1810 to 1943
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.
