Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.
The Brushton post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Brushton’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Brushton.
The village took its name from Brush's Mills, which were located on the Little Salmon River. The mills were purchased by Mr. Henry N. Brush in 1835, and the hamlet was officially named "Brushton" on October 1, 1877.
From Frederick Seaver's Historical Sketches of Franklin County, NY (1918), p. 519:
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 598 in 1890; 443 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brushton’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brushton. 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 Brushton.
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 Brushton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Brushton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Brushton post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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